The Cardinals announced Friday that they’ve signed free-agent righty Luis Garcia to a Major League contract. He’ll take the 26-man roster spot of Johan Oviedo, who was optioned to Triple-A Memphis yesterday. Carlos Martinez has been moved to the 60-day injured list in order to create a roster spot.
Garcia, 34, spent the first part of the season in the Yankees organization and pitched well for their Triple-A affiliate before being granted his release a couple days ago. In 17 1/3 frames with Scranton, he pitched to a 3.63 ERA with a 27.5 percent strikeout rate and a 4.3 percent walk rate.
While Garcia didn’t make it to the big leagues with the Yankees, he’s racked up 315 innings across parts of eight Major League seasons — mostly coming with the Phillies. From 2013-18, Garcia was an oft-used member of the Philadelphia bullpen, pitching to a 4.15 ERA over the life of 244 2/3 innings. His age-30 season, in particular, was an excellent campaign that saw the righty post a career-best 2.65 ERA in a career-high 71 1/3 innings.
Garcia has struggled in the three seasons since that outstanding effort, however, posting a combined 5.26 ERA and 4.94 FIP with the Phillies, Angels and Rangers in that time. He’ll look to right the ship with his fourth big league organization and also give the Cards some depth at a time when their pitching staff has been hit hard by injuries.
Martinez’s move to the 60-day injured list comes just two days after he was placed on the 10-day IL, so he’ll spend the remainder of the 2021 season on the shelf. A lengthy absence was expected to be in store for the right-hander, however, given that he tore a ligament in his right thumb. Martinez has had a roller coaster of a season, pitching to a 6.23 ERA overall, but the overwhelming bulk of the damage against him has been confined to a pair of starts: a 10-run drubbing by the Dodgers on June 2 and an eight-run meltdown in Atlanta just two starts later.
Outside of those two starts, Martinez has been a serviceable member of an increasingly injury-marred Cardinals rotation. He has a combined 4.46 ERA in his other 14 outings and has at the very least kept the Cards in the game more often than not. He’ll now join Jack Flaherty and Miles Mikolas on the injured list, however, leaving the Cardinals with just three starters on the roster at the moment: Adam Wainwright, Kwang Hyun Kim and Wade LeBlanc.
Rotation upgrades figure to be the main focus for the Cards as the July 30 trade deadline approaches — at least if they don’t pivot the other direction and sell off some veteran pieces.
what is actually going on with this team?
Cards always seem to make one big move in the offseason, then neglect all other aspects of their roster.
*Trade for Arenado but not sure up pitching*
*shore up
And the Cards had plenty of pitching to go into the season, albeit not top tier. Injuries have destroyed the staff, starters and relievers.
Plenty of injured and suspect pitching
Agreed the pitching staff had problems the Cards knew about back during spring training and with all the injuries it’s gone from bad to worse. But, their biggest problem isn’t pitching, it’s their terrible offense. The last time I checked they had a team BA under 230 that ranked 27th out of 30 teams in MLB.
There is no reason the Cards should not be looking for some good bats to buff up their lineup. Even their two studs are both batting 40 points below their career BA’s. DeJong is batting 50 points below his. Bader has never had a respectable BA and Carp hasn’t hit higher than his weight in 4 years. If we could add 2 good hitting guys in our OF and replace DeJong with a SS who could hit 260 perhaps the team could average between 5 – 6 runs a game instead of 2-3 and give their pitchers some support.
We have close to $ 100 MM coming off our payroll after this season potentially so there is no reason for the owner to not be looking for some offense AND some good pitchers right now. We may not be able to overtake the Brewers but we sure as heck shouldn’t be ending the season in 3rd or more likely 4th place in the weakest division in the NL. We have blown the easiest part of our schedule and we now face a very tough final 2 1/2 months — especially September.
Agreed the pitching staff had problems the Cards knew about back during spring training and with all the injuries it’s gone from bad to worse. But, their biggest problem isn’t pitching, it’s their terrible offense. The last time I checked they had a team BA under 230 that ranked 27th out of 30 teams in MLB.
There is no reason the Cards should not be looking for some good bats to buff up their lineup. Even their two studs are both batting nearly 40 points below their career BA’s. DeJong is batting 50 points below his. Bader has never had a respectable BA and Carp hasn’t hit higher than his weight in 4 years. If we could add 2 good hitting guys in our OF and replace DeJong with a SS who could hit 260 perhaps the team could average between 5 – 6 runs a game instead of 2-3 and give their pitchers some support.
We have close to $ 100 MM coming off our payroll after this season potentially so there is no reason for the owner to not be looking for some offense AND some good pitchers right now. We may not be able to overtake the Brewers but we sure as heck shouldn’t be ending the season in 3rd or more likely 4th place in the weakest division in the NL. We have blown the easiest part of our schedule and we now face a very tough final 2 1/2 months — especially September.
Well Darkside, this actually turned out to be an amazing pick up for the Cardianls. Luis Garcia provided another arm when Helsley went down to injury for the late innings and is a big reason why Reyes, Gio, and Cabrera have pitched better thanks to adequate rest from the slack Garcia was able to pick up
Injuries to pitchers and not wanting to spend money or resources on what appears to be a lost season
A 34 year old never was is “depth”?
Now…as a Pirate Fan here, I can speak of this.
While the Pirates don’t have ANY true arms that are either ready, nor noteworthy that a team is wanting nor should WANT “long term”(and that will be rebuilding too…albeit The Cardinals don’t take 40 years to rebuild, like the Pirates)…the Pirates also do have a plethora of this type of lame-o scrub arms…that ARENT 34. Who can get ya thru this year.
You can have em all, St. Louis.
Unlike Pittsburgh…you aren’t all the way out of a race this year (yet), nor next year, nor the one after that.
The Pirates however, are. (They are already mathematically eliminated until 2025.
Take em all. At the very least…they are “veteran washouts” at 28. Are cheap. And you could probably get 8 “pitchers” who can at least produce a 5.00 ERA…for say 2 young catchers?
Raid…the Pirates.
They will be “rebuilding” until the end if time. But you won’t.
Get thru this season St. Louis and let your young ones develop.
And the Pirates got all those ya need. And then some.
After they ditch em all in a week, the Pirates will likely have ONE recognizable name (Reynolds) left on it.
So raid em now. Cause a Fire Sale it shall be on the Allegheny.
And long overdue as well.
But if just 2 of their things they call pitchers…get YOU all thru the season, then I am confident that a class-run organization like St. Louis will be back contending solidly again in no time.
Unlike the Pirates.
But in the long run, you can thank them Pirates for getting yinz thru this lost season. And into your next one. Which undoubtedly will be better than this one for you.
And 30 better than Pittsburghs will be until 2025.
Hearing serviceable in reference to CMart is a crime
More low hanging rotten fruit.
You’ve hit the Nail on the Head “charper32”!!
Don’t you wish the Cardinals could have all of the money back Mozeliak has waisted on “Low Hanging Fruit” and over the hill players like Brett Cecil, Fowler & Leake (who the Cardinals paid their salaries so they could play for “another” team). Plus —- other recognizable names from the past who were well past their prime.
And how about current bad contracts—- Who are a determinant to the 2021 team?? Carpenter-Miller-Martinez-Mikolus-The 3 recent Low hanging fruit pick ups, etc.
All of those years of Waisted money could have paid for Arenaldo’s Contract and another Ace Starting pitcher.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary gives 3 definitions for “serviceable”, let’s see which one applies here about Martinez:
1) “helpful, useful”. Probably not.
2) “fit for use”. True until this trip to the IL, but probably not what was intended here.
3) “of adequate quality”. Meh… I guess this must be the one.
Cashner is a free agent. Sign him.
Martinez hasn’t been good for years. Even when he was the closer and his on paper numbers looked serviceable for that year those that watched the games saw a very different story. Never did he come into the game and you were saying “Ok, Martinez is coming in. He’ll lock it down.” The guy is toast.
CMart has been a space cadet since the Cards got him. He had a good arm but he’s never been able to keep focused on the job —even Yadi has given up on him. I think back on a few gems he has pitched but they have been very few and far apart. He’s just too immature. Time to move him on and pick up something better. With his ERA near 6 that shouldn’t be hard for the Cards front office to do.
This is my lucky day.
I will not see Carlos Martinez in Cardinal uniform again.
Adios, loser.
Mozeliak & Co is pathetic !
This team has no drive , no coaching staff , and no desire to compete bc of the penny pinching
Hard for the Cards top player to get up for games when the Cardinals pitching staff —will walk 7 hitters a game plus hit 3 more equaling 10 free passes a game!!!!!
Plus the pitching staff has walked in over 20 runs in just the first first half of the 2021 season.
Another reason for the Cardinals players have the DON’T CARE ATTITUDE is because they’ve inherited that attitude from the Cardinals Front Office. The Cardinals FO DOESN’T care about the team after the Season begins!!! — No help in in sight from the I Don’t Care Front Office for 2021.
So tell me if you would have a —- beaten down attitude—— if you, the hitter—knew that most of your pitchers we going to walk or hit opposing teams batters so many times it will result into a minimal of 4 runs per game.
It’s top to bottom though 17D , too many dead spots in the daily line up , too many easy strike outs in the batting order , the pitching is a nightmare yes , but seeing Dejong & Bader then the pitcher due up with no one out and men on 1st n 2nd is a bad pitcher’s wet dream.
I’ve seen Dejong swing at pitches that were higher than his chin with bases loaded and no one out . Bader is no better , it’s as much stress on pitching not scoring as it is on the hitting having to score 10 runs a game.
At this time it is clear that the front office went into the season knowing that they could be at risk in the rotation. We have blown past the ” at risk ” and are now in the ” lost cause” situation. Their inability to secure more pitching is a result of some bad contracts and little depth at the upper level minors. I can’t remember when I have seen such a parade of unknown pitchers being pushed thru the front door knowing that they will be kicked out the back door. With every transaction recently I have to do some research on the guy involved.
It wouldn’t have mattered if they got more pitching…. The team score 2 runs a night when the pitching limits the other staff… Cardinals problems are deeper than they need more pitching. Obviously pitching will help? But to what extent? John gonna make low ball moves because of the self imposed luxury tax… Only thing they could have done was hope for better health
Cardinals should trade , Masyn Winn, Justin Williams and Julio Rodriguez to the Tigers for Kyle Funkhouser and Wily Peralta. They give up some possible future, gain some current and possible future.
This season is completely borked man. It’s about time the Cards engaged in at least a soft reset of the MLB roster than trade for a marginal couple wins while trailing by 8 or so games in the playoff race. Next year they have a likely healthy Flaherty, Hudson, and Mikolas to throw at the rotation issues and a boatload of cash coming off the books to pursue someone like Scherzer on a 2-3 year deal. That could also include another go around with Waino. Gorman also enters the picture on offense as a great platoon option at 2B with Edman, who crushes LHP but sucks against RHP. Wynn is a legit 4-5 tool SS and the best option to replace Dejong in the org right now. Hang onto those assets and improve the MLB team with money instead of prospects.
Don’t count on Mikolas. He hasn’t been healthy since that first year after he came to the Cards from Japan. I think after 3 years of arm problems it’s time to look for a replacement.
Bader must go also , enough is enough of these low.200s career BA’s .
Bottom line is , what once was one of the most respected farm systems in MLB , is likely in the bottom 20 of all teams.
Never should have let Wong go , should have traded away Bader , Dejong instead .
Martinez and Carp should have been dealt before they were resigned last time.
Our most efficient RBI guy imo is Molina , our most efficient starter Waino .
These guys are old enough to be in Coaching and they’re our to best go to guys consistently long term.
Get the farm fixed , stop trading away guys like L.Lynn and Kolten Wong . Stop resigning guys that are broken old rusty clunkers , get a real MLB coach and get back to Cardinal baseball.
Reinvent the basics , and stop making every pitcher in baseball look 10 times better than he is .
You are exactly correct about the Cardinals minor league system. All Of the really good one’s have been traded away!!! and I might add, for absolutely nothing.
Agree with it all except for Shildt. He took over for Matheny and really turned the team around and won MOY. Get him some hitters and some pitchers and he will manage a winner again. Matheny inherited a fine running machine from LaRussa and it got worse every year. They quit hitting, he burned out some great bullpen arms and we saw the team get sloppier every year on defense and with base running.
I wonder if the owner or his F.O. reads any of these fans comments? They sure should. They are very consistent.