The Cardinals have activated Brandon Waddell from the IL and designated Scott Hurst for assignment, per a club announcement. Waddell was optioned and placed on the COVID-IL in mid-July. He will remain with the Triple-A club in Memphis. Hurst’s designation was required to open up a spot on the 40-man roster. (Players on the COVID-IL do not use a roster spot.)
Hurst, a 25-year-old outfielder, had his contract selected by the club in mid-April. He got into just seven games with only five hitless plate appearances before being optioned. His Triple-A performance has been less than ideal on the season, producing a slash line of .186/.289/.270 in 251 plate appearances across 59 games.
Despite those numbers, it’s possible he could be claimed off waivers by a team with an eye on the future. He is still young, can be optioned to the minors and comes with years of team control. However, if he clears waivers, he would not have enough service time to reject an outright assignment and would stay in the Cardinals organization.
jeez Waddell was on the COVID IL for a month or so
Bad for him, I’m glad he’s well now. Good for the Cards, because he walks seemingly every other hitter he faces.
No relation to Rube.. dang I had my hopes up
If Lester gets lit up tonight, do the Cards release him? With Jack and Miles(supposedly) coming back, is this Lester’s last chance?
It’s a battle between him and Happ
Ian?
Happ has had two strong starts while Lester has been horrendous. Small sample sizes, but if you’re cutting one, the choice is easy.
It depends on how long Kim and LeBlanc will be out, as they may still need both Lester and Happ to fill rotation spots out of necessity, as Mikolas is still scheduled for one more rehab start before he hopefully returns in a little over a week from now.
Even with Lester and Happ as well as Flaherty just getting back, the Cardinals currently only have 4 healthy starters (along with Wainwright). At least they have an off-day on Monday, so they could move everyone forward a day if necessary while they get a better grip on how serious the injuries to Kim and LeBlanc are and buy time for Mikolas’s return.
Agreed. However, if he continues to perform at the current level, do you just keep running him out there?
It depends on whether or not you think either Oviedo or Woodford would be a better option.
I think I’ve seen all I need to from Oviedo. I might give Woodford another shot if the situation was right. Looks like Lester is set to go against Pittsburgh in St Louis in his next start. That is a situation I would probably try Woodford in. Let’s see what happens tonight.
I thought they said Leblanc is done for the year
“less than ideal” = taking weapons to the airport is a bad idea.
Wait, what?