The Cardinals are keeping left-hander Matthew Liberatore in their rotation, manager Oli Marmol informed the team’s beat this afternoon (relayed by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). St. Louis is officially moving Steven Matz to the bullpen for the time being as the club is returning to a five-man starting staff after briefly using a six-man rotation.
Liberatore has started two of three appearances since being recalled in the middle of May. He’s had middling results, allowing six runs with a 9:6 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 11 innings. The 23-year-old had pitched very well in Triple-A Memphis earlier in the year. Over eight outings, he had a 3.13 ERA. Liberatore fanned over 30% of batters faced in the minors and induced grounders on exactly half the batted balls he allowed.
In addition to those solid minor league results, the former first round draftee is working with improved raw stuff. He’s averaging 95.2 MPH on his fastball and 77.2 MPH on his curveball this season, each of which is up 2-3 ticks from last year. That hasn’t yet translated to more whiffs at the major league level but he’d gotten swinging strikes on an excellent 14% of his offerings in Triple-A.
Liberatore has impressed the organization enough to stick alongside Jordan Montgomery, Adam Wainwright, Miles Mikolas and Jack Flaherty in the rotation. That’s paired with a second straight down year for Matz, who heads to relief not even halfway through a four-year, $44MM free agent contract.
Matz logged only 48 innings in his first season as a Cardinal. A shoulder impingement and an MCL tear in his left knee combined to keep him to 15 outings. He posted a 5.25 ERA in that stretch thanks largely to an elevated home run rate but posted more encouraging strikeout and walk numbers. Matz had punched out 26.1% of opponents against a 4.8% walk rate. The Cards hoped those peripherals and better health would result in a bounceback 2023 showing.
That hasn’t materialized thus far. Matz’s homer rate has dropped but he hasn’t found better results. He’s posted a 5.72 ERA as a starter with his strikeout rate dropping to 19.4%. Opponents are hitting .324/.384/.505 in 232 plate appearances. The Cards turned to Matz for multi-inning relief for the first time on Monday. He tossed 2 2/3 frames of one-run ball with four punchouts and added an extra mile per hour to his fastball.
Marmol noted the club is hopeful Matz can pitch his way back into the rotation down the line. Injuries and/or struggles from Liberatore could open that door before too long. For now, though, the veteran southpaw will be available out of the bullpen. Matz is making $10MM this season and will collect respective $12MM salaries from 2024-25.
Good news. No sense in letting a bad contract hurt the team. Liberatore can’t be any worse than Matz has been. At least give him a chance.
“I NEVER, EVER sign bad contracts. How dare you?! JG said I’m allowed to do this and the public will be too stupid to figure us out”
Signed,
The Pretentious Bowtie That Is Killing Cardinal Baseball
Why do you dislike a piece of cloth so much? It did nothing to you. It’s just fashion.
Let’s go, Liberatore!
A smart move by Cardinals management. And now it is up to Liberatore to show why the Cardinals made the trade for him. It has been a long time since the Cardinals had a tall, hard throwing lefthander in the rotation. Memories of Mark Mulder and Joe Magrane.
Joe Magrane, yes! Mark Mulder was a disaster as a Cardinal. Liberatore has been better than his numbers show so far. He has good stuff and may end up being a solid starter for years. Matz can’t get a break but maybe a few weeks in the pen will help. Montgomery also has been brutal the past few outings. Can see why the Yankees traded him.
Show some respect. Mulder hit the first Cardinals Home Run in Busch 3.
My Fantasy team thanks you
Phew, we were all wondering. Kudos!
They gotta do something, the present bullpen stinks, they blew another game tonight after being up 5 – 1.
We all know, emotionally, Marmol wants this guy in the rotation. This guy not only airs his dirty laundry he bazookas it to the public. Blue bird fan here, but I’m almost certain all of you red bird fans are growing tired of this guy. Am I wrong? Or better yet, give me the inside scoop.
Color me tired.
Marmol does not seem like an effective communicator or leader even putting the dirty laundry situation aside. He seems to know his stuff in regards to X’s and O’s, but there’s no buy-in from the players as he’s very aloof. The manager needs to be both a strategist and a personality curator.
I could also add Steve Carlton and Jerry Reuss to the list of tall, hard throwing lefthanders, but that was when I was in grade school and was too young to follow the team.
Matz is the definition of inconsistent, he’s intriguing but don’t blame the Cards for demoting him
This is the right move. Matz has shown what he’s capable of for now. He could improve down the line, but this team is attempting to compete. At worst, Liberatore gives the same level of production as Matzo so there’s very little downside. Liberatore does have a significant ceiling and hopefully that can be tapped into with more consistent reps.
Matz was a bad signing from day one. Besides a brief sign of life in Toronto, he’d never shown high upside or dependable health. Replacing with Liberatore is basically just throwing the same player out there for Matz, just much younger. We’ll see the same results, but it will give the fans hope. Liberatore is a AAAA pitcher, which is fine for a number 5 once expectations are properly established. Would rather see the club bring up the youth. Let’s see what Graceffo, Hince and McGreevy can do. Infuse the team with some young energy and promising stuff. The division is so bad, it can’t hurt while making the product more tolerable to watch.
Graceffo is sporting a 4.91 ERA at AAA and Hence is still in A ball doing okay.
Liberatore earned this chance. I figure he has a 50/50 chance of sticking in the rotation.
No one is talking about the worst performer in the rotation – Wainwright. I appreciate what he’s done in the past but he’s been bad since the start of the second half last year. I wish he had retired. Perhaps McGreevy should be given his slot.
But they all have stuff and stuff is exciting to watch. I’m not a fan of the waiting until a pitcher is 24-25 to finally call them up. With as much training and year round coaching todays players do, these guys should be tested much sooner, especially when there isn’t much at the big league level blocking them. The best players in the org should be playing at the best levels. The more development the club tried to do with these guys changes them for the worst rather than let them do what they do that for them drafted.