The Cardinals announced that they have activated outfielder Tyler O’Neill from the 60-day injured list, with right-hander Ryan Tepera designated for assignment in a corresponding move.
It’s been quite an unusual season for Tepera, who began the year with the Angels. He had parlayed his track record as an effective reliever into a two-year, $14MM deal with the Halos going into 2022. Last year was par for the course for him, as he posted a 3.61 earned run average in 59 appearances.
This year, however, he struggled through his first 10 outings, with a 7.27 ERA in those. He was released by the Angels and signed a minor league deal with the Rangers. He pitched eight scoreless Triple-A innings while striking out 37.9% of opponents, triggered an opt-out and then quickly landed a major league deal with the Cards. He tossed two innings for St. Louis, allowing two earned runs before getting bumped off the roster.
Since Tepera was released by the Angels, the Cardinals were only paying him the prorated league minimum, with the Halos on the hook for the remainder of his salary. The Cards will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers, though he has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency. He’ll likely wind up back on the open market, where another club can give him a shot for essentially no financial risk. With several relief pitchers likely to be traded between now and the deadline, some job opportunities might be opening up.
As for O’Neill, he’s been on the injured list since early May due to a lower back strain. He was in top form in 2021, hitting 34 home runs and stealing 15 bases while playing excellent defense, but has struggled since then. Going back to the start of 2022, he’s hit .228/.303/.380 for a wRC+ of 95. He’s played just 125 games while making trips to the IL due to a right shoulder impingement, a couple of left hamstring strains and this year’s back issues.
Despite those recent struggles, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak recently indicated the club plans on having O’Neill serve as the club’s everyday left fielder now that he’s back. With Lars Nootbaar, Jordan Walker, Tommy Edman, Alec Burleson and others in a crowded outfield mix, that’s led to speculation that Dylan Carlson could wind up traded in the coming days, something that MLBTR covered earlier today.
Burn and churn I guess until trade deadline. Who knows maybe O’Neil tears it up the next week or two and gets some interest quickly due to his history, background and potential although I love the potential of him healthy in our lineup gold glove defense, speed and power.
Seems there gonna trade Carlson before O’Neil? Which is kinda crazy…
No, they are showcasing TON.
I believe both could be traded depends on how Tyler performs the next two week a couple of HRs and showing he’s healthy may entice a team or two. Yankees interested in Carlson but I haven’t seen any top pitching prospects they have we would want possibly. We need to unclog OF but I want us to not just trade for a trade, no giving up Randy or Adolis for nothing again.
Schmidt would be OK, but Carlson is worth more imo.
Does it really matter how O’Neil performs the next couple of weeks? The guy just can’t stay on the field.
Exactly. It’s pretty clear what they are doing. TON is getting more expensive, is hurt often, and they need pitching. Quality gets you quality. TON gets you more than Carlson simply on resume alone.
Most Mo thing ever. DFA a younger better pitcher for this guy only to drop him a few days later. Clown show
Teams do this all the time. It’s not just a Mo thing. Cabrera isn’t the same pitcher as before and has struggled. He’s lost 2 mph off his fastball and is HR prone.
Yes in fairness they both suck. But why go get Tepara in the first place???
To cover innings when we had a doubleheader and to see if we got someone to recover. Happens all the time man
Why not use Loutos or McGreevy or Graceffo?
Why risk harming a prospect’s development or exhaust someone like Naile when you can use the waiver wire instead?
Tepera was very good pre-angels. They try to make him throw 4-seamers to strike out a batter. He went downhill with it.
This was pure roster manipulation and a pretty clever one at that.
As far as I can determine, they had already designated Cabrera for assignment when it was determined that O”Neill would need a few extra days, so they had an open 40-man roster spot in the meantime. It didn’t really matter if they sent Baker down a little early, so they used the spot to pick up a pitcher off of waivers who they could use to cover a couple of innings or so of work in the bullpen, fully intending to dump him again once O’Neill was ready to be activated.
It was exactly a nice thing to do to a player in Tepera’s situation, but it worked, and there’s nothing in the rules against it.
Sorry, Naile was technically the one optioned a little early to make room for Tepera on the active roster.
I think Tepara should be thankful for the opportunity even if it was brief. Who knows maybe he doesn’t get released if he pitched decent which he did not.
Yeah exactly two innings two runs nothing to be excited about
Every little break you can give to the bullpen helps.
These deals had nothing to do with one another.
Equipment Manager: Welcome to the Cardinals, Ryan. Here, pick out some socks.
(30 seconds later..)
Manager: Ryan, what are you doing!? Put down those socks and get out of here!
Seriously! I’m sorry, Mr Tepera, it was just a cameo appearance. Didn’t anyone tell you that?
Can I still use the bathroom?
Fine but only number 1.
Garbage in, garbage out.
Oi… that’s a person your talking about
Oi…and they both play like garbage. Your point?
That your opinion is garbage, still people. Underperforming or concentrating on performance buffoon
I’ll get some Kleenex for you and the two of you can cuddle.
Whatever troll, probably used all that Kleenex already whackin it incel and sorry your fantasy not coming true
Whatever troll, probably used all that Kleenex already whackin it incel and sorry your fantasy not coming true calling the garbage company bc I found heaping pile of garbage, what a waste of life
LOL we gave him 2 games and DFA’d him
Cardinals got wins as well.
They won the games he played in
Two not very good games. One good outing might have saved him.
He pitched slightly better than he did with the Angels.. so, no, time to move on.
I think the plan all along was to only keep him until O’Neill was ready.
Whew I’m glad Cubs didn’t grab him..high five!
Just you wait you guys haven’t had a good relief corps either see Roman wick
Everything is fixed now. Move on to the next thing.
Rick Hummel gotta be spinning in his grave.
Everyone bellyaching over why the Rangers didn’t give this dude a shot, here’s your answer.
Guess it was a Teperary gig.
We should have tepered our expectations
He should have lasted longer. It’s a long way to Teperary.
Checking out already, Mr Tepera?
Yep.
Where are you headed?
The open market.
Where’s that?
I’m thinkin’ Albuquerque.
How will history judge the Ryan Tepera/Cardinal era?
I’ll never understand the “another stupid move by Mozeliak” comments with a nothing move like this. Guys like Tepera are a dime a dozen. In fact, they’re probably going to load up on them after they trade a handful of pitchers. Someone has to pitch the rest of this godawful season.
You are 100% correct. This move amounts to nothing and is perfectly defensible in every way. However, I understand the tendency for people to want to criticize Mo no matter what. I find myself blaming him for the weather, lines in the grocery store, the war in Ukraine, and several other unrelated problems. That’s just how it works.
“Despite those recent struggles, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak recently indicated the club plans on having O’Neill serve as the club’s everyday left fielder now that he’s back. ”
Read: “please god let him hit a few homers between now and the end of July so someone gives us something for him”
Most Mo thing ever dfa a better younger more talented pitcher for a guy who sucks worse 2 days later
lol
I’m OK this happened. I’d rather we bring up some of the minor leaguers from Memphis – Kodi Whitley or Jake Walsh – rather than a mid-30s righty.