The Cardinals announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Casey Lawrence. He will take the active roster spot of left-hander Steven Matz, who landed on the 15-day injured list yesterday with a lat strain. The club has had many vacancies on its 40-man roster since their deadline selloff and won’t need a corresponding move in that regard.
Lawrence, 35, began the year on a minor league deal with the Blue Jays. He made 18 starts for Triple-A Buffalo, logging 90 2/3 innings. He allowed 4.67 earned runs per nine frames in that time, struck out 20.5% of batters faced, walked 7.3% and got grounders on 45% of balls in play. He didn’t get a roster spot with the Jays and opted out of his deal in mid-July, landing a minors deal with the Cards shortly thereafter. He’s made three starts for Triple-A Memphis with a 5.40 ERA.
The righty will crack the big leagues for the first time this year. He has 44 games of MLB experience from prior seasons, most of that coming with the Jays and Mariners back in 2017 and 2018. He’s only made six appearances in the show since then, having spent 2019 with the Hiroshima Carp of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Overall, has a 6.80 ERA in his 96 2/3 major league innings.
The starting rotation has been a weak part of the Cardinals’ roster all year. Matz struggled badly in the early going and got moved to the bullpen. He turned things around but is now on the injured list. Adam Wainwright has an unsightly 8.78 ERA on the year. Jordan Montgomery and Jack Flaherty were both traded prior to the deadline a couple of weeks ago.
Miles Mikolas has been the only solid pillar of the group this year, as he has a serviceable 4.27 ERA in 26 starts. The rest of the rotation currently consists of Wainwright and then players that have bounced to the bullpen and/or minors throughout the year in Dakota Hudson, Matthew Liberatore and Zack Thompson. Liberatore tossed eight shutty in his last outing but has a 5.72 ERA on the year overall. Hudson has a passable 4.31 ERA on the year but with just three of his outings being starts, and his 6.00 ERA in Triple-A is worrisome. Thompson is somewhat similar with a 3.96 ERA in the bigs, but in just one start and 16 relief appearances, while his Triple-A ERA is 8.65 this year.
Lawrence could make some starts down the stretch or perhaps serve in a multi-inning relief role behind someone in that group. There’s enough uncertainty that the Cards figure to need some innings one way or another as they look to get through a lost season.
Casey Jones you better watch your ERA
I mean
Casey Lawrence you better watch your IRA
Wait… what does he mean?
Feed the people?
Food for thought?
Forest Gump?
Who woulda thought?
*insert drop*
“We were sitting next to a millionaire the whole time!”
From a blue bird to a red bird. Wish him luck…
I bet I could even toss “shutty” inning like you described Libby doing.
Yeah… but eighty of ’em? Impressive outing
Can someone tell me what it means to toss ‘eighty shuttle?
I’ve been following baseball closely for many a decade but have never heard that term before.
Since Darragh references ERA in the same sentence, I suspect he meant “eight shutout”-
I’ve never heard “shutty” either… but I like it. “Eight shutty” sounds cool to me!
Ugh. The “eighty” was a typo but “shutty” is shorthand for “shutout innings.”
“‘Waino’ came in the other day and said, ‘Anybody going to beat seven shutty (innings)?'” Mikolas said Monday night.
thescore.com/news/1798555
It seems like a Canadian thing, as we say shutty for shutouts in hockey… Just a thought.
Stevie Shutt enters the room
Always funny when someone criticizes spelling but misspells the misspelling. . What is “eighty shuttle”?
Casey Lawrence will make your fan base cry.
He’ll probably be DFAd in a week or two anyway. I’m all for the tank at this point to get Flores a top 5 pick to work with.
Yeah and with the lottery there’s a chance for that #1. Not to mention that there’s only been 2 absolutely awful teams (KC and OAK) That leaves room for teams like the cardinals who are one step away, to snag a potential star and become a powerhouse in 2-4 years.
There was no crying.
I feel like the Cardinals are WAY too conservative with callups. That’s good and bad imo. On one hand, you don’t want to stunt development by pushing someone before they’re ready. But on the other hand, if there is playing time to be had, go ahead and call them up if they’ve performed at the lower levels. I would’ve much rather seen Thomas or McGreevy in this move
Whoa!
Why on gods green earth would they promote a 30 something pitcher instead of giving one of their younger prospects a taste and audition. This FO continues to baffle.
Furthermore Susan, I think they are on drugs…..marijuana cigarettes
Probably has something to do with money. Billionaire Bill DeWallet only cares about profits. Season is a total loss anyway so it doesn’t really matter.
Service time manipulation. Why call up young studs when you can keep them controllable longer by just filling the spots with aging minor league free agents?
So, instead of auditioning a young pitcher for a potential bullpen role next year, we bring up a 30-something pitcher to eat innings. Absolutely baffling.
Especially since Woodford will soon be back to fill in that long relief role, or just move Ver Hagen back into that role.
It’s Mo going for the higher draft pick. Or maybe now just two more spots to fill for 2024 rotation.
Scraping the bottom of the barrel, are we? They should’ve just cut Helsley’s rehab assignment a little short rather than bring in another sucky reliever.
Makes deciding who to release later on down the road easier. Lawrence, Motter, Fermin, Suarez and others are roster fillers until the team tries to reshape thing thi winter.