The Cardinals will shut down starting pitcher Steven Matz for at least two weeks, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told reporters (including Katie Woo of The Athletic). The southpaw suffered a lat strain after his latest start on Saturday, August 12. Mozeliak said Matz will be completely shut down for at least 15 days and is unlikely to throw for at least three weeks. With fewer than seven weeks to go in the regular season, Matz may be done for the year.
The Cardinals placed Matz on the 15-day IL this afternoon, retroactive to August 13. A corresponding roster move has yet to be announced. However, he will be replaced in the rotation by fellow left-hander Zack Thompson, who is already on the 26-man roster. Thompson has made 17 appearances for the Cardinals this season, 16 out of the bullpen. He has a 3.96 ERA and 3.32 SIERA in 25 innings pitched. In his lone MLB start, he went four innings, allowing two hits and one earned run. He struck out eight. A former first-round pick, Thompson has started nine of 11 Triple-A appearances this season. He struggled to an 8.65 ERA while walking a staggering 21.8% of opposing hitters there.
Matz’s injury also ensures that Adam Wainwright will make at least one more start. The veteran was removed from his latest outing in the second inning after giving up eight runs on nine hits. Understandably, the Cardinals have given their longest-tenured player a long leash this season, but as he continues to struggle, his spot in the rotation seems less and less secure. The 41-year-old has an 8.78 ERA and a 5.67 SIERA in 15 starts.
The Cardinals have starting pitchers Connor Thomas and Drew Rom on the 40-man, and either would be a candidate to replace Wainwright in the rotation. Thomas, a 25-year-old left-hander, is in the midst of his third season at Triple-A and should be ready to make his MLB debut. Rom, whom the Cardinals acquired in the Jack Flaherty trade, made a strong first impression in his first start for Triple-A Memphis. The 23-year-old went five innings, giving up a single earned run and striking out 10.
Matz will be missed in the Cardinals rotation, but ultimately, the team has no reason to rush him back from the IL. Their 52-66 record has them firmly out of the postseason picture, and they have the depth to get by without him. He is under contract through 2025, and the team’s priority will be getting him back to full health for 2024.
It is certainly a good idea to take things slow with a pitcher like Matz, who has dealt with a number of injuries throughout his career. The nine-year MLB veteran was attempting to finish his first-ever season without a stint on the injured list. This isn’t his first left lat strain, either; he spent 57 days on the IL with a lat strain in 2015.
The 32-year-old got off to a rough start in 2023, posting a 5.72 ERA in his first ten starts. His strikeout rate was down, his walk rate was up, and he was missing velocity on his sinker. The Cardinals moved him to the bullpen in late May, where he almost immediately turned things around. In 16 innings out of the ’pen, he had a 2.81 ERA and 3.65 SIERA. His strikeout rate remained low, but he got his walks in check and regained his missing velocity.
Matz returned to the rotation on July 9 and continued to succeed. He maintained his velocity while reducing his walk rate even further, pitching to a 1.86 ERA in seven starts. If he cannot return in 2023, his strong performance over those final seven starts puts him in a good position to earn a spot in the Cardinals rotation next spring.
Here it is, dude was just tearing it up… tale of two seasons, just look at the tape
Now it’s Time for Thompson to demonstrate
Positive message procreate next seasons fate
Only August and the season appears to be over for Matz and the Mets
I heard little stevie, is down with a lat strain also, cause he’s just a little guy. Still trying to get good players for his crap players? Lol.
As they say in the South, “bless his heart”
Gotta love Wainwright, but he’s starting to be embarrassing.
Yeah, but at this point, what does it matter if the Cardinals continue to lose the games he starts? His spot should be secure at least until the AAA season ends, as the guys starting there aren’t really dominating and can continue to develop just as easily pitching in Memphis. Heck, last start notwithstanding, Liberatore would still be in the AAA rotation had the Cardinals not traded away two starting pitchers recently.
But what’s the point of starting him if he can’t pitch at the MLB level anymore?
It eventually happens to every pitcher, even Hall of Famers like Steve Carlton and Tom Glavine.
Marmol needs to have that difficult, uncomfortable convo with Wainwright to move to the pen. With Matz out, they need the innings and he’s not going to demote himself. Let the Cards legend ride it out.
Or stop using him in favor of younger guys, but carry him on the roster for the rest of the season as a courtesy for his years of service.
Or convince him to accept that he’s done and just step aside a few weeks early.
The point is to let him end his career on his own terms and maybe get those last 2 wins he needs for 200 career wins. Like I said, it doesn’t matter how badly he pitches.
You said it doesn’t matter if they lose the games he starts.
But in the next breath, you said they want him to get two more wins.
If he is to get those wins, it certainly does matter if they lose the games he starts.
However, if he can no longer perform at a certain level, he won’t win any more games anyway, which renders the entire issue moot.
What makes anyone think he can get guys out coming out of the pen? Like that magically fixes everything.
@cah I didn’t say he can be effective out of the pen. The point is to minimize the damage. Meanwhile, there’s the conundrum of getting him to 200 wins and needing the innings with Matz out. It’s a difficult situation but DFA’ing Wainwright isn’t an option for the Cards org.
But shutting him down is one option, and convincing him to step aside a few weeks early in favor of younger guys is another.
I doubt his ego is so fragile that he can’t or won’t deal with the elephant (or bird) in the room.
I said it doesn’t matter if the Cardinals lose those games, as in the team record doesn’t matter. The statistical milestone is a separate matter.
He might still get lucky and get those last two pitcher wins even if he mostly sucks for the rest of the season and the Cardinals need to win a couple of shootouts to get him those wins. Their offense is more capable of it than most.
However, if the Cardinals remove him from the rotation, then he has almost no shot at all of getting them unless he manages to vulture a couple of wins out of the bullpen.
But what difference does it really make in the grand scheme of things?
Baseball history is littered with guys who retired just short of this and other arbitrary round numbers.
A look at the leaderboard shows that Jack Chesbro and Bucky Walters each finished with 198 wins, and Dennis Eckersley and five other guys had 197.
He might not even care much about it himself, and certainly wouldn’t want to resort to some kind of gimmick to make it happen. There’s a good chance that fans and the media are more focused on it than he is.
He has had a great career even if he doesn’t take the mound again.
Simply because it’s a nice gesture to let him finish on his own terms and do all he can to chase the milestone in a year the Cardinals aren’t contending. They owe him that much. Nobody likes being effectively forced into retirement midseason. Plus, he does personally care about the milestone to a certain degree.
It’s no more of a gimmick to get those last two wins in shootouts than any of the others he’s gotten in a similar manner over the course of his career.
Looks like he’s going to log that 125th loss tonight. Is that an important milestone?
But why limit his pitch count and pull him after only six innings when it’s so close to the end? What are they saving him for?
And nobody owes anyone anything. What a ridiculous cliche.
It’s a very unsightly decline of talent.
He sure didn’t wane right.
Lat strains sure take a long time to heal
As a Cubs fan, I don’t understand why Waino doesn’t get starts until he says so. The season is over and It only helps the Cards to lose at this point. He’s not been not good for some time. Imho, it’s not embarrassing and it doesn’t diminish the guy’s excellent career. It’s not an ideal, storybook ending so far, but if he wants 200, he’s deserved the chance to keep trying.
As a Cardinal fan (and Waino is my personal favorite Cardinal of all time), I think as soon as he’s blocking a young kid from getting a start, Waino should step aside.
I want to see him get to 200, but not like this.
Cardinal fans are looking past this season and the team has a lot of work to do to get the pitching sorted out for 2024. Waino has had enough time to make a go at 200.
Unless this turns around immediately, it’s time, my dude.
Thanks for all you’ve done: it’s been a blast and a pleasure, but hurting the team for next year is simply not acceptable.
Nobody’s getting blocked until the AAA season ends, especially with Matz now on the IL. The prospects can continue to develop just as easily in the AAA rotation.
Well, I guess the rotation is now Mikolas and pray for rain.
Sorry, I didn’t mean for this to be a reply.
Well, I guess the rotation is now Mikolas and pray for rain.