TODAY: The Cardinals have officially announced Carlson’s activation. Pages was optioned to make room for the center fielder on the club’s active roster.
May 4: The Cardinals are set to activate outfielder Dylan Carlson from the 10-day injured list tomorrow, according to The Athletic’s Katie Woo. Catcher Pedro Pages is expected to be optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move. Woo also relays that left-hander Matthew Liberatore is expected to move from the bullpen to the rotation to take the ball in tomorrow afternoon’s game against the White Sox.
Carlson, 25, appeared poised to enter the season as the everyday center fielder in St. Louis until a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder sidelined him just before Opening Day. In his absence, the Cardinals have scuffled to a 15-18 start that leaves them just half a game out of last place in the NL Central. Much of those struggles can be attributed to a lack of offense from the club’s lineup, which has posted a collective 86 wRC+ that ranks sixth from the bottom in the majors. That figure has been dragged down by brutal offensive production from the club’s outfield mix, which to this point in the season has consisted of a combination of Lars Nootbaar, Brendan Donovan, Jordan Walker, Alec Burleson, Victor Scott II, and Michael Siani. With Donovan’s 92 wRC+ leading the pack, Cardinals outfielders have combined for a paltry slash line of .188/.268/.294 with an NL-worst wRC+ of 66.
Given those significant struggles, Carlson’s return to action is welcome news for fans in St. Louis even as he himself is far from a sure thing offensively. The club’s first-round pick in the 2016 draft, Carlson was a consensus top-20 prospect in the sport when he reached the majors during the shortened 2020 season and earned a third-place finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting during his first full campaign the following year. While he hit a solid .266/.343/.437 in 149 games that year, he’s struggled to repeat that production over the past two seasons. Since the start of the 2022 campaign, Carlson has slashed just .230/.316/.364 with a below-average 94 wRC+ in 204 combined games. Still, those numbers are at least decent for a center fielder and would represent a major upgrade over the club’s current production at the position, where is hitting .182/.280/.227 with a wRC+ of 56.
As for Liberatore, the 24-year-old has performed admirably in 12 appearances out of the bullpen this season with a 2.76 ERA in 16 1/3 innings, but a lackluster 16.4% strikeout rate and a much higher 4.18 FIP suggest that the lefty’s solid results have benefited from good fortune. While those questionable peripherals aren’t necessarily a reason for the Cardinals to avoid using him in the rotation, starting Liberatore is nonetheless a confusing choice given the lefty hasn’t thrown more than 38 pitches in a game since March and has struggled badly in the role throughout his major league career with a 5.72 ERA through 18 starts.
It’s not yet clear if Liberatore’s move to the rotation is a sign that he’s the club’s long-term replacement for veteran lefty Steven Matz, who is reportedly expected to miss at least “a couple of weeks” with a lower back strain, or if Liberatore’s start tomorrow will merely be a spot start before he passes the baton to one of the club’s other options, such as southpaw Zack Thompson or prospect Sem Robberse. Thompson made two starts for the club earlier this season but was optioned to Triple-A after allowing ten runs in 3 1/3 innings of work following a move to the bullpen, while Robberse has dominated Triple-A to the tune of a 1.77 ERA in six starts but has yet to make his major league debut.
Neither Libertore nor Matz should be starters. When is Tink coming up?
You’re wrong mario
Wrong about what? Matz was a lot better out of the bullpen last year. As a starter, he’s averaging 4 innings a game with an awful ERA. Libertore so far is much better out of the bullpen though this article says some of that is luck.
Today’s “lack of offense” was on full display as they had bases loaded with no out in the bottom of the 10th, and couldn’t push across one run to tie the game. Very sporadic at best.
Anything Carlson can contribute offensively will definitely help.
Too bad he can’t really contribute anything more than what they have.
Actually buffoon he’d be a welcome addition to the team as we have no offense especially from OF/CF. He looked great in ST as well. Maybe get in touch with reality before commenting Zuckerbug
Chill out bro. I’d call it fair to be pessimistic about Carlson’s output given his embarassing track record the last 2 seasons
You may want to get in touch with the concept of the importance of spring training statistics before commenting
Yes, but that ump wanted the game to be over. That 3rd strike call against Herrera was awful. Wasn’t even close.
Agree Kyle. That last pitch was not close to being a strike. Every game should have a set number of challenges to the strike zone. Or just replace the umpires with the automatic strike zone.
I thought it wasn’t a bad idea for Cards to carry 3 catchers so Contreras can DH. Should release Crawford. Donovan can still play all over with Fermin backing up short. Crawford had a great career but he’s gotten too big . Not good now with bat or glove
Fermin is never going to be any answer to any club
When will Marmol be relieved of his duties? There is something about that guy.
He needs to go along with some of Pirates coaches!
It’s really too bad that the Cards have fallen so far. They have always had a very good to excellent manager going back to Red Schoendienst and they always had a farm system that was nails and a front office that did it the right way… now ……not so much.
@3 finger split
Yes it’s dark times here in red bird nation
You know what is extraordinary to me…and it doesn’t feel like St. Louis FO appreciates it like they should…I can’t believe the crowds they pull in. I think I saw 35,000 on a Monday night against a so-so team. Now that’s loyalty. Card fans are truly special because I don’t think they offer cheaper tickets than average. Their fans deserve better.
@ignorant sob
Your right about ticket prices there not much cheaper than other places, and I think the fo got complacent and history but that shtick is running thin. Right now they draw a crowd but they don’t pull there heads out there a’s your going have 5k in the seats and the rest half watching at home but disengaged. Most of step is a working town with not a lot of extra money to spend on entertainment, so when we spend on stuff like that we want value out of it.
Train wreck of a ball club. Or would it be a dumpster fire…?
It’s a train of flaming dumpsters being pulled by a lawnmower driven by a circus clown
The Cards will go nowhere till they get an adult at manager and pitching coach
Must be a good feeling for Carlson. The organization basically saying they’d be glad to be rid of him at one point last year, to hailing him as a returning hero six months later.
I’m glad he’s back, but Sianni wasn’t even the weakest link in the line up.
We’re at a point where it can’t keep being called a slow start. This offense is just massively underperforming. It’s probably not a coincidence that the least coachable hitter (Contreras) is having the best season. Turner Ward needs fired. Several regulars need sent down or sat down. DO SOMETHING!
Nothing against Dylan Carlson, but he is nowhere near talented enough to save this team.
The fact that the team alternates between huge support for Carlson and dumping on him has been a big part of the problem. I’d like to see him traded to see what he can do with good coaching and management.
I’d still like to know why he was thrown under the bus to end the Soto trade fantasy.
You guys deserve so much better from the front office and management. What other team can pull 30-35K on a Monday night?? Fan loyalty in Red Bird Land is unfathomable. They can’t take that for granted. (Edited to say what team below .500 or who isn’t the Yankees or Dodgers.)
They need to start Burleson every day. He would out hit that entire group of OFs .
They also arent winning squat this year so start Libertorefor the rest of 2024 and really see what he is. This up and down bs they do to players does zero to help anyone.
And let Herrera catch.
Best case scenario is that he gets off to a hot start and they are able to move him before the deadline for a decent haul. He’s never going to be the player they thought they had after his rookie year.
the cards are really bad, thanks moe
Losing 2 out of 3 to the White Sox at home should be the last straw. The team is mostly healthy. There are no excuses left to offer. It isn’t bad luck or some kind of statistical anomaly. The Cardinals just suck. They need major organizational changes before they can hope to get better.
The boycott needs to begin in earnest. If you are attending games after today, you are part of the problem.
Agreed. Someone needs to be fired today even if just for symbolic reasons. I’d start with the hitting coach. We’re bottoms three in the league in almost every hitting category.
Why wasn’t Gorman in the lineup, and Nootbaar batting ninth? Did he get on Marmol’s naughty list ??? Yikes.
Marmol really needs to stop letting Libertore start and he needs to stop letting Gallegos pitch at all.
Marmol needs to be relieved of his duties. Cards not winning anything with him running the show.
The front office should ask their players with NTC’s what franchise they would be willing to relocate to because after this weekend it’s clear this team is going nowhere. Nuke the coaching staff. Start fresh and after the whole unknown regarding broadcasting gets ironed out maybe they can put together a decent squad.