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Lou Brock Passes Away

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Cardinals legend Lou Brock passed away today at age 81.  According to Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Hall-of-Famer had been dealing with “a number of medical conditions in recent years.”

Over 19 seasons in the majors, Brock displayed nothing less than mastery of the basepaths, recording 938 stolen bases (from 1245 total chances).  Brock is the National League’s all-time stolen base leader, and his 118 steals in 1974 is also the league’s single-season record.  Only Rickey Henderson has more career steals in Major League history, and given how the stolen base has become a less-popular tactic in recent years, it certainly seems like Henderson and Brock will continue to reign atop the all-time steals list for decades to come.

Beyond the stolen bases, Brock was a big contributor all over the field.  Brock hit .293/.343/.410 over 11240 plate appearances and his 3023 career hits rank him 28th on the all-time hit list.  Brock was a six-time All-Star and won two World Series rings with the Cardinals, coming up big for St. Louis in the postseason.  Over 92 career World Series plate appearances, Brock hit a whopping .391/.424/.655 with four homers (while also going 14-for-16 on stolen base attempts).

A little over 15 and a half of Brock’s MLB seasons were spent with the Cards, and his 2289 games played in a St. Louis uniform is second behind Stan Musial on the franchise’s all-time list.  Ironically, Brock’s arrival in St. Louis was met with little fanfare, as he was part of a six-player trade with the Cubs in June 1964 that saw Brock and two other players join the Cardinals, while three other players (most notably accomplished starter Ernie Broglio) headed to Chicago.  As Hummel noted, many Cards fans and even players weren’t pleased at the trade, yet it has now gone down as one of the more famously lopsided deals in baseball history, not to mention a major plank of the ever-heated Cardinals/Cubs rivalry.

Brock went into Cooperstown as a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer in 1985, and his post-playing endeavors included some TV commentary work and a special instructor role for the Cardinals.  All of us at MLB Trade Rumors sent our condolences to Brock’s family, friends, and many fans.

Cardinals Make Multiple Roster Moves

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The Cardinals today made a series of roster moves, placing LHP Kwang-Hyun Kim on the 10-day injured list and activated Andrew Miller from the IL, via Anne Rogers of MLB.com. Additionally, they’ve swapped backup catchers, optioning Andrew Knizner and reinstating Matt Wieters from the injured list (courtesy of Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch).

According to Goold, Kim was taken to the hospital this morning due to a kidney ailment. He’ll be released today, and the Cardinals are optimistic that the lefty will pitch again this season once he undergoes treatment. His IL placement is retroactive to Wednesday, September 2.

With Kim slated to start Sunday’s game, the Cardinals will have to scramble to cobble together a starting rotation in the coming days. Indeed, Dakota Hudson, originally expected to start the second game of today’s doubleheader, will instead start tomorrow. The Cardinals will opt for a bullpen game in Saturday’s nightcap.

Kim, who inked a two-year, $8MM deal with the Cardinals following his success in the KBO, has been one of the most reliable pitchers in the St. Louis staff thus far, having notched a 0.83 ERA through his first 21 2/3 innings of MLB work (4 starts).

Meanwhile, neither Wieters nor Knizner has received much playing time with Yadier Molina hogging all the catcher reps in St. Louis, but the Cardinals will give the nod to the veteran Wieters, now healthy after suffering a broken toe. Miller will rejoin the Cardinal bullpen after missing 12 games due to left shoulder fatigue. He’s pitched just 5 2/3 innings for St. Louis this year, notching a 4.76 ERA and striking out 6 batters.

Quick Hits: Rangers, Andrus, Red Sox, Pérez, Cardinals, Cruz

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The Texas Rangers are paying Elvis Andrus for another two seasons at $14.25MM per season, but their long-time shortstop might have to start yielding minutes to Isiah Kiner-Falefa or Anderson Tejeda, writes Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News. While one consideration might be the $15MM vesting option the Rangers hold on Andrus for 2023, the fact is Andrus hasn’t provided positive value with the bat since 2016 and 2017, the only two seasons of his 12-year career with a wRC+ north of 100. The last remaining member of the Rangers’ back-to-back World Series squads in 2010 and 2011, Andrus long provided value with the glove to offset his subpar bat, but the defensive numbers have slipped a touch and, at his price point, the Rangers can’t afford for him to be a one- or two-dimensional player. Andrus himself admits that he’s been slow to adapt, saying in a quote provided by Grant, “The toughest thing for me is to not to believe my instincts during the game and to actually believe more in a piece of paper, or report. That’s where the game is right now. I think that’s what I’ve been a little hard-headed about.”

  • Boston Red Sox lefty Martin Pérez is glad he remained with the team through the trade deadline. The 29-year-old veteran is trying to do his part to mentor the young players on an inexperienced Boston staff, writes Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. Said Pérez, “I’ve been at this level for a couple of years and I’ve learned from a lot of guys. Now it’s time for me to let the youngest guys know what they have to do.” The Red Sox have leaned on Pérez in a season where they’ve lacked veteran options. Boston holds a $6.25MM option for Pérez next season, a reasonable price point for the kind of production he’s offered this season (4.07 ERA across 42 innings).
  • Jesus Cruz has cleared waivers and been outrighted to the Cardinals’ alternate site, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (via Twitter). Cruz was designated for assignment last week. Cruz, 25, appeared in just one game for the Cardinals this season, yielding 2 earned runs on 3 hits and a walk. Cruz has been in the Cardinals organization since 2017, marching steadily up the organizational ladder year-by-year. In 2019, he stuck out 13.1 batter per nine innings across Double-A and Triple-A, but struggled with his comman, surrendering 6.8 BB/9. He worked a 6.02 ERA across 61 1/3 innings between the two levels.

Cardinals Place Dexter Fowler On Injured List

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The Cardinals have placed outfielder Dexter Fowler on the injured list, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Fowler’s dealing with a stomach illness, so the club put him on the shelf as a precautionary measure because he’s taking medicine that could lower his immune system. He’ll miss a couple weeks, writes Goold, who adds that the Cardinals replaced Fowler with infielder Rangel Ravelo on their roster.

Fowler, who’s in his fourth season as a Cardinal, has been a a valuable part of their offense so far in 2020. The switch-hitting 34-year-old has taken 75 trips to the plate and slashed .279/.347/.485 with four home runs, all while getting the lion’s share of work in right field for a St. Louis team that’s 14-13 and in possession of the second wild-card spot in the National League.

Fowler aside, Tyler O’Neill and Harrison Bader are the only Cardinals outfielders who have appeared in double-digit games in the grass thus far. Fowler has been the most effective hitter of any of their outfielders, though, and fellow right field option Dylan Carlson has posted brutal production across the first 73 plate appearances of his career.

Cardinals Designate Jesus Cruz

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The Cardinals have designated right-hander Jesus Cruz for assignment, Anne Rogers of MLB.com tweets. They also activated reliever Ryan Helsley from the injured list and optioned lefty Rob Kaminsky.

The 25-year-old Cruz had a short run on the Cardinals’ 40-man roster, as the club selected him Aug. 18. He made one appearance as a Cardinal and yielded a pair of earned runs over a single inning of work. Cruz spent last season between Single-A and Double-A, where he combined for a 6.02 ERA and recorded 13.1 K/9 against 6.8 BB/9 over 61 1/3 frames.

Helsley threw 2 2/3 scoreless innings in late July, but he then became one of the many Cardinals who tested positive for the coronavirus, which put a temporary halt to their season. Now that he’s back, though, the 26-year-old could be a rather useful piece for St. Louis’ bullpen down the stretch. Helsley debuted in the majors last year and has since ridden a 97 mph fastball to a stingy 2.75 ERA (with a much less impressive 4.05 FIP), 7.78 K/9 and 2.25 BB/9 in 39 1/3 innings.

NL Central Trade Deadline Recap

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With the deadline in the rearview mirror, we’ll look back at each NL Central team’s trade activity over the past month.

Chicago Cubs

Cincinnati Reds

Milwaukee Brewers

Pittsburgh Pirates

St. Louis Cardinals

  • None

Cardinals Make Several Roster Moves

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The Cardinals have made four call-ups from their alternate training site, as left-hander Rob Kaminsky, first baseman John Nogowski, and right-handers Ryan Meisinger and Seth Elledge are all joining the active roster.  They will take the roster spots left open by infielder Max Schrock and righties Daniel Ponce de Leon and Junior Fernandez, who are all headed to the alternate site.  In addition, left-hander Ricardo Sanchez has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to pain in his throwing elbow.

Ponce de Leon, Fernandez, Sanchez, and even Schrock (in mop-up duty) pitched in last night’s 14-2 loss to the Indians.  Ponce de Leon started and lasted only two-thirds of an inning, allowing four runs on four walks and two hits.

This demotion won’t last long, as Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Ponce De Leon will be back as the 29th man for next weekend’s doubleheader against the Cubs.  As for Ponce De Leon’s normal starting spot, however, Johan Oviedo will now take a regular turn in the rotation.  Oviedo has made two starts already for the Cards this season, looking solid in posting a 3.60 ERA over 10 innings.

Sanchez’s ominous-sounding injury continues what has already been a difficult year for the 23-year-old, as he missed two weeks in July recovering from a COVID-19 diagnosis.  The southpaw did make his big league debut this season, posting a 6.75 ERA over 5 1/3 IP (three games).

NL Notes: Mozeliak, Cards, Pina, Gausman, Bumgarner

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While the Cardinals are still going to explore trade deadline opportunities, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told The Athletic’s Mark Saxon and other reporters that his club faces something of a unique roster crunch due to the coronavirus outbreak that ravaged the Cards earlier this month.  “I think that’s the biggest issue at hand for us, sort of navigating the health of the club vs. what potentially we could do in a trade,” Mozeliak said.  “Candidly, the timing of it [the deadline] is not ideal for us, as we start to unwind people coming off of COVID back onto the roster….What it is to say is we haven’t been a team together, with the exception of the first five days together.”

With a whopping seven players still to be activated from the COVID-19 injured list, 40-man roster considerations will start to become a mounting concern for the Cardinals in the coming days, and certainly not everyone will be back before Monday’s trade deadline.  One potential wrinkle, Mozeliak said, is that “other teams might be dealing with roster crunches, too, as they navigate Aug. 31,” and thus these rivals might not be as eager to make claims on any players the Cards might be forced to expose to waivers.

More from around the National League…

  • Manny Pina left tonight’s game with a right knee injury, the Brewers announced.  Pina suffered the injury while getting back to first base on a pickoff attempt during the second inning, and was replaced by Omar Narvaez.  The initial outlook isn’t good, as manager Craig Counsell told Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other reporters that Pina is on crutches and is having trouble putting weight on his right leg.  Pina is in his fifth year in Milwaukee and has been hitting respectably well, bringing a .231/.318/.410 slash line (roughly his career average) over 44 plate appearances coming into today’s doubleheader with the Reds.  Pina’s steady production has been helpful given Narvaez’s struggles this season, so Milwaukee would be particularly hampered behind the plate if Pina has to go on the injured list.  Jacob Nottingham and David Freitas are the only catchers with MLB experience at the Brewers’ alternate training site.
  • Kevin Gausman allowed two runs on three hits and two walks over 4 2/3 innings in the Giants’ 2-0 loss to the Dodgers today, and with the trade deadline looming on Monday, Gausman might well have thrown his last pitch in the black and orange…at least in 2020.  Gausman told Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group and other reporters that he would be open to re-signing with the Giants in free agency this winter, even if the club moves him prior to the deadline.  His preference, of course, is to not be dealt at all, though the right-hander’s overall quality work this season and rental player status makes him one of the trade deadline’s top candidates to be sent elsewhere.
  • Madison Bumgarner will throw a simulated game Saturday in the next step of his rehab plan, though Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including the Arizona Republic’s Mark Faller) that the southpaw is still over a week away from returning to action.  Assuming all goes well in the sim game, Lovullo said Bumgarner would still need another 7-10 days to ramp up for activation from the 10-day injured list.  Bumgarner has been out of action since August 10 due to a back strain.

Cardinals Place Andrew Miller On 10-Day Injured List

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The Cardinals placed lefty Andrew Miller on the 10-day injured list due to shoulder fatigue, the team announced.  Right-hander Junior Fernandez was activated from the injured list in a corresponding move.

Miller’s IL visit is apparently “just a recovery thing,” manager Mike Shildt told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters.  Like many other Cardinals players, Miller is still getting back up to full speed following the team’s coronavirus outbreak-driven stoppage in play.  To that end, Fernandez himself is returning after a positive COVID-19 sidelined him for much of the season, as the rookie has only appeared in one game this season.  Rogers also notes that infielder Edmundo Sosa was assigned to the Cardinals’ alternate training site after being activated today from the team’s coronavirus injured list.

Shildt feels Miller will be back after the 10-day minimum stay, saying that “he’s been a warrior and just was honest and said, ’I could probably keep going and pushing through it,’ but I think we’d all feel better if we could get it behind him.”

Miller has a 4.76 ERA through 5 2/3 innings this season, with the bulk of that damage coming in one tough outing (two earned runs over one-third of an inning) against the Cubs on August 19.  The left-hander has held opponents scoreless in five of his other six appearances this season.

Even a minimal visit to the injured list will create a bit of extra drama in regards to Miller’s contractual status.  His original two-year, $25MM deal carries a $12MM club option for 2021 that was originally set to become guaranteed with at least 110 games pitched over the 2019 and 2020 seasons.  Rogers writes that Miller is seven games short of triggering his vesting option, meaning that the 37 appearances he still required (after pitching in 73 games in 2019) was prorated down to 14 appearances, as per the normal prorated rate of a 60-game schedule.  Assuming Miller is back in 10 days or not much beyond, however, he should still have time left to bank his remaining seven games, though his usage down the stretch could be worth observing in the season’s final weeks.

Cardinals Activate Paul DeJong From Injured List

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The Cardinals have activated shortstop Paul DeJong from the injured list,as first reported by Anne Rogers of MLB.com (Twitter link). DeJong was one of seven players in the organization who tested positive for COVID-19 a few weeks back, but he’s fortunately returned to health and playing shape in short order. Right-hander Seth Elledge was optioned out to clear active roster space.

Ultimately, the Cards’ shortstop missed just eleven of the team’s games, although that’s largely a reflection of the club’s sixteen-day absence that stemmed from the outbreak. The sturdy DeJong has coupled league average offense with strong defensive metrics in recent years, settling in as an above-average everyday option. Tommy Edman picked up the bulk of shortstop work in DeJong’s absence, but he’s now free to return to a utility role.

More broadly, the Cardinals’ shutdown has placed the front office in something of an awkward position with the trade deadline just eight days away. As president of baseball operations John Mozeliak explained to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the club has an even smaller sample than most teams on which to self-assess.

From the outside, that seems it could be particularly tricky for St. Louis, which has solid players across the roster but few star-level performers beyond first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and ace Jack Flaherty. Barring a collapse in the next week, it’d be a surprise if St. Louis weren’t approaching deadline season with a buyer’s mentality. It’ll be fascinating to see how Mozeliak and the rest of the front office approach a deadline with far less information than any other.

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