Cardinals Designate Luis Peralta For Assignment
The Cardinals designated lefty Luis Peralta for assignment Friday, the team announced. His 40-man roster spot goes to fellow southpaw Jared Shuster, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Memphis. The Cards opened an active roster spot by optioning righty Hunter Dobbins to Triple-A following yesterday’s season debut.
St. Louis only claimed Peralta off waivers out of the Rockies organization three days ago. He’s yet to even pitch in a game in their system and will now be in limbo for up to a week as he awaits the outcome of this morning’s DFA. The Cardinals will have five days to either trade Peralta or place him back on outright waivers. Since outright waivers are a 48-hour process, it could take up to seven days for a resolution.
The 25-year-old Peralta has pitched in parts of two big league seasons, both with the Rockies. He’s logged 31 1/3 MLB frames and been charged with 21 earned runs (6.03 ERA) on 33 hits, 23 walks and four hit batters. He’s fanned 30 of his 150 opponents. Peralta is effectively a two-pitch reliever, working off a four-seamer that averages 94.7 mph and a curveball that sits 81.7 mph. He mixes in an extremely occasional mid-80s changeup; only two percent of his MLB pitches have been changeups.
Peralta had a huge 2024 season in the minors, logging a pristine 0.94 ERA with a 40.1% strikeout rate and 11.2% walk rate in 47 2/3 innings across three minor league levels. He’s been hit hard and missed time with a hip injury over the two subsequent seasons. If the Cardinals can succeed in passing him through waivers, he’ll have to head back to Triple-A Memphis, as he lacks the prior outright or three years of MLB service time needed to reject an outright assignment to the minors. He’s already been claimed once and has a pair of minor league options remaining, however, so it’s possible another club will scoop him up.
Shuster has already had one stint with the Cards this season. The 27-year-old pitched 3 2/3 innings and allowed two runs before being designated for assignment, clearing waivers and accepting an outright assignment to Memphis.
A former first-round pick by the Braves, Shuster has pitched in parts of four major league seasons without much success. He owns a lifetime 5.26 ERA in 145 1/3 innings and has posted strikeout and walk rates that are both worse than league average. He’s been tagged for nine earned runs in 9 2/3 Triple-A frames this season.
It could very well be another short stay on the roster for Shuster. The Cardinals needed a fresh arm in the bullpen after Dobbins was chased in the fifth inning yesterday. They needed five relievers to get through the rest of the game. All five threw at least 15 pitches. Ryne Stanek and JoJo Romero have both pitched on consecutive days and combined for 37 and 38 pitches, respectively. The Cards would probably prefer to stay away from either, if possible.
Cardinals Outright Jared Shuster
Left-hander Jared Shuster went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment, the Cardinals announced Thursday. He’s been assigned outright to Triple-A Memphis. As a player who’s previously been outrighted, he’ll have the right to decline that assignment in favor of free agency.
A former first-round pick (Braves, 2020), Shuster signed a minor league contract with the Cardinals this past December. He was selected to the major league roster in early April and appeared in two games, tossing a total of 3 2/3 innings out of the bullpen. Opponents scored a pair of runs on the strength of two hits and two walks in that short span. Shuster fanned only one of the 15 batters he faced.
This marks the fourth season in which the 27-year-old Shuster has logged some big league time. The Wake Forest product has a 5.26 ERA through 145 1/3 innings in the majors, due in large part to sub-par strikeout and walk rates of 15.3% and 10.2%. He’s a fly-ball pitcher who’s never given up much hard contact, but Shuster’s inability to miss bats and penchant for free passes have led to too much traffic on the bases behind him.
Shuster’s run-prevention numbers in Triple-A generally mirror those big league rates. He’s missed a few more bats and walked hitters at a slightly lower rate in the upper minors, as one would expect, but the lefty hasn’t posted quality all-around results since a 2022 season split between Double-A and Triple-A. Shuster sits just over 92 mph with his heater and couples that pitch with a mid-80s slider and low-80s changeup. He tinkered with an upper-80s cutter during his brief look with St. Louis and got good results on the pitch in a minuscule sample.
Shuster is out of minor league options, so if he’s added back to the big league roster at any point, he’ll need to stick in the majors or else go through this DFA cycle again if the Cardinals want to send him down.
Cardinals Designate Jared Shuster For Assignment
The Cardinals announced that right-hander Ryan Fernandez has been recalled from Triple-A Memphis. To open a spot for him, left-hander Jared Shuster has been designated for assignment. The 40-man roster count drops to 39.
Shuster, 27, was just selected to the St. Louis roster a little over a week ago. He made two appearances since then, including a relatively long outing yesterday. Starter Andre Pallante allowed the Red Sox to score seven times in five innings. George Soriano threw one inning and then Shuster spared the rest of the bullpen by tossing three innings, allowing two runs on 50 pitches. Presumably, Shuster would not have been available for a few days after throwing that much. Instead of continuing with the bullpen a bit shorthanded, the Cards have knocked Shuster into DFA limbo.
The lefty was once a notable prospect but his big league career hasn’t panned out as hoped. Atlanta took him 25th overall back in 2020. He was later flipped to the White Sox as part of the Aaron Bummer deal in November of 2023. Last year, he ended up on waivers and went to the Athletics. He was outrighted off the roster at season’s end and was later released, which led to a minor league deal with the Cards.
Along the way, Shuster exhausted his three option seasons. He has thrown 145 1/3 big league innings with a 5.26 earned run average. His 15.3% strikeout rate, 10.2% walk rate and 36.7% ground ball rate are all subpar figures.
He’ll now be in DFA limbo for a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Cards could take five days to field trade interest, but they might also put him on waivers sooner than that. If any other club acquires him, he is out of options but he has under two years of service time. That means he hasn’t yet qualified for arbitration and is theoretically controllable for many years, though he would have to put up some good numbers somewhere for that to be a consideration. Since he has a previous career outright, he would have the right to elect free agency if he is outrighted again.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images
Cardinals Select Jared Shuster
The Cardinals are selecting the contract of left-hander Jared Shuster, as relayed by Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat. Lefty Nick Raquet was designated for assignment in the corresponding move, while right-hander Chris Roycroft was optioned to the minor leagues.
Shuster, 27, was once a first-round pick by Atlanta back in 2020. He made his big league debut in 2023 to some fanfare, although he ultimately struggled with a lackluster 5.81 ERA and 5.38 FIP in 11 starts for the Braves that year. Shuster was traded to the White Sox as part of the Aaron Bummer deal prior to the 2024 season, and with the White Sox he pitched primarily out of the bullpen. Across two years in Chicago, Shuster posted a 4.96 ERA with a 4.30 FIP in 89 innings split between six starts and 45 relief outings. His numbers were even lackluster at Triple-A, and Shuster eventually found himself designated for assignment and outrighted off the roster. He posted a 6.94 ERA in 35 Triple-A innings last year between the White Sox and Athletics organizations.
Headed into 2026, Shuster signed with the Cardinals on a minor league deal but was unable to secure a spot on the roster during Spring Training after surrendering five runs in five innings of work throughout camp. Shuster has made just one appearance at Triple-A Memphis since then, where he surrendered four runs on five hits (including a home run) in three innings of work. Lackluster as his results have been at all levels in recent times, however, the Cardinals have still opted to turn to him as a short-term innings eater for their bullpen.
Making room for Shuster on the 40-man roster is Raquet, a 30-year-old lefty who made his big league debut for the Cardinals last year. He threw two scoreless innings in the majors but struggled at Triple-A last year, with a 5.19 ERA across 17 1/3 innings of work. While Raquet both posted decent enough numbers during Spring Training and at Triple-A so far this year, that wasn’t enough to hold onto his roster spot. The Cardinals will now have one week to either trade Raquet or attempt to pass him through waivers. If he goes unclaimed by the rest of the league, the former third-round pick by the Nationals can be outrighted to the minors as non-roster depth for St. Louis for the remainder of the 2026 campaign.
As for Roycroft, the righty has cobbled together 58 2/3 innings of work for the Cardinals in an up-and-down relief role over the past three seasons. He’s struggled to a 5.98 ERA in those outings, but as an optionable relief arm who’s still on the right side of 30 he could continue getting chances when the Cardinals bullpen needs an extra arm throughout the year. For now, he’ll head to Triple-A (where he has a career ERA of 3.85) to await his next opportunity in the big leagues.
Cardinals, Jared Shuster Agree To Minor League Deal
The Cardinals have agreed to a minor league contract with lefty Jared Shuster, reports MLB Network’s Jon Morosi. He’ll invited to major league camp next spring.
A first-round pick by Atlanta back in 2020, Shuster has pitched in parts of three big league seasons between the Braves and White Sox, combining to toss 141 2/3 frames. He’s been tagged for an ugly 5.27 ERA in that time. The 6’3″ southpaw has done a nice job avoiding hard contact to this point in his career (87.7 mph average exit velocity, 34% hard-hit rate) but doesn’t miss bats or limit walks at even average levels. He’s fanned only 15.5% of his opponents and issued walks at a 10.1% clip in the bigs.
Shuster, 27, sits 90-92 mph with his four-seamer as a starter and couples the pitch with a slider and changeup, both checking into the low 80s with their respective average velocities. He was averaging 92.6 mph on his fastball as a full-time reliever last year, but his results both in the majors and upper minors were rough.
The Cardinals have plenty of opportunity on the pitching staff, be it in the bullpen or the rotation. For now, the rotation figures to include Matthew Liberatore, Michael McGreevy, Dustin May and Kyle Leahy. Andre Pallante will be a candidate to make starts but has also pitched in relief.
Trade acquisitions Richard Fitts (Sonny Gray) and Hunter Dobbins (Willson Contreras) join prospects Quinn Mathews, Brycen Mautz and Tink Hence as possible 2026 rotation candidates. In the bullpen, veteran JoJo Romero and 30-year-old rookie Nick Raquet (who tossed his first two MLB frames in 2025) are the only options on the 40-man roster — and Romero is very likely to be traded prior to spring training.
A’s Outright Three Players
The A’s announced that three pitchers have gone unclaimed on outright waivers: righty Anthony Maldonado and left-handers Ben Bowden and Jared Shuster. Maldonado and Bowden have each elected free agency, as is their right as players who have been outrighted more than once in their careers. This is the first outright for Shuster, so he’ll be assigned to Triple-A Las Vegas and remain in the system going into 2026.
These were three of five players whom the A’s placed on waivers this week. Righty Michel Otañez and catcher Willie MacIver were claimed by Texas. This gets their 40-man roster count down to 38. All teams need to be at or below 40 by Thursday, when they’re required to activate everyone from the 60-day injured list.
Maldonado was a waiver claim from Miami last winter. The A’s outrighted him shortly before the start of Spring Training but put him back on the roster in May. He held his 40-man spot for the remainder of the season but spent most of his time on optional assignment to Triple-A Las Vegas. The 27-year-old posted a 5.10 ERA despite an impressive 29% strikeout rate at the top minor league level. Maldonado walked almost 12% of opponents and gave up a decent number of home runs across 47 2/3 frames. He only pitched six times for the A’s at the MLB level, allowing eight runs on a trio of homers in six innings.
Bowden, 31, signed an offseason minor league contract. The 6’4″ southpaw had not pitched in the big leagues since his 2021 rookie season in Colorado. He made it back to the highest level early in the second half. Bowden posted a 1.36 ERA over 39 2/3 Triple-A innings to get an MLB look. He tossed 10 2/3 frames over 11 appearances, allowing six runs (five earned) with seven strikeouts and five walks. He went down with a season-ending lat strain in August.
Shuster, the only member of this trio who’ll stick with the organization, is probably the most well-known. That’s mostly a testament to his status as a former first-round pick of the Braves. He has pitched in parts of three MLB campaigns between Atlanta and the White Sox. The Wake Forest product carries a career 5.27 ERA with a well below-average 15.1% strikeout percentage in 141 2/3 innings. The A’s claimed him off waivers from Chicago around the trade deadline. He spent the rest of the season in Triple-A, where he was tagged for nearly a run per inning with seven strikeouts and walks apiece over 10 appearances.
Athletics Designate Gio Urshela For Assignment, Claim Jared Shuster
The Athletics announced that they have claimed left-hander Jared Shuster off waivers from the White Sox and sent him to Triple-A Las Vegas.. The latter club designated him for assignment earlier this week. To open a 40-man spot, the A’s designated infielder Gio Urshela for assignment. Infielder Brett Harris has been recalled to take Urshela’s active roster spot.
Shuster, 27, was once a notable prospect in Atlanta’s system. He hasn’t yet delivered at the major league level, with a 5.27 earned run average in 141 2/3 innings. His minor league track record has been better overall but has been trending in the wrong direction lately. He tossed 212 1/3 minor league innings over 2021 and 2022 with a 3.69 ERA, 27.4% strikeout rate and 6.8% walk rate. But since then, he has 114 innings with a 5.37 ERA, 18.1% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate.
For the A’s, it’s understandable they’d grab him off waivers. They’re out of contention here in 2025 and can prioritize the long term. Shuster is in his final option year. He’ll be out of options next year but he can be stashed in Triple-A for now. The A’s can get a close-up look at him and see if he can get back on track in the next few weeks. If not, they can perhaps run him through waivers in the offseason and keep him as non-roster depth next year.
One way or another, if he clicks while in the system, there would be long-term benefits. He has just over two years of service time, meaning he hasn’t yet qualified for arbitration and could theoretically be controlled for four seasons after this one.
Urshela, on the other hand, doesn’t have any long-term benefit to the A’s. His 34th birthday is just over the horizon. He was signed in the offseason to a one-year deal with a $2.15MM guarantee to provide a stable veteran presence in an infield with a lot of youth and uncertainty. Unfortunately, he has hit just .238/.287/.326 this season. His wRC+ has dropped for a third consecutive year and is now down to 68. His previously-excellent defensive metrics have slid below the mean.
By claiming Shuster and bumping out Urshela, the A’s add a younger pitcher who could potentially help them in the future. Meanwhile, Urshela’s playing time at third base can go to younger guys like Harris or Max Schuemann.
With the trade deadline having passed, Urshela will end up on waivers in the coming days. Given his performance this year and his salary, he’s sure to clear. He has enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency while still collecting the remainder of that salary. The A’s might skip that formality and release him. Once on the open market, they will still be on the hook for that money. If Urshela ends up on another big league roster, the signing club would only owe him the prorated portion of the league minimum salary for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the A’s pay.
Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images
White Sox Designate Jared Shuster For Assignment
The White Sox announced Wednesday that they’ve reinstated lefty Martin Perez from the 60-day injured list. Triple-A lefty Jared Shuster was designated for assignment to clear a spot on the 40-man roster. Reliever Cam Booser was optioned to Triple-A to open a spot on the active roster.
Perez has been out since April 18 due to a flexor strain. He pitched quite well through his first four starts (3.15 ERA in 20 innings) but wasn’t healthy enough to develop into a potential trade deadline chip, as the rebuilding White Sox probably hoped when signing him to a one-year, $5MM contract over the winter.
Perez pitched a combined 6 2/3 innings over a pair of minor league rehab starts and will now at least get the opportunity to eat some innings for the Sox down the stretch — all while looking to showcase his health for interested clubs in the offseason. Perez’s deal contains a mutual option, but it’s been more than a decade since both ends of a mutual option was exercised by team and player alike. He’s all but certain to become a free agent again in November.
Shuster, 27, was a first-round pick of the Braves back in 2020 (No. 25 overall). He came to the South Side by way of the 2023 Aaron Bummer swap — a deal that netted the Sox five players but was more of a volume play wherein Chicago picked up several former top prospects in hopes of turning a couple of them around. It hasn’t panned out. Braden Shewmake, Michael Soroka and Nicky Lopez have all since been cut loose. With Shuster now designated for assignment and perhaps on his way out the door, 25-year-old righty Riley Gowens is the most promising remnant of that return. He’s posted a 4.05 ERA through 100 innings in his second go-around at the Double-A level and is not ranked among the system’s 30 best prospects.
In his two seasons with the ChiSox, Shuster has made 51 appearances — all but six of them out of the bullpen — and pitched a combined 89 innings with a 4.96 earned run average. He’s fanned only 16.9% of his opponents and turned in a 9.4% walk rate. Both, particularly the strikeout rate, are worse than league average.
Shuster has been up and down this season. Between his frequent shuttling from Chicago to Charlotte (where the Sox’ Triple-A club plays) and a 15-day IL stint due to blisters on his pitching hand, he’s pitched just 22 1/3 innings in Triple-A and 15 1/3 frames in the majors. His minor league work this year has also been lackluster, evidenced by a 6.04 ERA. Shuster’s 19.8% strikeout rate and 6.6% walk rate in Charlotte are at least moderately more encouraging than his MLB rate stats, but he’s also averaged two homers per nine innings pitched in Triple-A this year.
Shuster will be out of minor league options next year, so he was always a long shot to stick on the roster into next year’s camp. With the trade deadline behind us, he’ll be placed on waivers within the next five days. Shuster hasn’t been outrighted in the past and doesn’t have three years of MLB service, so if he goes unclaimed he’ll stick with the White Sox via an outright assignment to Charlotte.
White Sox Sign Tyler Alexander, Place Jared Shuster On 15-Day IL
The White Sox announced that left-hander Tyler Alexander has been signed to a Major League contract, worth the MLB minimum salary. To create roster space, the Sox placed left-hander Jared Shuster on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to June 5) due to a blister on his throwing hand, and southpaw Fraser Ellard was moved from the 15-day to the 60-day IL.
Alexander’s stint on the open market didn’t last long, as it was just two days ago that the southpaw rejected the Brewers’ outright assignment in favor of free agency. Milwaukee signed Alexander to a one-year, $1MM contract in February, but designated him for assignment last week after he posted a 6.19 ERA over 36 1/3 innings and 21 appearances for the Brew Crew. His 4.26 SIERA is more forgiving, as Alexander’s ERA was inflated by a .331 BABIP and an absurdly low 47.2% strand rate (far below the 71.7% league average). He also had a respectable 7.3% walk rate, but struck out batters at only an 18.3% clip.
A team with fewer pitching options might have kept Alexander around as a swingman or long relief arm, but the Brewers have gone from being drastically thin on rotation options to a borderline surplus of arms now that some of their injured hurlers have returned to action. While Alexander’s results weren’t much to speak of, his ability to eat some innings and make a few spot starts helped the Brewers navigate that early-season pitching shortage.
Alexander will now take on a depth role with his hometown team, as the left-hander was born in Chicago in 1994 before moving on to play his high school and college ball in Texas. Alexander joins Brandon Eisert and Cam Booser as the southpaw options in the White Sox bullpen, and he might be in line for the occasional start as the Sox continue to try and solidify their rotation. Jonathan Cannon went on the 15-day IL earlier this week due to a back strain, and Chicago has cycled through a number of rotation candidates while trying to fill the void left by Martin Perez‘s possibly-season-ending flexor strain.
Shuster technically made two “starts” working as an opener in his most recent two appearances before going on the IL. Shuster has struggled to an 8.04 ERA over 15 2/3 innings and 12 games for the Pale Hose this season, with the caveat that eight of his 14 earned runs allowed came in just two of those appearances. In some echoes of Alexander’s season, Shuster has a 4.21 SIERA, with a 55.9% strand rate and a .429 BABIP spoiling his bottom-line numbers.
Ellard had a 6.75 ERA in 6 2/3 relief innings for Chicago this season, as his season has been largely spent on the sidelines due to two separate IL stints. A hamstring strain cost Ellard most of April, and he returned to pitch in only two games before he was placed on the 15-day IL in early May due to a lat strain. The shift to the 60-day IL means that Ellard can’t return to action until at least July.
White Sox Place Tyler Gilbert On 15-Day Injured List
The White Sox announced that left-hander Tyler Gilbert has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a sprained left MCL. Southpaw Jared Shuster has been called back up to Chicago’s 26-man roster in the corresponding move, just a day after Shuster was optioned to Triple-A as part of another collection of roster moves.
This is the second time this season that a left knee issue has sidelined Gilbert, as he began the year with a 15-day stint on the IL due to bursitis. The MCL sprain arose yesterday, as the lefty made it two batters into a relief appearance against the Cubs before he had to be removed from the game. The length of Gilbert’s recovery timeline will depend on the severity of the sprain, and more details on that front should arise when manager Will Venable meets with the Chicago media today.
Acquired in a January trade with the Phillies, Gilbert has a 4.85 ERA over 13 innings and appearances for the White Sox this season. (Three of those appearances were “starts” as an opener, and the other 10 came out of the bullpen.) Five of Gilbert’s seven earned runs came over back-to-back rough outings against the A’s and Red Sox on April 16 and 18, as he has otherwise been pretty solid, allowing just two ER over his other 10 2/3 frames of work.
Gilbert has a strong 30.8% strikeout rate but control has been a problem, as the left-hander has a 13.5% walk rate. While acknowledging the small sample size, both statistics are far different from Gilbert’s career norms, as he had a 16.5% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate over his 100 career MLB innings heading into 2025. Of course, a good chunk of that prior experience came as a starting pitcher, and Gilbert has increasingly transitioned into being a full-time reliever over the last two seasons.