Will St. Louis Cardinals head outside the organization to upgrade pitching staff?
When it comes to forecasting the way in which the St. Louis Cardinals are likely to utilize their pitching staff, the maxim has long been simple — ignore what they say, watch what they do.
The team’s actions over the past 10 days strongly suggest an outside move is coming.
Miles Mikolas was placed on the injured list Tuesday with a recurrence of the flexor tendon strain which cut short his spring training. After taking a few months off during the pandemic stoppage to rest and recuperate, Mikolas was unable to recover as desired during summer camp. A scan revealed increasing damage, and the right hander is set for surgery with a four month recovery period ending his season.
Rather than turn back to Korean-All-Star-Starter-Turned-MLB-Closer Kwang Hyun Kim, the Cardinals are set to start Daniel Ponce de Leon in Minnesota on Wednesday night. That decision was foreshadowed by Ponce de Leon’s unusual one batter appearance in Saturday night’s blowout win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cardinals President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak confirmed.
The warm-up tosses and game action amounted to a side session. Whether Ponce de Leon amounts to a solution is undetermined.
“We’re just trying to understand what some of our internal options are, but also explore a couple external options as well,” Mozeliak said. “But obviously we have a couple open spots (in the 60-man player pool), but we just want to see what the best way to answer that is. But we do think we need to add some depth down there (at Springfield), yes.”
Braves pitcher an intriguing option
One option who would be far more likely to join the big league Cardinals than the Springfield Cardinals is Atlanta righty Mike Foltynewicz, who was designated for assignment by the Braves on Tuesday after a poor performance in his first start of the season.
Foltynewicz, who also started Atlanta’s calamitous 13-1 loss to the Cardinals in the fifth game of the 2019 National League Division Series, has been dogged by lagging velocity and apparent expressions of discontent with his situation in Atlanta. He must be either traded, be claimed on waivers, or be outrighted to the alternate training site at Triple-A Gwinnett within the next week. His service time would allow him, in the latter case, to opt for free agency.
As recently as two seasons ago, Foltynewicz made the all-star team and was in the top 10 of National League Cy Young voting. He represents a prime candidate for a reclamation project — something in which the Cardinals once specialized — if his drop in velocity is related to mechanics and performance rather than injury. It’s hard to imagine, though, Atlanta would cut bait if they could instead justify placement on the injured list.
Mikolas’s placement there for the duration of the 2020 season represents a significant test for the pitching depth which the Cardinals have frequently lauded as an organizational strength. The club’s actions — as well as words — concerning Kim have indicated they believe he’s best suited as a bullpen option, perhaps owing to concerns that big league hitters could narrow their focus to a few pitches after even limited exposure.
Kim tries settling into bullpen role
In his only inning pitched in the young season, Kim allowed two runs (one earned) to score while still securing a save. He struggled to locate his slider in the strike zone, allowing Pittsburgh hitters to eliminate the pitch and wait instead for more hittable fastballs.
“I don’t think there was any problem with my slider grip,” Kim said Saturday through translator Craig Choi. “But I do feel that my slider didn’t break as much as I thought, and I know that I’ve been doing well in the exhibition, spring training and summer training games, but yesterday wasn’t as good as the exhibition games. But I know that I need to become better.”
“We made a move to put (Kim) in the back end of the bullpen,” Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said Tuesday, by way of an explanation. “We did that because we have comfort and confidence in him, and Ponce is built up and ready to take that responsibility to go. So there’s a number of factors into it, but that’s the way we went.”
“Just from the simplest standpoint of not having to disrupt everything that we’ve sort of set up at this point, the easiest move would be to have Ponce make that start,” Mozeliak said.
“In terms of being wedded to what our rotation looks like over the next week or two weeks, honestly we’re literally day-by-day right now, and that’s how we’re going to approach it. We’ll just see how things play out each day we’ll take the field.”
Acquiring outside help presents obstacles
Mozeliak expressed reluctance at bringing in free agents or players who have not yet cleared MLB’s coronavirus intake testing. Those players could be delayed on arrival. Free agent outfielder Yasiel Puig had a deal with Atlanta scuttled entirely when he tested positive during his pre-signing physical.
If outside help is to be imported, then, a trade for a player who has already cleared those protocols is the most logical solution. In an uncertain season, options are limited, but with one obvious possibility on the board, the fit of Foltynewicz is hard to overlook.
Mused Mozeliak, “there’s so much uncertainty, right?”
“Ponce has earned an opportunity to pitch. We had a fairly robust rotation coming into the year. Losing Miles certainly hurts. But ultimately, giving Ponce this opportunity, I hope he runs with it.”
The words amount to a vote of confidence. The actions may not.
