The St. Louis Cardinals cut Matt Pushard from their 40-man roster on May 31, designating the right-hander for assignment and recalling Hunter Dobbins from Triple-A Memphis in the same move. The swap leaves the Cardinals with 39 players on the 40-man roster and gives the club another look at Dobbins after a month back in the minors.
It is the kind of roster decision that matters now because every spot is being weighed against a team trying to stay in the race. The Cardinals entered the day in third place in the NL Central at 30-26, and the bullpen has not exactly made the case for standing pat, with relievers combining for minus-0.1 fWAR and a 4.26 ERA. Dobbins arrives back in St. Louis as a possible bulk option out of the bullpen, and if he is not used there, he figures to move into the rotation.
Pushard’s case makes the move harder to read. He was a Rule 5 pick, so if he clears waivers he has to be offered back to the Marlins. He made his big league debut on March 29 and was hit for three earned runs on 31 pitches, then missed a month and a half with right knee patellar tendinitis. Since coming off the injured list on May 16, he made five more appearances and allowed only one earned run in six innings, leaving him with a 5.14 ERA across seven innings, six strikeouts and four walks for St. Louis.
That is the part that does not fit the clean logic of the transaction. Pushard had just strung together his best stretch since returning, yet the Cardinals still chose to part with him, at least for now, to make room for a pitcher they believe can cover more innings. Dobbins spent a month at Triple-A on optional assignment before this recall, and the club is still trying to find his best use after he made one start on April 30, allowed three earned runs in 4 1/3 innings and then went back down. He also missed the first month of the season while recovering from last year’s season-ending ACL tear.
For St. Louis, the move says as much about the staff around the pitchers as it does about either one man. The rotation has a 4.17 ERA and a 4.90 expected ERA, and Cardinals starters have struck out 19.3% of opposing hitters, numbers that help explain why the club keeps reaching for different answers. Pushard now goes through waivers, and if nobody claims him, the Cardinals have to send him back to Miami. Dobbins, meanwhile, is back in a uniform that may ask him to survive in the bullpen first and only later prove he belongs in the rotation.
