Breaking: Cardinals star player sign a mega deal with Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League

The Atlantic League’s Long Island Ducks have signed Josh James, per the league’s transaction record. After being released from a minor league contract with the Cardinals last week, the right-hander became a free agent.

James, 31, played Triple-A Memphis during his brief tenure with the St. Louis team. Of the 51 batters he faced, he walked 15 of them. It’s not acceptable to give up runs at that pace, and James let up 18 runs in 7 2/3 innings. To pitch his way back to affiliated ball, he will need to show the Ducks that he can locate the strike zone.

James, an Astros 34th-round selection in the past, had a strong first two seasons in Houston. In 2018, he made 23 innings of 2.35 ERA ball as a rookie. The next year, James’ 4.70 average over 61 1/3 frames wasn’t as good, but he still managed to punch out over 38% of his opponents. Before his control disintegrated, he appeared to be a promising high-octane relieving arm. Since the truncated season, he has hardly pitched in the majors, walking over one-fifth of batters.

James missed the most of the 2021–2023 seasons due to various injuries. He struggled with lat, hamstring, and hip issues before to having flexor surgery at the end of the 2022 season. That winter, Houston did not rent him out. Before starting his brief tenure with the Cardinals this past January, James missed the entirety of the previous campaign.

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The Cardinals’ rotation needs a fifth starter. What choices does manager Oli Marmol have?

Fans who attended the St. Louis Cardinals’ series finale against the Boston Red Sox on Sunday were given a 200-piece jigsaw puzzle featuring Adam Wainwright. The metaphorical aspect of trying to convert a collection of different parts into a whole starting pitcher was maybe a bit too obvious, considering how the game played out on the field.

In his third start of the season, Matthew Liberatore gave up four earned runs in three innings of work. Due to a mix of pitch restrictions and inefficiency from having to quickly move from a productive role in the bullpen, he has been pulled in the middle of the fourth inning in each of those starts. Manager Oli Marmol said after Sunday’s game that the Cardinals will have to reconsider their alternatives for that position when it becomes available again this coming Saturday. By doing so, he expressed his willingness to treat Liberatore “fairly,” a sentiment he elaborated on on Monday.

It is a difficult scenario, Marmol remarked. Yes, it is. Doing what’s best for the club comes first in my quest to do what’s best for Libby. That’s basically how I’m approaching it.

It’s not an easy scenario. Right now, there is a need in the rotation that we are unable to fill. In the coming days, we hope to have a decision reached here. The schedule acts as the initial filter when the parts are thrown out on the table. According to Marmol, the team plans to stick to the rotation’s Thursday off day, providing Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson, and Miles Mikolas the extra day off they’ve been hoping for instead of moving up each player’s turn to a regular five-day schedule of four games and Thursday off.

Due to the void left by Steven Matz’s back injury, the team decided to go with Liberatore as the pitcher who, in Marmol’s words, “gives [them] the best chance to win.” This is partly because Andre Pallante and Zack Thompson haven’t performed well in either the major leagues or the minor leagues thus far this season, and because it’s been difficult to trust other minor league players who haven’t played in the major leagues.

Along with their game notes, Triple-A Memphis revealed their partial weekly rotation on Tuesday. Gordon Graceffo is scheduled to start on Tuesday, followed by Thompson on Wednesday, Michael McGreevy on Thursday, and Pallante on Friday. If those four take the ball as advertised, a standard rest schedule would prevent any of those four from starting for the Cardinals on Saturday. The parent club’s whims and needs always govern minor league game notes, but it is important to remember that the Cardinals have enough invested in getting Pallante and Thompson back to their former selves to probably not push too many schedule changes on them.

Adam Kloffenstein and Sem Robberse, two righties acquired in the same deal in July (in exchange for Jordan Hicks), are both on the 40-man roster and are not yet scheduled for minor league appearances.

Although Kloffenstein has made nine starts for Memphis this season and has a 4.84 ERA, he has only struck out 39 batters in 48 ⅓ minor league innings, and his strikeout to walk ratio is a meager 1.77. Although Robberse’s numbers have improved dramatically—he has a 3.29 ERA and 3.31 strikeouts per walk—his fastball typically reaches 90 mph without much changing from a cutter that plays in the upper 80s. After all, numbers in the minors don’t usually translate accurately.

Regarding the minor league starters, Marmol stated, “They’re all options.” It’s just what makes the most sense, whose growth you are most interfering with, and who is the closest to your ideal state of being. Are they, however, a viable option? Indeed. They must be.

Concerns regarding outside choices are solely the responsibility of the front office, according to Marmol, who stated that his role is to oversee the players that are currently in the system. In the short run, however, commercial pitchers might prove to be the most suitable option.

Correct? The Chicago White Sox designated veteran Kansas City Royal Brad Keller for assignment on Monday. In his limited tenure with the team this season, Keller made five appearances (two starts) and recorded a 4.86 ERA. One of those starts came on May 3 against the Cardinals, where he gave up three earned runs in four and a half innings while striking out five and taking the loss. This past Saturday was his second start against the New York Yankees; in four innings, he gave up five runs, and the following day, he was placed on the waiver wire.

He’s not the ideal choice. And none of the pitchers are in the minor leagues. A jigsaw puzzle needs to be correctly cut in order for the parts to fit together again and create a visually appealing image.

Maybe that’s where the metaphor breaks down in the end. It seems that the Cardinals are left trying to force the closest item that they can find to fit rather than having all the pieces they need.