Cardinals Could Acquire Southpaw With 2.27 ERA To Bolster Bullpen

St. Louis could use some arms for the future

Scott Neville | Aug 4, 2023

Cardinals Could Acquire Southpaw With 2.27 ERA To Bolster Bullpen /

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Boston Red Sox

The fall of the 2023 St. Louis Cardinals was due to a pitching staff that was not nearly good enough to contend. With that in mind, the club should be doing everything it can to get an early start on the offseason.

St. Louis will have to use the rest of this season as a tryout both for prospects and potential waiver-wire claims. Surprisingly, a contender just cut a highly-productive reliever amid a playoff run.

The Philadelphia Phillies designated Andrew Vasquez for assignment on Wednesday according to the Major League Baseball transaction wire.

The southpaw has a 2.27 ERA with a 34-to-14 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .235 batting average against and 1.24 WHIP in 39 2/3 innings for the Phillies this season.

Vasquez would be the perfect player to audition this season if the Cardinals could get their hands on him via waiver claim. The 29-year-old still is in pre-arbitration so he could be in St. Louis for the long haul if he continues to post similar numbers at Busch Stadium.

The journeyman has a 4.30 FIP and odd underlying stats but has the production to take a shot on. He avoids hard hits and high exit velocities at an elite rate but plays into contact and rates very poorly in chase and whiff rates.

By far the oddest statistic from Vasquez comes from his fastball, which has an average velocity of 89.2 mph but has been literally unhittable this season. He's thrown his heater 43 times and not allowed as much as a single.

The Cardinals could use a high-leverage reliever for next season, especially one from the left side of the plate for matchup purposes.

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Published Aug 4, 2023

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the St. Louis Cardinals for FanNation's "Inside The Cardinals" on Sports Illustrated. Before starting "Inside The Cardinals", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." After a few months as the top Major League Baseball site in the program, Neville sought expansion and pitched "Inside The Cardinals," one of the newest additions to FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group. The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Cardinals" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu