The Cardinals announced that left-hander Jared Shuster has been designated for assignment. The move opens up roster space for right-hander Matt Pushard, who is back from the 15-day injured list after recovering from patellar tendinitis in his right knee.
It was a little over a month ago that Shuster was first DFA’ed by the Cards, and the southpaw was outrighted to Triple-A after clearing waivers. Shuster chose to accept that assignment rather than opt for free agency, so he’ll face that decision again if he again clears waivers this time around.
Because Shuster is out of minor league options, he’ll have to be designated for assignment whenever the Cardinals or another team wants to send him down to Triple-A or create space on a 26-man roster. Given this state of perpetual roster limbo, Shuster might prefer to somewhat reduce the tumult by just staying with St. Louis, so he’d at least have the familiarity of remaining in the same organization. That said, if Shuster feels his big league opportunities will be limited with the Cards, he could choose to test the market this time around.
It also isn’t out of the question that Shuster is claimed off waivers, given how teams are perpetually in need of left-handed pitching depth. The Athletics claimed Shuster away from the White Sox last August, when Shuster was DFA’ed for the first time in his career. Shuster has a 2.35 ERA over the small sample of 7 2/3 innings for St. Louis this season, plus an 8.38 ERA over 9 2/3 frames for Triple-A Memphis — ironically, his peripheral numbers in the Show are unimpressive while his metrics in Triple-A have been pretty solid, though both represent small sample sizes.
Selected 25th overall by Atlanta in the 2020 draft, Shuster has only a 5.12 ERA, 15% strikeout rate, and 10.1% walk rate to show for 149 1/3 MLB innings with the Braves, White Sox, and Cardinals. Shuster’s brief time in the Athletics’ organization ended without any big league action, and he signed with St. Louis on a minor league deal during the offseason.
Bring him back bravos
Nats should sign him.
A big chance for Braves to reacquire their great #1 pick from 2020. He can do mop up work -maybe.
His fellow college P from 2021 (Braves #1) is at Lehigh Valley with Phils
Who is worse ?
Mop-up work is correct.
Someone will grab him this time
It just shows how incredibly stacked they are that they can designate a former first round pick. He would easily be a number two starter on most teams. I would not want to face the Cardinals in the playoffs. Pitching wins championships, and clearly they have an embarrassment of riches
Lol. Teams would love to face the Cards. None of their starters are good at missing bats. No one has a K/9 over 7.3. But you obviously know this.
Set em up, knock em down. This chat room is like a whacamole
If he isn’t claimed again this time, he might still eventually have more of an MLB opportunity with the Cardinals if they eventually DFA Bruihl.
So why DFA Shuster again instead of simply optioning Svanson back to AAA? No one can argue than Svanson wouldn’t deserve it.
Small sample size but pretty good stats to go unclaimed by someone. Pitchers are dropping like crazy so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him claimed or dealt to another team.
Career 15% K-rate says it all.
The Mariners should take a flyer on him.