St. Louis Cardinals: Jhonny Peralta Sent to DL to Make Room for Tyler Lyons

The St. Louis Cardinals had a decision to make today as they desired to activate Tyler Lyons. This brought about a status change for their aging third baseman.

After much teeth gnashing from the St. Louis Cardinals fandom, the organization has finally done something with Jhonny Peralta: the organization announced today that he Peralta would go on the 10-day disabled list to make roster room for returning Tyler Lyons.

According to GM John Mozeliak on Monday of this week- just prior to the sweep of the Pirates- Peralta was being kept on a short leash. During my appearance on UCB radio on Wednesday night, I opined that this short leash is so short that it has kept Peralta on the porch!

Enter then today the news that the Cardinals will send Peralta to the disabled list for “upper respiratory” issues such that a roster spot could be opened for Lyons.  This, to me, means the leash is not just short, but has been pulled back into the house.

Let’s take a painful look at the declining career of Jhonny Peralta during his St. Louis Cardinals career.

Peralta joined the St. Louis Cardinals in 2014 when he was aged 32. He appeared in 560 at-bats that season and posted a slash line of .263/.336/.443. In 2015, he appeared in 579 at-bats and posted a slash of .275/.334/.411. 2015 was an All-Star year for Peralta as a Cardinal.

2016 came with much promise following the all-star season before it. In 2016, Peralta appeared in only 289 at-bats, however, as he dealt with injury and a slowing bat. In this limited playing time, Jhonny posted a slash of .260/.307/.408. No alarm bells were ringing as his career numbers weren’t too far off from this slash.

This season, however, things just haven’t worked– not yet at least. Peralta, now thirty-five and nearing the end of his baseball career, has had a rough time of things this season so far. In just twenty-five at-bats this season, Peralta is slashing .120/.185/.120.

Like his batting averages, his offensive WAR has declined since his arrival. In 2014, Peralta was good for an oWAR of 3.9 which dropped to a 2.5 in 2015 and to a 0.4 in 2016. This season so far he is good for an oWAR of -0.9 which is an all-time low for Peralta through his career.

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Defensively, age is catching up with Jhonny as well. Peralta entered the St. Louis Cardinals as the short stop and was good for a defensive WAR of 2.6 in 2014. He remained at short stop in 2015 and earned a dWAR of -0.0. He split time at short and third in 2016 and earned a dWAR of -0.7, again an all-time low in his career.

This season, appearing only at third and only in eight games, Peralta is rated as a 0.0 dWAR player.

Time is certainly catching up with Jhonny. Maybe the 10-day break will do him good. Maybe he is ill. But maybe it is time to move on… The St. Louis Cardinals cannot afford to carry a lamed Jhonny Peralta.

Today’s move to place Jhonny on the DL is certainly more about adding Tyler Lyons without sacrificing another pen arm. While the bullpen could use a touch of shake up (read: bye-bye Jonathan Broxton [please, Mo, do this]), keeping them intact makes sense right now while giving Peralta some time to clear his head.

Next: Upgrades for Third Base

Will Peralta return? Will he return to a backup role? Or will the St. Louis Cardinals need to make yet another decision in a few days. Stay with us and we’ll keep you updated. Go Cardinals!