St. Louis Cardinals: Two called up, one optioned, one released

The St. Louis Cardinals have announced some roster changes leading into the double-header against the Brewers on Tuesday.

St. Louis Cardinals GM John Mozeliak has been busy lately making decisions on the roster on an almost daily basis. As a review, he first DFA’d Jonathan Broxton, then DFA’d Jhonny Peralta, made some disabled list moves, and made managerial changes.

Mo’s busy schedule maintained on Tuesday as he made a few changes to the roster yet again. Prior to the start of the double-header against the Milwaukee Brewers, Mozeliak made the following changes:

• called-up left-handed pitcher Marco Gonzales such that he can pitch the nightcap of the double-header,
• recalled right-handed relief pitcher Sam Tuivailala such that he can bolster the bullpen for the two games on Tuesday,
• optioned infielder Paul DeJong to AAA Memphis, and
• unconditionally released veteran infielder Jhonny Peralta.

Trevor wrote about Marco recently and you should check out his piece for all information on the “returning” pitcher. Gonzales returns to the majors for the first time this season after rehabbing from surgery.

We at Redbird Rants have covered the up-and-down career of Tui and you can see all of these pieces here. In short, Tuivailala has good promise and when he has his command under control is a great option at the back end of the pen. In fact, Tui has served as a closer for the Memphis Redbirds.

In addition to bolstering the pen, perhaps this recall is being done so that Tui has the chance to show what he has for potential MLB organizations.

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And, in case you were living under a rock or not reading my posts (God forbid), I am a huge fan of Dejong. I’m not a fan of his demotion but- at the same time- recognize that he had options where Greg Garcia did not. DeJong will continue his winning ways while being allowed to play every day in AAA rather than warming some pine in MLB.

Another potential thought on the optioning of DeJong could be related to him maybe being a piece of a trade and the receiving team’s interest in him under a minor league contract. I guess we will know more in “four to six weeks” to use Mozeliak’s words.

Finally, the unconditional release of Peralta was a long time coming. Likewise, the release makes the closing statement on whether the St. Louis Cardinals had any interest in keeping Peralta on the payroll in some sense: they do not have such interest. Peralta is now free to sign elsewhere without having to clear waivers.

I am writing this piece about an hour and fifteen minutes before first pitch of game one. While it is unlikely that additional moves will come, I find myself wondering if (1) Mozeliak makes other moves tomorrow, and (2) if these moves are precursors for pre-trade-deadline moves to come…

Next: Time to replace Matheny

Were you happy with the news today? Did you disagree with anything? Let me know on Twitter and let’s see if the St. Louis Cardinals can pull out two victories in one day today! Go Cardinals!