St. Louis Cardinals: Five story lines for the Cardinals in the weeks ahead

3) St. Louis Cardinals bullpen shakeup led by DFAing Jonathan Broxton and Miguel Socolovich

The St. Louis Cardinals have four relievers with ERAs of 5.00 or higher. If that doesn’t scream ugly than I don’t know what does. The relievers are Kevin Siegrist (5.00), Brett Cecil (5.06), Jonathan Broxton (6.28), and Miguel Socolovich (8.68). Sheesh.

It’s hard to win when the bullpen can’t hold a lead. Facts.

Aside from Rosenthal, and maybe ground ball specialist Matt Bowman, there is little confidence in any other reliever. A handful of guys have a hard time getting through a full inning without surrendering a couple of runs.

Broxton is likely the leader in the clubhouse of being ineffective with his gaudy 2.023 WHIP. Fans groan when he enters the ballgame no matter the circumstance. Any reliever at his age and inability to get outs is likely looking for a job. But nope, not for Broxton who safely has a role with the Redbirds.

The front office’s stubbornness to swallow his remaining $3.75 million is not a good excuse. The players that give the team the best chance to win need to be on the 25-man roster. Plain and simple.

Which leads me to question the demotion of Sam Tuivailala yet Socolovich remains on the roster because he is out of minor league options. Tuivailala is by no means a dominant reliever like Rosenthal, but he proved he can hang in the big leagues and has been more effective than Socolovich so why not say good-bye to Socolovich?

To end, it’s hard to know which reliever should have which role, but a bullpen shakeup is necessary. Whether it’s bringing up minor league guys or acquiring external help, something needs to be done. The bullpen cannot continue to spoil quality starts.