St. Louis Cardinals: Sean Gilmartin claimed and is maybe a lefty solution

The St. Louis Cardinals claimed a designated left-handed pitcher from the Mets on Sunday.

I so desperately wanted to share news of the St. Louis Cardinals signing a left-handed reliever to spell relief for Kevin Siegrist. Perhaps that what Sean Gilmartin will be but I cannot definitively make that statement from the onset.

Lets dig into this a touch. On Sunday, the St. Louis Cardinals announced that they had claimed lefty Gilmartin from the Mets after he had been designated for assignment this season out of Las Vegas. He wasn’t having the greatest season this series, but neither is Siegrist and he is still be paid as a major leaguer!

Let’s take a look at the declining Siegrist who should, in all reality, be replaced. This season so far, Siegrist is owning a 4.57 ERA with lefties hitting .294 off of him. This isn’t good for a lefty specialist. Not at all.

During the offseason, Mozeliak added Brett Cecil to a large-dollar contract to put some relief to the lefty side of the bullpen. Ready for what you already know? Cecil owns a 5.66 ERA on the season with lefties hitting .390 off of him. Really not good.

Enter then the news from Sunday of the St. Louis Cardinals plucking Gilmartin off of waivers. Gilmartin was a rule-5 draft pick for the Mets from the Twins in 2015. He has some major league experience. In 2015, after being picked by the Mets, Gilmartin posted a 2.67 ERA in 57.1 innings. In these, he allowed seventeen earned runs while striking out fifty-four batters.

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The prognosis looked good but Gilmartin had trouble sticking with the Mets and/or proving his right to rejoin them in 2016. In 107.1 innings in AAA, Gilmartin suffered through a 4.86 ERA. When he did breach the Majors, Gilmartin pitched in only 17.2 innings and posted a 7.13 ERA. 7.13!!

Fast-forward then to 2017 wherein Gilmartin has pitched thirty-seven innings in AAA for an ERA of 7.05, and 3.1 innings in the Majors for an ERA of 13.50. 13.50!! My hope for a potential replacement- or at least someone who could spell lefty relief for Siegrist and Cecil- doesn’t appear to be much of that, now does he?

So, why make this waiver claim? Mozeliak decided that Gilmartin was worth the risk on the minor league contract since he can relieve and start. Also, Gilmartin has options left on his contract so he can bounce around which is something nice to have as an option (like the extra use of the same word there?).

Next: Options for Matheny replacements

Finally, Gilmartin could well put Mike Matheny and Tyler Lyons (and maybe Randal Grichuk too) on notice for the best looking Cardinals. The ladies of Memphis, and perhaps one day St. Louis, will swoon over his good looks so he has that going for him at least.