St. Louis Cardinals: Waiver arms the Cards should consider claiming

The St. Louis Cardinals, despite making no moves before the trade deadline, are reportedly still seeking bullpen help. There are arms who have cleared waivers who the Cards should consider claiming.

The St. Louis Cardinals are on a roll. As of the writing of this slideshow, the Cardinals have just completed a six-game win streak. Six games! This streak is thanks to an explosive offense that has finally arrived, and a lucky cat (unlucky to the grounds crew member) spurring (“purring”) the Cards to victory.

The win streak is also thanks to a bullpen that seems to be solidifying. Roles are becoming clearer and within those roles, arms are achieving the results that they expect. Among these, Seung-hwan Oh and Trevor Rosenthal have seen a return-to-form.

Oh, the weaker of the two resurgent pitchers, has cut down on the hits and home runs that he was giving up. Rosenthal, on the flip side, has returned to his closer form and Mike Matheny has placed him back in this ninth-inning role.

The bullpen has also been aided by the return of Zach Duke. Can you believe that this lefty-specialist who underwent surgery in the offseason and who wasn’t supposed to be able to pitch this season at all has returned and is actually making appearances?! His return was almost the equivalent of a trade addition.

Adding to these, the disabling of Kevin Siegrist has come as a welcomed addition-by-subtraction. Matheny, in his erred bullpen management, refused to find a different “patron pitcher” than Siegrist (save for Matthew Bowman). This forever-called-upon arm was ridden to extreme and almost fell off. Siegrist’s tired arm had lost its abilities to pitch well even if Matheny couldn’t see it.

Sending Siegrist to the DL will makie him better, allow him to rest, and keep Matheny from ruining another pen arm.

All of these improvements are making big differences. And yet, the St. Louis Cardinals are rumored to be seeking bullpen help through the waiver wire. There are a few arms who have cleared waivers with whom the Cardinals should take interest. Let’s take a look.