St. Louis Cardinals: Sandy Alcantara seeing time in the bullpen

The St. Louis Cardinals are having right-hander Sandy Alcantara see some action out of the bullpen in double-A.

Yesterday, St. Louis Post-Dispatch writer Derrick Goold offered up a glimpse on how the St. Louis Cardinals plan to address the inefficiencies of the bullpen for the remainder of the year. At the beginning of the season, the bullpen was a major concern, giving up games late. In the summer months, though, the bullpen seemed to be on the right track, especially with Trevor Rosenthal‘s return to the closer’s role.

With the loss of Rosenthal, the Cardinals once again find themselves in a situation where the must decide on how to keep their season alive. There have been plenty of reports suggesting the St. Louis Cardinals will look at some bullpen arms to acquire via the waiver wire. However, the other option is to look internally, and see if there is a solution in the farm system.

We’ve seen the Cardinals exercise a few options from triple-A, but Goold’s comment on Friday surprised me a little bit. According to Goold, Sandy Alcantara will move to a bullpen role in Springfield in order to potentially fill a gap in the St. Louis Cardinals bullpen.

Alcantara’s move to bullpen at Class AA was “strategic,” Mozeliak says. Yes, that means prepping him for a possible look in the majors.— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) August 25, 2017Alcantara’s move to bullpen at Class AA was “strategic,” Mozeliak says. Yes, that means prepping him for a possible look in the majors.— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) August 25, 2017

The source of the news comes from none other than President of Baseball Operations, John Mozeliak. Goold says the move is in hope to stabilize the big league bullpen. The St. Louis Cardinals do have other options in the minors, such as Mark Montgomery, so I find it interesting Alcantara is the one going through this process.

Related Story: Waiver arms to consider

If Alcantara does well in a bullpen role, then expect to see him up with the team in September when call-ups happen. He is still young, but does possess a high-octane fastball, similar to Rosenthal’s. Perhaps that is exactly why the Cardinals want to see what he can do out of the bullpen. Losing someone like Rosenthal is hard to replace in the waiver wire, so maybe Alcantara could do it from within.

Next: Rosenthal to have Tommy John

The bullpen is in need of serious help. Hopefully, Alcantara can provide the boost needed should he pan out. Until then, the St. Louis Cardinals should continue to explore some options before fully committing to Alcantara.