St. Louis Cardinals: Two relievers released as Cardinals shake up bullpen

Changes were announced on Friday for the St. Louis Cardinals and more are promised on the way.

The St. Louis Cardinals have one of the worst bullpens in baseball, as their bullpen ERA ranks 24th out of the entire league. Lately, though, it seems like every game has been lost due to the bullpen struggling. Rather leads are being blown or teams are running away with small leads due to the bullpen struggling.

It seemed like President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak was not doing anything about the bullpen, letting guys with ERAs above 7 stay in the Majors.

As you probably know, Mike Matheny was dismissed as the St. Louis Cardinals manager right before the All-Star break. Mozeliak decided to have an 11-day evaluation period to see where the team was at and to see what moves would be necessary.

Friday morning, Mozeliak finally started to make moves with the bullpen, which some Cardinals fans thought would never happen.

First, the St. Louis Cardinals designated Greg Holland for assignment. Holland has been a major disappointment for the Cardinals this season. Last season, with the Colorado Rockies, he notched up 41 saves, which led all of baseball. He also made his third All-Star appearance in four seasons.

The Cardinals signed him right before the Opening Day game against the New York Mets to a 1-year, 14 million deal. Holland was expected to be the closer for the Cardinals, which they needed badly. After a shaky outing in High-A Palm Beach, Holland was promoted to the Majors prematurely.

In his first appearance, he walked in the game-winning run in the top of the 10th against the division rival Milwaukee Brewers. Even though he looked horrid in his debut with the Cardinals, there was still hope he would be the closer fans thought he would be. It never happened and now Holland has a 7.92 ERA with a 2.240 WHIP.

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Holland was DFA’d this morning, in a series of moves that included top-prospect Dakota Hudson being called up to the Majors.

Reliever Tyler Lyons was designated for assignment. Like Holland, Lyons has been a major disappointment this season. Last season, Lyons was very solid, as he put up a 2.83 ERA with a career-high 68 strikeouts. He was expected to repeat that 2017 campaign, and be the top lefty in the bullpen.

Lyons was a massive disappointment as well, with a horrendous 8.64 ERA and a 1.920 WHIP, resulting in his release. Lyons has been with the Cardinals organization since 2011 and will look to join another team to keep his career alive.

The St. Louis Cardinals made other moves in hopes to improve the bullpen, including calling up Dakota Hudson, Tyler Webb, and Daniel Poncedeleon from Memphis. The Cardinals also traded Sam Tuivalala to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for minor leaguer Seth Elledge.

Word is that the St. Louis Cardinals are not finished making moves even though Mozeliak suggests that any moves coming will be focused on 2019 rather than 2018. Stay with us for up-to-the-minute news on our St. Louis Cardinals.

Do you think enough was done today? What else do you want to see transpire to make this team better? Thanks for reading!