3 pitchers the Cardinals could turn to after Hunter Dobbins' injury

As if the St. Louis Cardinals weren't already facing enough questions this week with the innings limit Kyle Leahy has come up against and Andre Pallante's own injured list stint, Hunter Dobbins was removed from his start on Friday with right forearm discomfort, which potentially leaves the Cardinals with two option rotation spots.

Quinn Mathews was set to set in for Pallante, and while the Cardinals hope Pallante's injured list stint won't last more than the minimum 15-day stint (backdated to August 18th), they'll still have to come up with some kind of rotation solution in the meantime, if not a lot longer.

The Cardinals did trade Dustin May at the trade deadline, which has shrunk their immediate starting pitching depth down the stretch. The Cardinals do have options, although each of them comes with their own set of complications.

Let's look at the three approaches the Cardinals could take with their bullpen to fill Hunter Dobbins' rotation spot, should he hit the injured list.

Option #1 - Give the rotation spot to Cooper Hjerpe or Brycen Mautz

This is probably the most "fun" option of the bunch. Hjerpe has been excellent since coming off the injured list this year, striking out 34.3% of the batters he has faced between Double-A and Triple-A. While he did allow a fair bit of runs in his five Double-A appearances, four of those game in his first appearance back at the level. Since July 18th, Hjerpe has allowed just three earned runs in 21.2 innings of work across six starts.

Now, it's important to note that Hjerpe has not faced more than 16 batters in a given start over that stretch, so should he get a look by St. Louis, he'll probably be something between an opener and a five-and-dive starter.

The same could be true of Mautz, who the Cardinals transitioned to a bullpen role after the All-Star break, and he has not thrown more than five innings in an outing since June 28th. Maybe he could stretch out rather quickly, but that seems a bit unlikely.

So, the Cardinals could tap the shoulder of one of those two as a starting option, but they'll have to live with the reality that their bullpen will need to work hard on those days (or perhaps one could piggyback for the other).

One interesting thing to note - Hjerpe was slated to start on Saturday for Memphis, so the timing is right to bring him up if they wanted to go that route.

Option #2 - Turn to recently signed LHP Josh Fleming

In case you missed it, the Cardinals signed left-handed veteran Josh Fleming recently to provide depth, and that may be needed even sooner than the Cardinals could have thought.

Fleming is a St. Louis area native who has ties to Chaim Bloom from when the Tampa Bay Rays drafted him. Fleming has made 25 starts and 81 total appearances at the MLB level throughout his career, and this year specifically, he's worked a lot as a starter at Triple-A for both the Blue Jays and the Cubs.

It's not a flashy option, but Fleming could be the guy they ask to try and give them innings during this time, especially since they really don't have a clear-cut starting option right now who is stretched out, not working their way back from a significant injury, or just in general, ready for the Major League level.

Option #3 - Bullpen games

While having Hjerpe or Mautz start would be a glorified bullpen game anyway (with the potential for them to cover more like three or four innings), the Cardinals could just opt to go full-blown bullpen games in Dobbins' absence, or at least until Pallante comes back (if he truly will be back by September 2nd.

In this scenario, the Cardinals would have to start getting very cutthroat with their bullpen management, being willing to designate arms for assignment like Caleb Ferguson or Peter Strzelecki to have more optionality, and also cycle through some arms like Gordon Graceffo, Ryan Fernandez, and possibly even Luis Gastelum if they need a fresh arm. Mautz, Hjerpe, and Matt Svanson are already on the 40-man roster as options, but names like Fleming, Hancel Rincon, Cade Winquest, or others could be added to the 40-man roster to help as well.

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