4 frustrating decisions the Cardinals made with their Opening Day roster, 3 fans like

Liked: Steven Matz as the club's swingman

I wrote about this yesterday, but the club deciding to put Steven Matz in the bullpen was a pleasant surprise for many reasons.

First, the Cardinals are notorious for playing "the contracts." Sure, most clubs are, but the Cardinals are hardly aggressive when it comes to giving young talent opportunities when they've earned it over a veteran. And yet, they did so in this case.

Matthew Liberatore spent the entire 2024 season in limbo. Sometimes he was a reliever, sometimes he was in the rotation, and sometimes he was a swingman going back and forth between roles any given week. For a young arm who is still trying to find his way, that is not setting him up for success at all.

The Cardinals allowed Liberatore to come into camp and fight for a rotation spot, but from the very beginning, it never really felt like it was a real opportunity to me. He piggybacked guys during camp and threw multiple innings, but it wasn't even until the last week of camp that he actually started a game.

Liberatore was awesome all of camp, though, sporting a 1.62 ERA in 16.2 innings of work, and while that caught a lot of eyes, most of us anticipated him starting the year in the bullpen. In fact, John Mozeliak himself confirmed that would be the case a few weeks ago.

And then, something apparently changed. Liberatore got that official start, and then instead of being placed in the bullpen with the potential of starting later in the year, Liberatore was named the Cardinals' fifth starter over Matz.

Matz was actually quite good during camp as well, posting a 2.29 ERA in 19.2 innings of work. Most of us were under the assumption that the Cardinals would roll with Matz as their fifth starter, and if one of the young arms made the rotation, it would be as a sixth starter or swingman. Instead, the Cardinals placed Matz in the bullpen and will use him as a swing starter as needed.

This was the right call by the club. Matz is a veteran and is more than capable of handling a dual role. He's had three seasons to "earn" his rotation spot and has been unable to. In the final year of his contract, he provides the most value to St. Louis by pitching out of the bullpen and being an insurance option for their rotation if things go poorly.

This allows the Cardinals to get a good look at Liberatore as a starter. If it goes well, then the Cardinals have another young starter on their hands for the future. If he fails, he can move back to the bullpen and either Matz or one of the arms in Memphis can replace him.

But speaking of those arms in Memphis, as much as I liked this move, most of us are still frustrated about the reality it creates for another deserving arm.