6 players the Cardinals are holding back this year

Ryan Helsley

Last season, the Cardinals' bullpen was a major strength of their team and a big reason for why they were able to squeak out 83 wins while only losing one game after they held a lead in the eighth inning or later. This year, however, the bullpen has already been on the hook for eight of the team's 15 losses. Sure, a couple of these are coming into a tie game or having to piggyback after a short start, but in the Atlanta series especially, the bullpen has been more often to blame for a loss.

Rather than looking to improve the bullpen from last season, the team let Andrew Kittredge walk, which made sense, but refused to add another arm to the mix when it is known throughout the league that bullpen performance from year to year is impossible to predict. Halfway through spring, the Cardinals finally made their first, and only, move of the offseason, signing reliever Phil Maton to a $2 million deal, which has paid off handsomely early in the year. Beyond that, though, the Cardinals stood pat with the rest of the crew beyond moving Matthew Liberatore from the pen to the rotation and having Steven Matz jump between roles.

Last year, an effort was made to keep closer Ryan Helsley healthy where he would only pitch in save opportunities or tied games, and would never throw more than one inning. This paid off big time, as Helsley was named the NL Reliever of the Year and set the Cardinals franchise record with 49 saves. This year, the team does not have that same ability to pick and choose these opportunities for Helsley.

25 games into the season, Helsley has only pitched in eight games while tallying three saves and blowing one in the process. True to 2024 form, he has thrown one inning in each of those games and has yet to pitch on back-to-back days. His most recent outing against the Braves was his first appearance in five days and only came in because he was warmed up before the Cardinals' offense put the game out of reach in the top of the ninth inning.

With such a weak bullpen behind Maton and Kyle Leahy, the Cardinals are going to have to start using Helsley in more of a stopper role than as a closer if they want to maximize his value and take some pressure off the rest of the arms. So far, Maton and Leahy have each pitched in 13 games, while last year's standout relievers JoJo Romero and Ryan Fernandez, have pitched in 11 apiece. The latter two have struggled mightily, with Romero having an ERA over 7 and Fernandez checking in with an ERA over 11 thus far. Manager Oli Marmol's hands are tied, and he stated as much in his postgame comments after Romero and Fernandez blew the final game in Atlanta. With Marmol understanding that there is no help coming from in the organization or off the streets, his usage with Helsley will have to adjust to using him to put out fires, even if that means it is not in a save situation.

Helsley was an oft-mentioned trade candidate this season, and the Cardinals, rightly in my opinion, held onto the closer to begin the year. If the team continues to lose these close games, Helsley's value has the potential to drop quickly and any return they expected to get in a deal would be underwhelming. If they can adjust his usage, he can help lengthen the bullpen and build back any value he has lost after spotty usage to begin the year.