Cardinals clear space for reliever's return as Dustin May avoids injury

The St. Louis Cardinals needed a huge performance from their bullpen after a comebacker forced starter Dustin May out of his last start. The relief corps delivered, throwing 8.1 scoreless innings in the team's series win against the Braves. Covering that many innings created a need for a fresh arm and rather than May hitting the injured list, Gordon Graceffo was sent to Memphis.

This is good news for the St. Louis rotation as this means that May likely avoided serious injury and should be on track to make his next start. While the starter has been solid for the Cardinals so far, he has also pitched his way into a valuable trade piece and any missed time could limit his possible return. With Ryne Stanek returning from the paternity list, an active roster spot needed to be opened and after pitching each of the last two days, Graceffo was demoted in favor of Stanek.

Ryne Stanek returns to the Cardinals bullpen as Gordon Graceffo was demoted after recent struggles

Graceffo's overall numbers out of the bullpen look solid, but the reliever has been flirting with trouble over the past few outings. His strikeout rate is equal to his walk rate, both sitting at below-average 11% of the time. Graceffo has a solid .186 batting average against him, but the walks put his WHIP above 1.00 and without the strikeout stuff, trouble could strike at any time.

Through June, Graceffo saw his ERA trend in the wrong direction as he allowed eight runs in 8.2 innings to go with eight walks and just three strikeouts. While he threw a clean inning on Thursday in Atlanta, the timing of Stanek's return allows Graceffo to hone in his command in Memphis. Stanek has not been overly effective either, but he is making $3.5 million and has been much better of late. The veteran is also on a one-year deal with a club option for next season, so Stanek could also be auditioning for other teams for next month's trade deadline.

With the backend of the Cardinals bullpen looking like trade candidates, if Stanek is not dealt he could be thrust into the closer role. His command is an issue, but his fastball can touch triple digits and he is averaging more than a strikeout an inning. After celebrating the birth of his son, Stanek will refresh a taxed bullpen as a series against the Cubs kicks off on Friday.

The best news out of all of this is that May will not hit the injured list. With the trade deadline coming a month from Friday, he is on pace to make a handful of more starts to continue improving his value to a contender. May is not out of the woods yet, as he is understandably sore 24 hours later, but imaging coming back clean is a step in the right direction. After getting his last start skipped due to back soreness, May came into Thursday's game fresh. Since he did not complete a full inning of work, he will hopefully be physically ready to work deep into his next start.

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