Cardinals continue bullpen shuffling by parting ways with lone trade deadline acquisition

The Caleb Ferguson era in St. Louis is over less than a month into it starting, as the Cardinals have designated the veteran left-hander for assignment as they recall lefty Brycen Mautz to refresh their bullpen.

Ferguson, 30, appeared in nine games for the Cardinals after they acquired him at the trade deadline for $250,000 in international signing bonus pool money, but he failed to get things going for them. He posted an 8.64 ERA in his 8.1 innings of work, with his 9.22 xERA and 6.92 FIP not looking great either. He really couldn't stop giving up loud contact, and his 22.2% HR/FB rate and 19.5 BB% certainly did not help.

After trading JoJo Romero at the deadline, Ferguson was acquired to help bridge some of those left-handed lanes out of the bullpen that they lost, and the cost to acquire him was as cheap as it could get in a trade. While it's unfortunate that Ferguson could not fill the role the Cardinals needed, this move today opens up opportunity for Mautz, and potentially more young arms over the coming weeks.

Brycen Matuz should be one of a few young Cardinals arms to get chances in the bullpen

The Cardinals already called up right-handed reliever Cade Winquest a few days ago to join their active roster, and he should make his MLB debut any day now, so Mautz is just the second in what could be more young arms making their returns to St. Louis or Major League debuts.

Mautz made his MLB debut with the Cardinals earlier this year, throwing three innings against the Milwaukee Brewers, allowing two runs on four hits and two walks to go along with two strikeouts back on May 25th. Mautz began the year starting games for Triple-A Memphis but moved into a bullpen role after the All-Star Break, as more arms began to make their way to Triple-A. Unfortunately, things have not gone well for Mautz since then, as he's posted a 7.02 ERA in 16.2 innings out of the Memphis bullpen.

Still, Mautz getting some work in against big league hitters will help him in his development, and provide the Cardinals with a fresh arm after Ferguson has been worked a lot the last few days to very little success.

Two other arms who will hopefully make their own big-league debuts at some point as the Cardinals shuffle their bullpen further and expand the roster on September 1st are Cooper Hjerpe and Hancel Rincon. Hjerpe, who has been starting games for Memphis but on a pitch count as he returns from Tommy John surgery, has posted a 0.60 ERA while striking out 34.4% of the batters he's faced at Triple-A thus far. He walks far too many batters still, but his stuff is just so good, and already being on the 40-man roster, it makes too much sense for him to debut soon.

Rincon is not on the Cardinals' 40-man roster but is Rule 5 eligible this offseason, and he has been awesome in his bullpen role for Memphis this year. Since July 1st, Rincon has a 2.20 ERA in 28.2 innings pitched, striking out 38 batters while walking 10. Rincon's ability to shut down lineups for one inning at a time or cover two to three innings at a time is something this Cardinals bullpen really needs right now.

In the cases of both Rincon and Hjerpe, both guys can be major support to the Cardinals bullpen here and now through both their talent and fresh arms, but they'd also be giving the Cardinals front office a glimpse into what their stuff looks like against big-league hitting as they think toward the future.

Mautz and Winquest are getting those shots right now, and hopefully a few more will follow soon.

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