Cardinals lose lottery ticket waiver claim to Cubs after 0 appearances in St. Louis

The St. Louis Cardinals made a really fun waiver claim last week, bringing in lefty reliever Luis Peralta, the younger brother of standout starter Freddy Peralta, after the Colorado Rockies designated him for assignment. Well, the Cardinals also DFA'd Peralta this week to make room for Jared Shuster's recall to St. Louis, and now the Chicago Cubs have swooped in to stash Peralta on their 40-man roster.

Like the Cardinals, the Cubs only had 39 players on their 40-man roster when Peralta hit waivers, so they used that open spot to bring in the lefty with great stuff but can't seem to figure out how to control it. During his debut season with Colorado in 2024, Peralta struck out 14 batters in 12.1 innings, allowing just one earned run on seven hits and five walks. But in 2025, his ERA ballooned to 9.47, as he walked 18 batters in 19 innings and could not find his command at the Major League or minor league levels.

St. Louis stashed Peralta in Memphis despite their own bullpen woes, which should tell you a lot about where they believed he was in terms of being ready to pitch at that level again, and they designated him for an assignment to make room for a different lefty in Shuster, who no organization claimed when he was DFA'd earlier that month. Peralta did not throw a single pitch for the organization in game action while he was here.

It would not be surprising at all to see the Cubs, much like the Cardinals, try to stash Peralta on their 40-man roster and then eventually hope to pass him through waivers to retain him in their organization. 40-man roster management is quite the game in Major League Baseball and can be a source of frustration for many.

The Cardinals do find themselves in an odd situation this year, with quite a few minor league arms already sitting on their 40-man roster, so they have to be creative with how they stash them. Currently, three of those arms (Richard Fitts, Tekoah Roby, and Cooper Hjerpe) are on the minor league 60-day IL or won't even pitch at all this year, and yet they do not get to free up a 40-man roster spot because they are not on the Major League 60-day IL. If the Cardinals moved them to that, while it would free up a spot, it would start or continue their service time clock.

They also have Tink Hence on the 40-man roster, who looks about as far away from a Major League debut as he has in some time, as well as Brycen Mautz, who they just added this offseason and will want to be patient with, who are sitting in spots that could be going to "Major League-ready" arms right now. I have no problem with the Cardinals doing any of that; it just contributes to these crunches that fans are observing.

The waiver wire can be an interesting beast, so the Cardinals may get a shot at bringing back Peralta at some point in the future, but for now, they'll have to hope the Cubs don't unlock something that they couldn't figure out in the short week he was with their organization.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow