Cardinals make questionable call in bullpen to clear way for Hunter Dobbins

The St. Louis Cardinals officially activated starter Hunter Dobbins from the injured list today to make his first start of the 2026 season, but their corresponding roster move, optioning Ryan Fernandez to Memphis, should leave you shaking your head.

It's not a surprising decision by any means, as the Cardinals have been clear that they want to hold onto as many of their arms as possible, but considering the massive struggles some of their other arms are having (which makes up at least 42% of their remaining group for today's game), it's hard to justify letting an arm go down to Memphis to hold onto options they cannot trust right now.

Fernandez, who had his own struggles in 2025, has been very productive for the Cardinals out of their bullpen thus far, allowing just one run in 5.2 innings of work so far this year, striking out 34.6% of the batters he has faced and fielding a 1.00 FIP in the process.

While it remains to be seen if Fernandez can keep up that level of production, the Cardinals have at least three, and you could argue even four other arms in their bullpen right now that have performed far worse than Fernandez, and it's going to be difficult for the Cardinals to continue to pull out close games if their group is mostly volatile arms.

The Cardinals should have made a tough decision on one of their other relievers

The main reason Fernandez is heading to Memphis and not another arm is that he still has options remaining, meaning the Cardinals can send him to Triple-A without passing him through waivers.

Well, it turns out Matt Svanson does as well, and he's been dreadful so far this year with a 10.34 ERA in 14 games for St. Louis. I still am a believer in Svanson and his stuff, but letting him take a moment to refresh in Memphis would have made way more sense than optioning the arm who is producing. The Cardinals still believe he needs to be with their big league club to work through these issues.

The other factor with Svanson, which is also true of Gordon Graceffo (who has pitched well this year), is that both arms can give the Cardinals multiple innings in a given outing, which is something they likely value without a traditional long-man in their bullpen, as their rotation consistently does not go more than five innings.

And then there are two, and you could even argue three arms, who don't have options in their bullpen that have not shown enough to warrant a spot over Fernandez.

Justin Bruihl, who the Cardinals acquired this offseason from the Guardians for cash considerations, owns a 5.87 ERA and 5.79 FIP in 16 appearances for St. Louis so far. Bruihl has not been an impactful arm at the big league level since his debut in 2021, and yet continues to get shots with the Major League team right now despite not showing any signs of figuring things out this year. I get he's a lefty option, but left-handed hitters have actually mashed against him this year, so he's not a weapon against them.

Then you have Ryne Stanek, who the Cardinals signed for $3.5 million this offseason as a veteran arm for their mix, and he has a 9.00 ERA in his 14 appearances so far. While he does own some intriguing stuff on the mound, he's got to be more consistent if he's going to be a meaningful part of the Cardinals' bullpen.

And then there is George Soriano, who the Cardinals traded Andre Granillo for back in spring training, and he has been just fine for them so far, posting a 4.05 ERA while striking out 19.3% of the batters he has faced and walking 12.3% in 14 appearances. The Cardinals believe they are going to be able to get more out of him than he's shown with Miami in the past, but so far, it's been inconsistent as well.

I'll be the first to tell you that this year is not about maximizing how many games this club can win, but we are talking about three arms here, especially in the case of Bruihl, who is not going to be a part of the club's future and likely won't hold much trade value at the deadline as things are trending. Fernandez, on the other hand, is a younger arm who is producing right now, so sending him to Memphis feels like a really odd decision for a team whose 5.20 bullpen ERA ranks 26th in baseball.

Again, the Cardinals have their reasons for this move that "make sense", but it's also completely fair to look at multiple arms struggling, including one who also has options, and wonder why they didn't go in a different direction. It's a questionable move at the very least, and one we will wait and see how it pans out.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow