Cardinals option pitcher Hunter Dobbins for surprising arm during grueling stretch

As the St. Louis Cardinals head into a big weekend series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, they have shipped out Thursday's spot starter, Hunter Dobbins, for recently DFA'd lefty Jared Shuster, designating Luis Peralta for an assignment in the process.

The Cardinals just finished off an impressive mop-up of the Pittsburgh Pirates that concluded with another victory off of generational arm Paul Skenes. The victory leaves Skenes searching for his first career win against the Cardinals, as he is now 0-5 against the most successful NL Central franchise. Thanks to a leadoff homer by JJ Wetherholt and a two-run blast by Jordan Walker, spot starter Hunter Dobbins was given a nice cushion in his first start of the season.

In the middle of a tough 17-game stretch against good competition, the Cardinals opted to give Dobbins the ball as a temporary sixth man in the rotation and give the rest of the starters another day off. His start was known to be a one-game audition, as Dobbins was finishing up a rehab assignment and needed to be activated or optioned anyway, so the Cardinals decided to use that as a perfect time for his quick promotion. He did well overall, cruising through the first few innings before struggling with his command in the fifth. His final line showed five walks and four strikeouts in 4.1 innings, but he pitched better than the box score says. Even if he threw a no-hitter, Dobbins would have been optioned before the Dodgers series for a fresh arm, and that is officially the case.

Jared Shuster will look to give the Cardinals bullpen some innings during this stretch

Due to minor league option rules, Dobbins must stay in Memphis for at least 15 days, unless there is an injury that pops up on the major league roster. That means we are unlikely to see Dobbins or another sixth starter before the end of this stretch of games without a day off. Because of this, we may see a few more bullpen shuffles after seeing Ryan Fernandez being sent down to open up the spot for Dobbins. The relief corps has kept us on the edge of our seats all season as we never knew what type of performance we were going to get, but Chaim Bloom has not yet shown an inclination to go outside the organization for any help in the pen.

The newest reinforcement comes in the form of left-hander Jared Shuster, who as recently designated for assignment after his last demotion to the minors. Because of that, Shuster had to be added back to the 40-man roster, which meant someone needed to be removed. Unfortunately, the odd-man out came in the form of Luis Peralta, who the Cardinals had just claimed on waivers earlier in the week. Peralta was DFA'd to make the Shuster move official, and the brother of Freddy will be subject to the waiver wire yet again. With command issues plaguing him thus far in his career, it is possible that Luis is able to squeeze through the wire without being claimed, allowing him to stay with the Cardinals as a depth option in case something else comes up.

Shuster had pitched in two games for the Cardinals earlier in the season, giving up two runs in 3.1 innings of work before being sent to Memphis. While in Triple-A, Shuster appeared in five games, covering 9.2 innings and putting up an inflated 8.38 ERA thanks to two homers among his 10 hits allowed. Thankfully, he has not walked a batter with Memphis, so hopefully he can bring that command with him to Busch Stadium as the rest of the bullpen struggled with free passes. The lefty has the ability to work multiple innings, which could be needed with the high-powered Dodgers offense being full of dangerous lefties in the lineup.

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