Chaim Bloom plunders former team to add another lively arm to Cardinals' bullpen

The St. Louis Cardinals dealt from the back end of their bullpen at the trade deadline and have been cycling through options to fill the voids with their minor league arms. After adding a lefty reliever to the mix earlier in the week, the Cardinals dipped back into the waiver wire and claimed right-hander Jorge Alcala from the Boston Red Sox.

Cardinals claim right-handed reliever Jorge Alcala from the Red Sox

Alcala, 30, has pitched in the majors in some capacity every year since 2019, appearing in a total of 185 games with both the Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox organizations. His tenure with the Twins came to an end earlier this year when he put up an 8.88 ERA over 22 games despite raising his strikeout rate to a career-best 10.18 K/9. His struggles with Minnesota came because of his inability to throw strikes with consistency, however, as his 5.55 B/9 and 12.1% walk rate along with a .296 opponent batting average put plenty of runners on base.

His issues pushed him out of Minnesota, and he landed in Boston when the Red Sox acquired him in a swap of minor leaguers. The change of scenery has been enough to make him a usable option for Boston, as he appeared in another 19 games for his new team. Over 16.1 innings, Alcala has put up a 3.31 ERA, but, as is often the case for reliever ERA, that does not tell the whole story. He has still allowed a total of 11 runs with Boston, but he was able to cut his walk rate down to a slightly more manageable 10.5%.

The intrigue with Alcala comes from a high-powered fastball and an above-average slider that he was able to use effectively for a great 2024 campaign. Last season, the reliever had a 3.24 ERA with a 24.7% strikeout rate against an improved 8.5% walk rate. His fastball currently averages 97.2mph, down slightly from last season but still near the top of the league in velocity. Interestingly, Alcala's slider was his most effective pitch in 2024, when he threw it 39% of the time with a 32.6% whiff rate. This year, though, Alcala has added a curveball that has become his go-to secondary pitch, but the results with that pitch have not been great. He has thrown it more often than his slider, even though each of the pitches is at or below league-average in terms of effectiveness.

Alcala figures to get a spot in the bullpen right away and was added to the 40-man roster with the claim. No additional move has been reported to this point, but one of Ryan Fernandez or Andre Granillo could be optioned to make room for Alcala, each of whom struggled in a short outing against the Dodgers.