5 puzzling decisions by the St. Louis Cardinals in the past 2 years

Puzzling decision #5: Demoting Victor Scott II instead of Jose Fermin.

This is the most recent of the organization's puzzling decisions. I take no issue with the team promoting infielder Thomas Saggese; he's deserving of the call-up, and he'll see plenty of success over the course of his career. My issue is with the reciprocal move.

The initial rumor mill centered around a possible IL stint for Brendan Donovan who had been dealing with a foot injury. A second theory regarding the corresponding move to Saggese's promotion was a demotion of infielder Jose Fermin. After all, Fermin and Saggese had similar defensive profiles, and Saggese's offensive ceiling was higher than Fermin's.

Instead of either of those moves, Victor Scott II was sent back down to Memphis. This would be the second time he was demoted this year after spending multiple days in the majors, though his initial demotion made more sense as he struggled mightily to start the season. This one felt different.

The whole point of recalling Scott in early August was to have him work with the coaches at the major league level. The argument of who should start between Scott and Siani this year isn't negligible, but the learning that Scott could have done under the tutelage of coaches like Willie McGee would have been invaluable to the young outfielder.

Michael Siani has outpaced his projections this year; there's no denying that he's worthy of a Gold Glove -- though he won't be eligible this year. However, keeping Jose Fermin on the roster while sending down Victor Scott II is perplexing. There's a world where both Scott and Siani can be on the roster despite them profiling similarly this year. Scott's ceiling is much higher than Siani's, so he should be the organization's solution in center field in 2025 and beyond.

One additional frustrating detail to this saga would be that Victor Scott II lost his rookie eligibility by just 10 at-bats this year and only five games (I'm not sure how many days he spent on the roster, as 45 days is the maximum for rookie eligibility). Had the organization demoted him just a few games earlier, they would maintain an additional year of control.