Reliever's tenure with Cardinals officially comes to an end

The St. Louis Cardinals roster has undergone a massive change in the past week, with Chaim Bloom switching things up in the pitching staff and in the lineup. In the search for answers in a tough stretch, the Cardinals had to do some roster pruning, with Matt Pushard being the odd man out for the promotion of Hunter Dobbins. Pushard's tenure officially came to an end on Wednesday as Jeff Jones reported that the reliever was returned to the Miami Marlins.

The process of releasing Pushard was a little different than most players since the 28-year-old was selected by the Cardinals during the major league portion of the Rule 5 Draft. Despite Pushard never having overwhelming success at any level of the minor leagues, St. Louis took the chance on the righty, understanding that drafting him basically meant locking him into a 26-man roster spot. Coming from the Marlins, Pushard made the team out of spring but immediately struggled. In his major league debut, he gave up three hits and three runs with a walk before being placed on the injured list with a knee issue.

Matt Pushard's departure has reshaped the Cardinals bullpen

Due to his roster status, Pushard worked his way back to the majors when deemed healthy in May and performed well in his role. In his first 4.1 innings back, the righty did not give up a run and struck out five while allowing just three hits and three walks. He ran into trouble in his last outing with the Cardinals, giving up three hits and two runs against the Cubs, but with the bullpen taxed and offense struggling, Bloom designated Pushard for assignment.

Because he was selected from the Marlins in the Rule 5 draft, Pushard had to first be offered back to Miami. If they wanted him back, the Marlins would pay the Cardinals $50,000, or half of the original cost for St. Louis to acquire him. At that point, they could add him back to the 40-man roster or send him to the minor leagues. Now that Pushard has been removed from the St. Louis equation, Oli Marmol has a new setup to choose from. Riley O'Brien remains the closer, but Dobbins is scheduled to get another outing soon.

Dobbins fills a length role for the time being, but the Cardinals would prefer to keep him stretched out and on a regular schedule, so it will be interesting to see how they handle him after his next outing. If he does not get a starting chance soon, he could be sent down to Memphis to get back on track and open up another opportunity for Brycen Mautz or others to get the promotion. With the rotation staying healthy for the second year in a row, rotation opportunities have been few and far between. This has forced Dobbins and Mautz to learn new roles in the short term, but Matt Svanson and Chris Roycroft are additional options for major league relief.

There will be additional roster shuffling in the coming days with the impending returns of Lars Nootbaar, Nathan Church, and Ramon Urias, so the Memphis shuttle will be busy for the next week.

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