BenFred: Bring back Jack? Hard to imagine Cardinals connecting trade-deadline dots to Flaherty
The Cardinals have proven in recent seasons that you really can go home again.
There probably will never be another homecoming as happy as Albert Pujols’ reunion in 2022. Some swore we would never see it. Wrong.
After Pujols retired, many would have moved Lance Lynn from second to first on the list of ex-Cards most likely to never wear the uniform again. Wrong again.
Who knows, maybe ex-Cards outfielder Tommy Pham can help fill the Cardinals’ trade-deadline desire of improving their right-handed hitting options.
Reunions do seem to be becoming a theme, and I’m not just saying that because the 1964 and 2004 teams were honored at Busch Stadium on Friday night.
So, I won’t say it’s impossible that the Cardinals could continue longtime president of baseball operations John Mozeliak’s newfound trend by bringing back Jack Flaherty before Tuesday’s trade deadline, but I’m having a pretty hard time seeing it as a very realistic possibility. Especially compared to all of the sports radio and social media conversation the hypothetical has created.
Yes, I’m aware of what Flaherty has accomplished in Detroit this season. Good for him. He bet on himself and won the bet.
He’s made himself the best true rental starting pitcher available in a pitcher-desperate market. He may be the best starting pitcher still available, period. The 28-year-old right-hander turned his one-year, $14 million deal with Detroit into a potential launching pad to the free agency he can have this offseason — especially if he joins a new team at the deadline and helps power that team into and through the postseason.
Flaherty has a wicked 2.95 ERA. He’s crammed 133 strikeouts into 106.2 innings. He’s only walked 19. It’s a shame the Tigers are living on the wrong side of .500 despite Flaherty’s domination.
The Cardinals are among the teams hungry for improved starting pitching. They could really use an impressive arm to slot behind Sonny Gray and ahead other members of this veteran staff. It’s not surprising to see the Flaherty what-if percolate. Here’s why I don’t see the dots connecting in reality.
Flaherty’s final season with the Cardinals wasn’t worthy of reality TV drama, but it didn’t go smoothly. He made public comments that were perceived to be negative toward then still-new catcher Willson Contreras’ pitch-calling and game-planning. He declined to clear up those opportunities — until after he was looking for a new team as a free agent this past offseason. Contreras took the comments in stride and did not make a big deal about them, but things like that don’t get forgotten, and now Contreras is one of the team’s faces. The catcher also wasn’t the only one Flaherty rubbed the wrong way at times toward the end. This could be a trickier clubhouse addition than some realize. Impossible? No. Easy? Also no.
Flaherty’s first impression as a rental flopped. He went from a 4.43 ERA in Ƶ to a 6.75 ERA in Baltimore. After a strong first Orioles impression, he regressed until he was moved into the Orioles’ bullpen. He didn’t make a single start in Baltimore’s American League Division Series. His last postseason start came in 2020. If you want your rental to have fresh postseason seasoning, Flaherty’s not it.
Second-half performance and durability concerns about Flaherty are fair. His 27 starts last season marked the most he’s made since 33 back in 2019, before there were annual worries about his shoulder. He’s made 18 starts (106.2 innings) this season. Last season, Flaherty had a 4.27 ERA in the first half while opponents posted a .772 OPS against him. After the All-Star break, he had a 6.27 ERA and opponents posted an .896 OPS against him. Flaherty’s made 31 career starts in September or August. His ERA in them: 4.47. Flaherty has millions of reasons to finish strong this time. But he’s never tried to do anything but that. Sometimes his body betrays him.
Last one. The rental ask for Flaherty will probably be too high for the Cardinals to stomach, considering their legitimate reasons for pause.
My pal Evan Woodbery, who covers the Tigers for MLive, noted this week just how many teams are clamoring for Flaherty’s services, and just how much the Tigers want to maximize the return. It’s probably going to take a prospect that hurts, or multiple top-15 prospects. And remember, you are only guaranteed to get the rest of this season with Flaherty.
The team that trades for him could get a head start on extending him, of course. There’s yet another reason for the Cardinals to not see what other teams see. Flaherty and the Cardinals never got very far down any meaningful extension road during his time here before, not even when he was cruising along as one of the best young starters in the game. Considering the current veteran state of the Cardinals’ rotation, they would be a lot better off getting a little more contract control, like the season and a half Jordan Montgomery brought from the Yankees when the Cardinals landed him in 2022.
There’s nothing wrong with a good reunion. The Cardinals have been more open to them lately than they seemed to be in the past. In this case, though, a team that is playing a lot better than last season’s last-place flop probably shouldn’t make its big trade-deadline addition the return of a player who contributed to said flop.
How perseverance shaped Cardinals draftee Brian Holiday's path to professional baseball
Brian Holiday is no stranger to the skepticism and whispers of doubt that have accompanied his path to professional baseball.
But the 5-foot-11 right-hander out of Oklahoma State, who was selected by the Cardinals in the third round of the MLB draft on July 15, views that uncertainty as opportunity.
"I like being underrated," Holiday said. "I like being under pressure, and everything, to prove myself. I think it's a blessing in disguise, almost, because some people are going to tell you that you can't do it, but at the end of the day, that's just somebody else's opinion, and just because somebody thinks that about you doesn't mean that you can't do that."
Holiday, an 'undersized pitcher' who received zero college offers while competing at Land O' Lakes High in North Tampa, embodied that mindset throughout a three-year journey that brought him from a junior college walk-on just two seasons ago to a top-80 selection in the 2024 MLB draft.
It's a path that still surprises Holiday, who kickstarted the process by betting on himself.
"I had an opportunity to play at Florida SouthWestern State College down in Fort Myers, Florida, and I was offered a walk-on spot there," Holiday said. "I was more than grateful for the opportunity and knew that I had to go in there and prove myself and earn a spot ... but it made me kind of want to play with a little bit of like a chip on my shoulder, just to show that I was worth a scholarship.
"I wanted to prove that I could pitch at that level."
Holiday did just that, earning all-state honors while also being named the Florida College System Activities Association Fireman of the Year, an award given to the top relief pitcher in the region. He parlayed that into a spot with the Chatham Anglers in the Cape Cod League the following summer, where Holiday played under longtime baseball coach Tom Holliday, the father of former Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday and current Oklahoma State coach Josh Holliday.
Entering the 2023 spring season, Holiday transferred to the College of Central Florida and quickly emerged as a dominant starting pitcher for the Patriots, who won the 2023 junior college national championship. Holiday starred in the title run, earning NJCAA JUCO World Series most outstanding pitcher honors with a win, save and 23 strikeouts in 9⅓ innings during the tournament. By the time those honors rolled around, though, Holiday had long decided his next destination: Oklahoma State.
"The recommendations were two-fold — based on his ability to throw the ball and get people out, and equal parts who he was as a person, as a player, and what he would bring to our team," Josh Holliday said. "People that knew him, played with him or coached him couldn't stop bragging about how wonderful he is ... and in today's day and age, in athletics, when people are amazing teammates (and) people, they stand out because that's not a compliment that gets passed around very much anymore."
Opponents had a much different perspective of Holiday.
The righty, who specializes with a four-pitch arsenal that includes a four-seam fastball (mid-90s), curveball (77-81 mph), slider (81-84) and changeup, earned second-team All-American honors with the Cowboys. Holiday, an All-Big 12 Conference first-team honoree as well, pitched to a 7-3 record with a 2.95 ERA and a league-best 128 strikeouts to just 19 walks in a conference-most 113 innings as Oklahoma State's Saturday starter.
His impact truly shined through in several of the Cowboys' biggest moments of the season. Holiday pitched back-to-back complete games in the postseason against UCF (seven strikeouts) and Florida (10 strikeouts), and he added a pair of 14-strikeout performances earlier in the season against TCU and Houston. Perhaps the most defining of his outings came in his second start of the season against then-No. 1 Arkansas, when Holiday allowed one run and struck out six.
"He pretty much laid it out there that night," Josh Holliday said. "(Holiday) pretty much made a statement (like) 'Boys, I got this. You can count on me. I'm going to be a leader. I'm going to perform and take the ball in big stages, and I'm going to light up. I'm not going to back down.' "
Behind the dynamic season, Holiday quickly rose up draft boards. In the process, though, questions arose again surrounding his size and how that would translate to the professional level. During those times, Holiday said he looked to undersized right-handed pitchers like New York Yankees starter Marcus Stroman and Atlanta Braves ace Spencer Strider as examples of inspiration, but he also turned to a pitcher who more resembles his game — Cleveland Guardians ace Shane Bieber.
"(Bieber) is not going to overpower you with stuff," Holiday said. "Obviously, he has great stuff, and he's a great pitcher. But he's not going to throw the hardest, he's not going to spin it the absolute best, but what he's going to do at the highest level is execute. ... and that's where I feel like our game is kind of the same."
His college coach offered another comparison, one Cardinals fans should be familiar with.
"(The Cardinals) are getting a guy that reminds me a lot of Sonny Gray," Josh Holliday said. "I coached Sonny in college, and (Holiday) has that elite ability to compete every single pitch (and) he seems to rise to the occasion ... (They've) got a guy associated with winning. Everywhere Brian goes, he wins. So, I think they're a guy out of that mold, maybe a little undersized, but extremely strong in the areas thar matter most — courage, confidence and competitiveness."
That perseverance appealed to the Cardinals when they took a gamble of their own with pick No. 80
And based on Holiday's track record of quieting the skepticism surrounding him, that's the attitude he'll bring to the organization.
"He's a special competitor," Josh Holliday said. "He's just really, quite honestly, a once in a lifetime type of kid.
"The Cardinals got a good one. They identified something in him, stepped up and drafted him before anybody else got to, and the reward will be an amazing performer, an amazing teammate and somebody that very much is in line with the Cardinal culture that I observed as my brother played for them for a number of years."
Kyle Gibson takes hill as Cardinals look for rebound vs. Nationals: First Pitch
After a loss Friday, the Cardinals continue a home series Saturday against the Nationals. First pitch is set for 6:15 p.m. but it will begin in a rain delay.
The Cardinals have announced that the game will begin at 8:15 p.m., weather permitting.
Right-hander Kyle Gibson (7-3, 3.99) will take the mound Saturday for the Cardinals.
Gibson is coming off one of his better starts of the year, going 6 2/3 innings and allowing one run at Atlanta, and that run scored after he left the mound.
The Nationals will counter with right-hander Jake Irvin (7-8, 3.44).
Irvin lasted only three innings last season at Busch in his only career appearance vs. the Cardinals.
The Cardinals are 53-50, second in the NL Central and six games out of first.
Against teams other than Washington, the Cardinals have scored six or more runs 22 times in 98 games. Against the Nationals, the Cardinals have done it all five times they've played each other.
With Friday's 10-8 loss, the Cardinals have scored eight or more 11 times and only lost two of those games.
The Nationals are 48-56, fourth in the NL East and have won six of their last seven games vs. NL Central opponents.
CARDINALS
1. Masyn Winn, SS
2. Alec Burleson, DH
3. Willson Contreras, C
4. Brendan Donovan, LF
5. Nolan Arenado, 3B
6. Lars Nootbaar, RF
7. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
8. Nolan Gorman, 2B
9. Michael Siani, CF
P: Kyle Gibson, RHP
NATIONALS
1. CJ Abrams, SS
2. Lane Thomas, RF
3. Jesse Winker, DH
4. Juan Yepez, 1B
5. James Wood, LF
6. Keibert Ruiz, C
7. Luis García Jr., 2B
8. Trey Lipscomb, 3B
9. Jacob Young, CF
P: Jake Irvin, RHP
Injury report
Tommy Edman (wrist surgery): Will resume his rehab assignment Saturday with Class AA Springfield and be in the starting lineup at designated hitter. He had his rehab assignment interrupted by a sore ankle that required an anti-inflammatory injection and more than a week of rest. That delayed his return to the majors. He has yet to play in the field on his rehab assignment and there's no set date yet for his first appearance in the field. Edman has not yet appeared in the majors this season due to offseason wrist surgery. Updated July 26
Riley O'Brien (flexor tendon): Felt good after his second appearance for Class AAA Memphis on his rehab assignment. O'Brien remains under scrutiny for his healthy, and will be until he's able to appear on back-to-back days for the Redbirds. His next outing is Friday. At some point within the next two weeks, if his outings continue to go well and he recovers well, the evaluation will shift from health to baseball performance. That will determine his return to majors. His fastball traveled consistently between 95 mph and 97 mph in his Triple-A outing. Updated July 24
Steven Matz (lower back stiffness): Matz threw his second bullpen session Saturday after resuming his throwing program. He is doing his workouts at Busch Stadium. Matz is looking toward an August return, if possible. Updated July 19
Cardinals lost in the 10th, but costly miscues throughout paved the way for a bitter defeat
The costly misplay in the 10th inning certainly provides an ultimate turning point, the moment when the game ultimately got away from the Cardinals for good. After all, the deciding runs scored and the momentum — for those who believe in such things — tipped entirely in favor of the Washington Nationals.
Before right fielder Dylan Carlson misjudged a line drive off the bat of Jacob Young and couldn’t recover quickly enough to overcome a faulty route to the ball, the Cardinals were digging themselves a hole with miscues and mistakes that don’t show up as errors in the box score.
The Cardinals’ series-opening 10-8 loss to the Washington Nationals in 10 innings in front of an announced crowd of 41,382 at Busch Stadium, served as the culmination following a multitude of missteps. The loss dropped them to 5-8 in extra-inning games this season.
It also came at a time when the Cardinals (53-50) have slipped out of a playoff spot and must continue to win series or risk losing critical ground in their postseason chase. They'll enter Saturday 1 1/2 games out of the final wild card spot.
“You score eight against these guys, you’ve got to be able to put them away,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “Very uncharacteristic of us to walk eight, one intentionally, but seven free passes — that’s not something we’ve done all year. It’s actually a strength of ours, making the other side earn it.”
The Cardinals led 5-2 after three innings, but the Nationals (48-56) outscored them 8-3 in the final seven innings just one day after they were the no-hit by the San Diego Padres.
Cardinals pitchers walked eight batters, including one intentional walk, in 10 innings. Reliever JoJo Romero (1 1/3 innings) was the lone Cardinals pitcher who didn’t hand out a single walk.
The Nationals also took advantage of their opportunities when on base. They stole six bases in seven attempts. Their ability to take extra bases contributed to the fact that they took 18 at-bats with runners in scoring position (5 for 18).
“Today, we just gave up free passes. They took advantage of it,” Marmol said. “A lot of balls they put in play early against Sonny led to hits, not a whole lot (hit) at people. The combination of that and our running game cost us that game.”
Cardinals starting pitcher Sonny Gray allowed five runs on seven hits and three walks in five innings. He also struck out seven. This start marked the third time in his last four outings that he allowed five runs. Two of those starts came against the Nationals.
Gray turned a one-run lead over to the bullpen after five innings, but he undoubtedly hasn't been as sharp recently as he had been earlier this season.
Gray began the season with 17 scoreless innings and posted an ERA of 0.89 through his first five starts. He’d walked just six batters through his first six starts (35 1/3 innings).
“I know what I need to do,” Gray said. “I just have to do it. And I just have to commit to doing it, and I will.”
Gray didn't get into specifics or shed light on what he felt like he needed to “do,” but he added, “You’ll see what it is.”
After Gray struck out the side in the first inning on Friday night, he gave up a two-run second inning that started with a single by former Cardinal Juan Yepez.
Right after the Cardinals’ offense bashed its way to a 5-2 lead thanks to home runs by Masyn Winn (2 for 5, three RBIs) and Nolan Arenado (1 for 4, three RBIs) in the bottom of the third, Gray gave up another run in the top of the third. Then he gave up two more in the fifth, an inning fueled by a pair of walks and a Yepez RBI double.
The Nationals tied the score after John King walked the leadoff batter of the seventh inning. That run came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Yepez.
The Cardinals bullpen contingent of Andrew Kittredge, Romero and Ryan Helsley held the Nationals scoreless through the ninth inning.
With the automatic runner on second base to start the 10th inning, reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-3) came within a strike of stranding a pair of runners in scoring position and putting up another scoreless frame.
With two outs and the go-ahead run at third base, the Cardinals intentionally walked Garcia and chose to pitch to Nationals No. 8 hole hitter Trey Lipscomb.
Garcia took second base on defensive indifference, but he still got ahead in the count to Lipscomb 1-2. Then Fernandez threw back-to-back pitches out of the zone to make it a full count. Lipscomb then fouled off consecutive sliders from Fernandez to keep the at-bat alive. Fernandez’s third full-count pitch sailed wide of the strike zone for ball four and loaded the bases.
“Trey’s at-bat there at the end of the night, getting down 1-2 or 2-2 and to fight to get that walk, I mean you’re talking about a guy who hasn’t played 100 games and he’s doing stuff like that,” Young said. “It’s just awesome to see that resiliency.”
Fernandez then fell behind the No. 9 hitter, Jacob Young. Fernandez threw a 2-0 slider in the strike zone, but Young lined it into right field where Carlson appeared to have initially broke in on the ball. Carlson retreated and made a leaping attempt at an inning-ending catch, but the ball sailed over him for a bases-clearing triple.
"When I first saw it, I thought ahh man,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “But once I saw (Carlson) break, I thought 'get up, get up, get, up.' And it went over his head. (Young) smoked that ball. It was a great swing by Jacob."
The Nationals got Lipscomb in from third base with an infield single by leadoff hitter CJ Abrams, and that brought their total to 10 runs on 11 hits.
With the automatic runner on base in the bottom of the 10th, Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt (2 for 5) hit a two-run home run for his 2,000th career hit. It dressed up the final score slightly, but the Cardinals didn’t bring the tying run to the plate in the final inning.
Photos: Cardinals fall 10-8 to the Nationals
Cardinals prospect Inohan Paniagua allows grand slam in Class High-A start: Minor League Report
A grand slam in the fourth inning put a blemish on Cardinals prospect Inohan Paniagua’s Friday start for Class High-A Peoria and left the righty with the most runs he’s allowed in an outing since the end of May.
Paniagua got through three scoreless innings against South Bend before he allowed three consecutive singles and a bases-clearing home run from South Bend’s Brian Kalmer in Peoria’s 8-4 loss at Four Winds Field. Paniagua bookended his outing, which included four strikeouts, two walks, and two hit batters, with a scoreless fifth inning.
Paniagua, 24, came into his outing against South Bend having completed four or more innings and having allowed three or fewer runs in each of his previous eight outings (seven starts) dating back to the first week of June.
The righty sported a 2.63 ERA across 41 innings since the start of June and had kept hitters to a .197 batting average and a .263 slugging percentage during that span. He logged two quality starts in that stretch and lowered his ERA from 4.02 to 3.32 before the four runs he allowed on Friday increased it to 3.54.
Coming off an injury-limited 2023 season where he logged 48 innings in the regular season, Paniagua has completed 86 1/3 innings and struck out 88 batters in 19 games (14 starts) for Peoria.
Here are other Cardinals prospect performances:
Outfielder Chase Davis, Class Low-A Palm Beach: Davis went one-for-four with a single during Palm Beach’s 4-0 loss to St. Lucie. The lone hit kept Davis’s average at .224 as the end of July nears. Since the end of June — a month during which Davis slashed .333/.464/.683 with five homers — the former first-round pick from the 2023 MLB draft has batted .203 with a .273 on-base percentage, and a .392 slugging percentage through 59 at-bats in July. Seven of his 12 hits this month have come after the MiLB season resumed on July 19 following Major League Baseball’s All-Star break.
Catcher Leonardo Bernal, Class High-A Peoria: Bernal continued his productive July by singling in one of his four at-bats on Friday, giving the switch-hitting catcher a hit in each of his last four games and 11 hits in 15 games during July. Bernal, who is batting .296 with a .371 on-base percentage in his last 62 plate appearances, owns a .268 average and a .349 on-base percentage in 75 games. The 20-year-old has managed to hit .253 and produce a .342 on-base percentage in 222 plate appearances as a left-handed batter vs. righties while batting .313 with a .370 on-base percentage and a .907 OPS in 73 plate appearances as a righty vs. lefties.
Right-handed pitcher Riley O’Brien, Class AAA Memphis (rehab appearance): O’Brien continued his rehab assignment for a right forearm flexor strain by throwing a scoreless inning of relief in Memphis’s 5-3 loss to Columbus. O’Brien collected one strikeout and flashed 96.2 mph with his fastball in the appearance. The relief appearance was O’Brien’s third rehab appearance since first getting into a game on July 20. O’Brien has been on the injured list since late March after he pitched on opening day for the Cardinals in Los Angeles.
Ex-Cardinal Juan Yepez punishes former team, matches career high with three hits in series opener
Juan Yepez had only one three-hit game at Busch Stadium in 48 appearances across two seasons at his home ballpark as a Cardinal.
But the Nationals' first baseman needed just one appearance as a visitor to reach the plateau in the place he called home for the first two seasons of his career, tying his career-high with three hits in the Nationals' 10-8 extra-innings victory over the Cardinals on Friday night.
"He's been awesome since he's been called up," Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. "He's doing his job. He's not trying to do too much. He's hitting the ball everywhere and driving in big runs for us, so he's playing really well."
Yepez served as an offensive catalyst in the Nationals' series-opening victory, coming through in a few key moments to spark a Nationals offense that had been the victim of San Diego Padres right-hander Dylan Cease's no-hitter on Thursday in Washington D.C.
The right-handed hitting first baseman recorded the Nationals' first hit with a leadoff single in the second inning and scored their first run of the game later that inning when second baseman Luis Garcia Jr. split the right-center gap for a two-run double. Yepez added a leadoff single in the fourth inning, crossing the plate once again on a run-scoring single from Garcia Jr. to cut the Nationals' deficit, at the time, to 5-3.
"It's always fun to come here," Yepez said of the return. "The fans here are great, and I think they were very good to me (and) to my family, so it's fun."
Perhaps his most impactful plate appearances came in the three innings to follow, however, as Yepez provided the fuel for the Nationals to erase a three-run deficit.
Stepping to the plate in the fifth inning with two-on and one out, Yepez pounced on the second pitch of his at-bat against Cardinals right-hander Sonny Gray and sent it down the left-field line for an RBI single that trimmed the Nationals' deficit to 6-5. Then, two innings later, the stars aligned for the former Cardinal to punish his former team once again with a pair of runners in scoring position and only one out.
Yepez needed just one pitch from Cardinals reliever Andrew Kittredge to tie the game at 6-all with a sacrifice fly to center field, a swing that proved pivotal as neither team could respond before extra innings began. In his final at-bat of the effort, Yepez stepped to the plate with two outs in the ninth inning against Cardinals All-Star closer Ryan Helsley and flew out to left field on the first pitch, capping one of the best single-game performances of his career.
"He got opportunities, and (he's) taking full advantage of it," said Nationals starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore, who allowed six runs on nine hits in five innings Friday. "He gets in there with a good approach. He sticks to it, and it's beautiful to see. That's what this game is all about, you get an opportunity and you take advantage of it. He's doing that right now, and he's been huge for us."
Yepez, who was non-tendered by the Cardinals in November, joined the Nationals on a minor league deal in spring training and worked his way back to the major league level behind a consistent approach at Class AAA Rochester, where he slashed .263/.357/.438 with 11 home runs and 45 RBIs. The consistent effort was rewarded when the 26-year-old received a promotion to the Nationals' major league roster on July 5.
Since that call-up, all Yepez has done is hit.
The 6-foot, 235-pound first baseman started his stint with the Nationals by recording at least one hit in 15 successive games, a streak that was the longest such streak in Nationals team history. Through his first 16 games with the Nationals, Yepez is batting .375 (24-for-64) with nine doubles, six walks, 10 RBIs and 12 runs.
"It's incredible," said Nationals center fielder Jacob Young on Yepez's dominant start. "You go out there thinking he's gonna get a hit, honestly, at this point. It feels like he's just doing what he does. He hits the ball hard, uses all parts of the field and he's done a great job coming from Triple-A to here. It's not an easy thing to do, to get off to a start like this."
Yepez's multi-hit performance built upon the hot start he has had against the Cardinals since debuting with the Nationals. In five games against his previous club, the former Cardinal possesses a hit in each one, including three extra-base hits. He also leads all MLB hitters with nine doubles since being promoted to the major league level in early July.
"I'm just trying to keep going, seeing the ball and hitting it, Yepez said. "Things are going my way."
The offensive consistency is a longtime coming for a player who was a top-six prospect in the Cardinals' organization just two seasons ago. But while that success never quite materialized as a Cardinal, Yepez continues to show glimpses of what the organization believed he could be under the lights of Busch Stadium.