St. Louis Cardinals’ Shelby Miller Moved to Bullpen

The St. Louis Cardinals have made some adjustments to their starting pitching rotation coming out of the All-Star break with the decision to move struggling righthanded pitcher Shelby Miller to the bullpen. The team will use a four-man rotation in his absence, and though manager Mike Matheny only committed to using the short rotation for the next turn, they could stick with it for a while. The way the Cardinals’ schedule is oriented, with four off days between now and August 5, it would be possible for the Cardinals to use this arrangement for the next several weeks.

With the elbow pain that ace Adam Wainwright has experienced this season, Joe Kelly still making his way back to 100 percent after a hamstring injury, and Carlos Martinez starting regularly for the first time ever in the majors and for the first time at all since he was at Triple-A Memphis in August of last year, it may not be the smartest move for the Cards to cut down on their rest as much as possible. But with the back pain and general struggles that the 23-year-old Miller has experienced lately, it’s good to get him a rest. Miller hasn’t been quite as effective in his second full season as he was as a rookie, going 7-8 over 19 starts while posting a 4.29 ERA and 1.47 WHIP. He was particularly iffy in his last start before the break, giving up four earned runs on five hits and four walks while striking out only one batter over five innings.