St. Louis Cardinals Recall Carlos Martinez, Demote Kevin Siegrist

The St. Louis Cardinals made a roster move before Sunday’s win over the San Diego Padres, sending lefthander Kevin Siegrist to Triple-A Memphis and recalling righty Carlos Martinez.

Coming into the season, this was a move that would have been difficult for many to imagine happening because of the amazing success that Siegrist had as a rookie in 2013. The hard-throwing lefty had one of the greatest seasons for a reliever in major-league history, going 3-1 with a 0.45 ERA, a .128 opponent batting average, and a 0.88 WHIP over 39.2 innings spanning 45 appearances. He didn’t even give up an earned run until the 13th appearance of his big-league career.

This year, though, he’s been an absolute disaster while also being held back by forearm tightness that kept him on the shelf for more than two months. That was particularly true on Saturday night, when Siegrist came into the game in the top of the seventh and proceeded to blow the game, giving up four earned runs on three hits and two walks over two-thirds of an inning. That raised his ERA to 6.11, and his WHIP is now at 1.43.

Martinez will return after a short stint in Triple-A, and he’ll return the bullpen to a more natural composition of four righthanders and three lefthanders. The 22-year-old was extremely effective in his brief stint as a minor-leaguer, starting two games and giving up a total of six hits and one walk while striking out seven over 10.1 scoreless innings. It’s not completely clear what role Martinez will occupy now that he’s back in the majors, but it would seem that he’ll get some higher-leverage relief innings with Siegrist in the minors, Jason Motte on the DL, and Nick Greenwood already serving as the long reliever.