St. Louis Cardinals Option Sam Tuivailala to Triple-A Memphis as Jaime Garcia is Activated
With a need to create a spot on the 25-man roster for Tuesday night’s starting pitcher, Jaime Garcia, who is returning from the disabled list following a groin injury, the St. Louis Cardinals optioned righthanded reliever Sam Tuivailala to the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds.
Given Tuivailala’s recent performance, his demotion is somewhat surprising. Since his July 11 recall to the majors, he had been dominant, throwing seven scoreless innings while allowing just three hits and striking out six. He was averaging 96.4 MPH on his fastball while also introducing a deceptive cutter that had induced an incredible 22.2 percent swinging strike rate. The only thing that could have inspired any concern with Tuivailala was the three walks that he allowed, and he’ll now have the opportunity to further refine his control back at Memphis.
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Even though righty Miguel Socolovich has put up good numbers, posting a 1.66 ERA with a .207 opponent batting average, he seemed most likely to be the first man out of the bullpen considering his status as a 10-year minor-league veteran and his lack of elite stuff. Socolovich will now stick at least until setup man Jordan Walden is activated from the DL, and likely longer, as it doesn’t make much sense for the Cardinals to retain three first basemen (Mark Reynolds, Dan Johnson, and Stephen Piscotty) on the 25-man roster for the long term.
Garcia will return to make his first start since June 24, when he tweaked a groin running the bases against the Miami Marlins. The oft-injured Garcia inspired confidence that he’ll be able to bounce right back in his last rehab start, when he threw five no-hit innings in what went on to be a combined no-hitter for the Low-A Peoria Chiefs. He’ll slide into the rotation spot that was vacated when lefty Tim Cooney was demoted to Triple-A on Saturday. That’s convenient considering that Cooney had to have his appendix removed before he could make a start with the Redbirds and will now be sidelined indefinitely.
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