St. Louis Cardinals to Activate Brayan Peña from DL, DFA Eric Fryer

In a testament to just how great the Cardinals have been at the plate this season (or maybe just how little they use their backup catcher), they’ll DFA a player hitting .368.

As MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch reported on Monday night, the St. Louis Cardinals are expected to activate catcher Brayan Peña from the disabled list on Tuesday night. Pena has missed the entire season to date with a knee injury, and he recently finished a 20-day minor-league rehab assignment. In what has to be a tough call for the Cardinals’ front office, they’ll reportedly designate their current backup, Eric Fryer, for assignment to make room for Peña.

The 30-year-old Fryer had mostly been a minor-league journeyman coming into this season, getting limited big-league action over the past five seasons as an emergency backup catcher with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Minnesota Twins. He definitely broke out during the first half of 2016, though, hitting .368/.415/.421 with five RBI in 38 at-bats. Fryer’s batting average didn’t even dip below 1.000 until April 23, and he entered the month of June with a batting average of .400.

Unfortunately, the fact that Fryer was able to maintain those stats so long is part of the reason that he was considered expendable.

Peña is considered one of the league’s best backup catchers, and he could reasonably be trusted to start a game or two in place of Yadier Molina (if the stubborn 33-year-old starter ever consents to Mike Matheny giving him that much rest.) Fryer, meanwhile, started just eight of the first 75 games this year while seeing reserve action in another 14. He did all that he could in the at-bats that he was given, but there’s obviously not enough trust in him as a legitimate big-league hitter that Matheny was willing to give him even semi-regular starts.

Among the teams that could currently be in the market for a catcher: the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Toronto Blue Jays, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Cincinnati Reds.

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Though they’re likely to get their starting catcher,

, back within the next month, the Pirates might be particularly intrigued by Fryer. It’s easy to argue that he’d be an upgrade, both offensively and defensively, over their current backup,

(currently hitting .069 for the year), and he has a history with the organization, having played for them from 2009-12. Over the past few seasons, the Pirates have been one of the league’s most active organizations on the waiver wire, and it’d be extra intriguing for them to pluck a player from a division rival.

That’s assuming that Fryer even makes it to the waiver wire, though, as the Cardinals could trade him and prevent him from having to go through the waiver process. With the current shortage of good catching around the league, it’s decently possible that the Cards will be able to get something back for him.

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If by some chance Fryer goes through waivers unclaimed, the Cardinals could attempt to outright him to Triple-A Memphis. Since he’s already been outrighted multiple times during his career, though, Fryer has the option to reject that assignment. Since he’d be sharing time with fellow big-league vet

and waiting for Molina or Pena, two of the league’s most durable catchers, to get hurt, it might not be the best business move for him to accept an outright from the Cardinals.