The mandatory hurdle the St. Louis Cardinals must clear at the trade deadline is finding a more consistent starting pitcher than Dakota Hudson.
Two hits, then the team was lucky enough to use Monday’s rest day to skip Hudson’s rotation and move him to Arizona on Saturday, where they hoped for a more solid bottom line , in order to achieve their own results in the next competition.
“We’ve got a good (bullpen) meeting with a focus more on left-handed hitters,” manager Oliver Marmore said Tuesday afternoon in his Busch Stadium office. . “That’s where he struggles the most… In his position on the court, we think it’s important to jump over him, fix that and give him another chance.”
The location, for Hudson, is shown in the Walk column. A cursory glance at his 2022 stats shows that in some ways he’s actually doing better against lefties than righties. Left-handed batsmen have a 0.304 slugging percentage against him — 126 fewer points than right-handers — suggesting he’s done a great job limiting damage to the ball in the game.
should be minimal However, the damage is instead maximized due to the number of free passes issued. The southpaw had 32 walks against Hudson and just 28 strikeouts, a reverse ratio that portends serious trouble.
Hudson is in his first full season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in late 2020, although nearly two years from the surgery, the Cardinals have little to no burden on his body worry. In fact, Malmore was quick to dismiss those concerns, instead pointing out that the right-hander’s mentality on the mound could be the source of the trouble.
“I think the mentality part stood out to me the most,” Malmore said. “You should be able to execute the execution no matter where someone is in the box, right? So I think it’s more of a mindset than a mechanic’s repeatability.”
stone. St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Dakota Hudson had a great 2020 game against Pittsburgh. Hudson has struggled this season, was rotated after Monday’s break, and now has a key start Saturday in Arizona.
Cardinals raise their hands?
Deadline acquisitions of Jordan Montgomery and Jose Quintana give the Cardinals space — and a generous schedule — in They address Hudson’s problem while evaluating other options.
On Tuesday, Jack Flaherty is scheduled for the second of four rehab sessions, while Steven Matz is about to welcome his 7th Throwing the mound for the first time since a torn left MCL in his left hand, Hudson may have plenty of room to solve his problems, but time is not quietly ticking.
In fact, by Keeping him in the rotation, the Cardinals appear to have given up their hand.
Andre Palant’s move back to the bullpen has been met with skepticism and criticism despite the Cardinals expressing a desire to monitor his innings and believe he can provide more Certainty as a substitute. A more obvious contributor to the playoffs. With only one team’s four best starters likely to get those assignments in the playoffs — unable to afford the new version of the schedule — Hudson will likely find himself out looking for two new additions, Mai Les Mikolas and Adam Wainwright solidified themselves into the top four.
More on Flaherty, Matz, Thompson
Flaherty’s contribution to this year’s It remains purely theoretical for the club until he shows fitness and efficiency, and while the Cardinals are encouraged by the speed with which Mats is recovering, Mulmore admitted on Tuesday that it wasn’t even very good before he threw a mound. It’s hard to outline his potential contribution, and he hasn’t done so.
Even so, given their careers and the recovery paths they’ve set, it’s hard to imagine how much either pitcher could contribute as a reliever. Given that Zach Thompson’s adjustment to back-to-back games in the Memphis Triple-A didn’t go as smoothly as the club had hoped, Matz may have had more to offer in that regard. If Mats also finds himself limited by the calendar or new additions, he might offer a high-leverage southpaw option.
Also, left-handed hitters are an area to watch, and it certainly helps that both Montgomery and Quintana throw with their left arms. These matchups work for the Cardinals, even if they don’t know much about Hudson’s work.
Time to stand up for Hudson in the desert
If not Relying on the luxury of the rehab process and, paradoxically, not having his contribution as needed as the Cardinals did a month ago, Hudson could easily find himself without a clear position in ideal circumstances, at the end of the year, He’ll solidify himself in the team’s current and future pitching plans.
To meet their short-term requirements, the front office created a complication that must be addressed in the offseason. After all, without much pitching, Hudson will still be counted on to provide the stability the Cardinals need him to find this winter, even if he can’t quite find it any time soon.
Saturday, in the Arizona desert, will be his next, best chance. It needs to be confiscated.
