St. Louis Cardinals to activate reliever Jason Motte from disabled list on Tuesday
By Brad Rowland
In response to some incredibly shaky bullpen work from their bullpen on Sunday afternoon, many thought that the St. Louis Cardinals would be activating former closer Jason Motte from the disabled list on Monday. However, they have chosen to put that on hold, if only for one day.
Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch brings the news:
"Instead of adding Motte to the active roster Sunday, the Cardinals elected to keep several fresh arms available in the bullpen to cover innings should starter Jaime Garcia falter. Motte threw a bullpen session Sunday and will be removed from the disabled list Tuesday, cleared for duty. The Cardinals are expected to option lefty Sam Freeman to Class AAA to make room."
The 31-year-old Motte was last seen in the Major Leagues during the 2012 season, when he saved 42 games with impressive ratios (2.75 ERA, 10.75 K/9, 2.13 BB/9), and he has been on the shelf since early in 2013 as a result of Tommy John surgery. Per the report from Goold, the Cardinals have been non-committal on what role Motte will occupy immediately when he is activated, but with youngsters Trevor Rosenthal and Carlos Martinez struggling in the late innings, the door has been cracked open.
It will be interesting to see how Motte fares in the early going, but he did manage to throw more than six innings of spotless relief in his Minor League rehab start, which is encouraging in itself. The Cardinals will host the struggling Arizona Diamondbacks at Busch Stadium on Tuesday night.