Cardinals Rumors: Newly acquired prospect Drew Rom enjoys a spectacular debut
It's only been two weeks, but the Cardinals' return for Jack Flaherty is looking up. At the MLB trade deadline, St. Louis received Baltimore Orioles prospect Drew Rom and two other players in exchange for Flaherty.
On Wednesday, Flaherty made his debut for the Cardinals affiliate, Triple-A Memphis, and went lights out. Rom pitched for five innings against the Triple-A Durham Bulls, allowing one earned run on one hit; he also recorded 10 strikeouts and two walks as the Redbirds won the game, 9-4.
Rom, the No. 26 prospect for the Cards, enters St. Louis with hopes to break into the rotation by next year. The Cards flipped two starters in Flaherty and Jordan Montgomery for a haul of young talent in order to optimistically compete as early as the 2024 season, and Rom could end up plugging a gaping hole on the Cardinals' roster.
The 6-foot-2 southpaw spent this past campaign with the Orioles' top affiliate in Norfolk. In 19 appearances, he owned a 5.34 ERA and 1.70 WHIP, nothing to write home about. Pundits have noted that Rom doesn't throw particularly hard, lacking the velocity of other prospects with stronger arms — opposing batters have hit .290 when facing him.
However, Rom showed up to play in his Cards Triple-A debut and may develop into a valuable piece for St. Louis in time.
Cardinals Rumors: Adam Wainwright wants to end his career strong, but can he?
Cardinals veteran Adam Wainwright's swan song is turning into the horrid screeching of an ugly duckling.
Wainwright took the mound on Friday against Kansas City and delivered another performance to forget, giving up eight runs on nine hits, including two homers, and no outs in just over an inning's worth of work.
Cards manager Oli Marmol admitted Wainwright's future has become hazier in the final stretch of this miserable season, and Wainwright himself might agree. He got yanked from the rotation against the Royals, out of all teams. He hasn't won a game since mid-June. The changing of the guard might have to happen sooner rather than later.
After Friday's outing, Wainwright told The Athletic:
"I'm hesitant to admit it — and I've heard this from older guys who retired — but when you know you're done, you could lose an edge. I was really resistant to that because I thought I would fight like crazy till the end. But I'm going to have to refocus and get real serious about ending strong because I don't want to go out like that. I mean, that's just embarrassing."
As much as Wainwright has secured legendary status in St. Louis, he's become a distressing liability in 2023. Wainwright is just two wins away from the big career 200, but at this point, the Cardinals are putting him out there for emotional reasons, not tactical ones.
His ballooning 8.78 ERA screams at the Cards' front office to put Wainwright on the bench, or at least in the bullpen in a more limited role.
Giving young pitchers — like Michael McGreevy or Alex Cornwell — in-game experience over an aging and clearly declining Wainwright may be the best move for the franchise's short-term future.
Cardinals Rumors: Dylan Carlson named as potential trade bait
After a busy trade deadline, the Cardinals may not be done shipping away players to build a competitive roster for 2024. With the impending retirement of Adam Wainwright, St. Louis may likely add at least one front-end starter this winter at the expense of their talented outfielder corps.
Star Dylan Carlson could turn into an intriguing trade chip by the season's end. In his fourth season in St. Louis, Carlson is currently slashing .219/.318/.333 with five homers and 27 RBIs and has a long way to go before proving himself to be the franchise's centerfielder of the future.
The 24-year-old has been touted as a future All-Star caliber player with the offensive prowess to match his defensive contributions. So far, Carlson hasn't lived up to his lofty first-round-pick expectations, and the Cardinals may consider shopping him after the 2023 season to patch up more pressing areas of their roster.
Josh Jacobs of Redbird Rants wrote of Carlson's red flags:
Carlson's calling card at the plate has been his ability to his left-handed pitching at an elite level, but he is now down to a .770 OPS against southpaws. That's pretty good, but not the special trait it has been for him. Against right-handed pitchers, he's basically unplayable with a .196/.288/.304 slash line.
At this year's trade deadline, the Cardinals were reportedly unwilling to move Carlson unless a team offered a young starting pitcher. Expect St. Louis to try again to maximize Carlson's value this winter, assuming his meager production doesn't improve.