Inside The Cardinals

Cardinals Cutting Ties With Phenom For Now Down To Minors

The Cardinals made a tough decision on Friday...
Patrick McAvoy|
Feb 26, 2021; Jupiter, Florida, USA; A general view of the St. Louis Cardinals logo on the stadium at Roger Dean Stadium during spring training workouts. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images
Feb 26, 2021; Jupiter, Florida, USA; A general view of the St. Louis Cardinals logo on the stadium at Roger Dean Stadium during spring training workouts. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images | Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images

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St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals recently made a somewhat surprising decision to keep young infielder Thomas Saggese on the big league roster despite both Masyn Winn and Nolan Gorman. 

The surprising part of that decision to keep him in St. Louis had nothing to do with his performance. In fact he has been great so far this season and is slashing .342/.364/.512 with one homer, seven RBIs, four doubles, and four runs scored in 14 games played.

The surprising part was that there wasn’t going to be as much time to go around for him to have an everyday opportunity with Winn and Gorman now healthy. It sounds like the Cardinals are looking more in that direction now as they optioned him to the minors on Sunday in favor of infielder Jose Barrero, according to MLB.com's John Denton.

"In an attempt to fortify their middle-infield depth while also continuing the development of one of their top prospects, the Cardinals are planning to promote Jose Barrero and option Thomas Saggese to Triple-A Memphis on Monday, per sources close to the team," Denton said. "The Cardinals have not officially announced the moves.

"The Cardinals must make a corresponding move to create a spot on their 40-player roster to add the 27-year-old Barrero, who they signed as a free agent on Nov. 19, 2024, with an invite to Spring Training."

Saggese is going to be an everyday player for this Cardinals team at some point in the very near future. There is only so much playing time to go around, though. Clearly, the Cardinals want to maximize his playing time so it makes sense that they are sending him down to give him everyday playing opportunities.

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Patrick McAvoy
PATRICK MCAVOY

Patrick McAvoy's experiences include local and national sports coverage at the New England Sports Network with a focus on baseball and basketball. Outside of journalism, Patrick also is pursuing an MBA at Brandeis University. After quickly rising as one of the most productive writers on the site, he expanded his reach to write for Baseball Essential, a national baseball site in Sports Illustrated Media Group. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding Inside The Cardinals, please reach out to Scott Neville: nevilles@merrimack.edu

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