September Call-Ups: Daniel Descalso Among New Cardinals

With the Memphis Redbirds’ season over the St. Louis Cardinals raided the roster, returning outfielders Allen Craig and Joe Mather and starting pitcher P.J. Walters and calling up second baseman Daniel Descalso and first baseman Mark Hamilton for the first time.

Mather, who last played in the major leagues in May, hit .275/.348/.442 with 10 home runs and four triples in 91 games with AAA Memphis. Descalso, considered one of the Cardinals’ nearest prospects to the Major Leagues, hit .282 with nine home runs and 71 RBI in 116 games.

Two first round picks are among the St. Louis Cardinals’ delegation to the 2010 Arizona Fall League, a postseason showcase for some of the league’s best (hitting, mostly) prospects. Zack Cox, the Cardinals’ 2010 first rounder, is expected to be named to the Surprise Rafters’ roster, although he wasn’t on the official list.

Other position players include 2007 first rounder Pete Kozma, who’s hit .245 with 13 home runs in his second trip through AA; outfielder Adron Chambers, a recent AAA Memphis call-up who hit 16 triples in the high-A Florida State League in 2009; and catcher Tony Cruz.

Pitchers often have a harder time in the Arizona Fall League, because of the quality of the hitting prospects and the thin air; Cardinal farmhands set to brave the home run-heavy atmosphere include flamethrowing reliever Blake King and Arizona native Brian Broderick, who’s 10-2 in 14 starts with AA Springfield.

The St. Louis Cardinals activated their September call-ups Wednesday morning, and one of them made the afternoon start against the Houston Astros the same day—Jeff Suppan was brought back from the disabled list, where he’d been since August 12. Left-handed reliever Dennys Reyes also came back from the disabled list.

Catcher Matt Pagnozzi and outfielder Nick Stavinoha were also called up. Other Memphis Redbirds, like Tyler Greene, are likely to join the Cardinals after the Pacific Coast League season ends.

Jason Motte, making a rehab trip to Memphis in the hopes of playing for the Cardinals this weekend, looked rough in his return to pitching action. The flamethrowing reliever went two-thirds of an inning, walking a batter and allowing two hits and an earned run.

For his trouble, he did get a hold.

Cardinals reliever Jason Motte is set to begin a brief rehab assignment Wednesday with either AA Springfield or AAA Memphis, with the goal of returning to the Cardinals as soon as this weekend.

Motte, whose AC joint has been giving him trouble all year, apparently sprained it earlier this month. Prior to the injury he’d settled into a set-up role, striking out 42 batters in 43.1 innings and cutting his ERA to 2.70 from a rookie mark of 4.76.

The Cardinals today acquired terrible Houston Astros third baseman Pedro Feliz in exchange for minor league reliever David Carpenter.

Feliz, who is terrible, was hitting .221 with four home runs and nine walks for the Astros. Best known for his agile defense, he’s been worth -3 runs according to Fangraphs’s UZR defensive statistic. At 2.1 wins below a replacement player, he’s Baseball-Reference’s pick for the very worst player in baseball in 2010.

Going to the Astros in the deal is David Carpenter, who is the kind of prospect who gets traded for Pedro Feliz. A 24 year-old converted catcher, he’s got a 2.35 ERA in high-A Palm Beach, where he’s struck out 50 batters in 53 innings.

Double-A Springfield catcher Steve Hill was called up to the major leagues after Jason LaRue suffered what appeared to be a concussion in Tuesday’s fight between the Reds and Cardinals. Jeff Suppan was placed on the disabled list with a strained groin he suffered running between starts.

Hill is a defensively challenged utility catcher who’s hit .280/.352/.543 with 27 doubles, 22 home runs, and 86 RBI in 93 Double-A games.

St. Louis Cardinals reliever Jason Motte has been placed on the disabled list with a shoulder sprain that, according to Derrick Goold’s report, has bothered him since April.

Motte has been pitching with discomfort and inflammation in his AC joint since April, and he received an anti-inflammatory shot in June that tamed the soreness for a month. Motte has been prescribed rest and could be out for at least the mandatory 15 days.

Up to replace him is Fernando Salas, recalled for the fifth time this season. In between those MLB stints he’s earned 18 saves with AAA Memphis and struck out 38 batters in 32 innings.

Cardinals third baseman David Freese will miss the rest of the 2010 season with an ankle injury that’s apparently independent of the other problems that have kept him out of the lineup in his injury-marred breakout season.

Derrick Goold reports that the pop Freese heard in his rehab start will require surgery:

Freese will have surgery to repair a torn tendon in right ankle, and it is not clear how long Freese will need to recover. Mozeliak met with the media this afternoon at Busch Stadium and the first words he spoke when asked about Freese were: “Not good.”

Cardinals third baseman David Freese injured his leg in a rehab start Monday night. The official site reports:

Cardinals third baseman David Freese came up limping running the bases in his first rehab game at Double-A Springfield on Monday, and the rookie will see team physicians in St. Louis on Tuesday to evaluate a strain in his lower right leg.

Freese was rehabbing a bone bruise in his ankle and a broken toe he suffered while lifting weights. In his absence—he last played on June 27—utility infielder Felipe Lopez has hit .298/.365/.403 as the every-day third baseman. 

Ryan Ludwick has rejoined the Cardinals after a week-long rehab stint in AAA Memphis, Fox Sports Midwest reported Saturday morning.

Ludwick’s calf problems have kept him out of the lineup for almost exactly a month, but his three game rehab assignment with Memphis—he hit .333 with two home runs and a double and, perhaps most importantly, played at full speed in the outfield—made it clear that his return would be imminent.

P.J. Walters returns to Memphis to make room for Ludwick. Walters joined the team late this week to provide an emergency reliever between Allen Craig’s stint with the Cardinals and Ludwick’s return.

Cardinals outfielder Ryan Ludwick hit a home run in the first at-bat of his rehab assignment with the Memphis Redbirds. He finished the night 1-3 with the home run and a strikeout.

Top prospect Lance Lynn got the start for Memphis and went 6 2/3 innings, striking out a career-high 11 batters.

Cardinals outfielder Ryan Ludwick, out of action since June 26 with hamstring problems, is set to begin a rehab assignment in AAA Memphis, the Post-Dispatch reported Monday:

Ludwick passed a bevy of physical tests this afternoon at Busch Stadium and confirmed to the Post-Dispatch afterward that he’ll head to the Class AAA affiliate to get his timing and swing back. Ludwick went through a normal batting practice and also went through running and fielding drills before getting the nod from the team’s training staff to pack his bats and head south.

Ludwick said he could return to the majors as early as this weekend, joining the Cardinals in Chicago.

Ludwick has suffered multiple setbacks since the initial injury; the DL stint came only after a pinch-hitting experiment six games after the initial concerns proved too soon.

The Cardinals have placed Ryan Ludwick on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June 26, and replaced him with OF Jon Jay. Ludwick reaggravated his hamstring yesterday, for the second time since the initial injury, and it was finally decided that he’d be better off shutting down until the All-Star break, when he’ll be eligible to come off the DL.

Jay hit .302 in his first major league stint and was optioned back to Memphis in early June, when the Cardinals acquired OF Randy Winn.

MLB.com has posted the video of Tyler Greene’s fifth inning home run, which was only in doubt because he hit it right down the line. The ball appears to have fallen out of the third deck, just to Big Mac Land’s right.

In his second at-bat, in the fifth inning, recently recalled shortstop Tyler Greene hit a home run. He also started a nice double play from second base. With the home run Greene is hitting .250/.300/.500 in his 28 at-bats with the Cardinals this season.

As some of the Viva El Birdos commenters have suggested, perhaps a little more strongly than this, it leaves one wondering what Aaron Miles has been doing on this roster.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is reporting a roster shakeup that involves both reliever Fernando Salas and injured outfielder Ryan Ludwick.

Salas, who has made several trips between St. Louis and Memphis, most recently joining the Cardinals’ roster on June 29, has been optioned back to AAA and will be replaced by shortstop Tyler Greene, who will start tonight against the Brewers. Greene has played in 10 games in 2010, and was hitting .291/.362/.465 with seven home runs and 10 stolen bases for the AAA Memphis Redbirds.

Ryan Ludwick has missed six games with a calf strain that’s been reaggravated twice; he’s likely to be replaced tomorrow by an outfielder, perhaps Allen Craig or Jon Jay.