Scott Blewett has exercised the opt-out clause in his minor league contract, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Wednesday night, and the clock is now running on the Cardinals: add the 30-year-old right-hander to the major league roster or release him.
The Memphis numbers explain why Blewett thinks he can do better than waiting. The surface line is ugly — a 5.18 ERA in 48 2/3 innings at Triple-A — but underneath it he has struck out 28 percent of hitters against an 8 percent walk rate, with a .425 batting average on balls in play doing most of the damage to the ERA. Those are the peripherals of a pitcher having a much better season than his baseball card shows.
They also happen to describe exactly what the Cardinals’ bullpen is missing. St. Louis relievers rank 17th in baseball with a 4.22 ERA and sit bottom five in strikeout rate at 20 percent. A strike-throwing righty who misses bats is not a luxury item for this roster; it’s the profile the second half calls for.
The caution flag is the track record. Blewett owns a 19.3 percent strikeout rate across 43 career major league appearances, a long way from the Memphis version, and the Cardinals have to decide which pitcher they’d be rostering.
St. Louis opens its second half Friday against the Diamondbacks. Whether Blewett is in that bullpen or in another organization by then is now a decision the front office can’t defer.
