Jack Flaherty won’t be making his next start for the Cardinals next weekend but instead is being targeted to face the Washington Nationals here on Labor Day, Sept. 5. In the interim, though, the Cardinals right-hander who is recovering from a right shoulder strain, will make a fifth and final minor league rehabilitation start for Memphis at Nashville, Tennessee, on Wednesday night.
Manager Oliver Marmol, who met with Flaherty before Sunday night’s game, said it worked out better for roster reasons and “big picture” purposes to postpone Flaherty’s exit from the 60-day injured list for a few days. Teams can add two players, one of them a pitcher, on Sept. 1, to give them 14 pitchers on a 28-player roster the rest of the season. If Flaherty pitched here on Wednesday, Aug. 31, another pitcher would have to be optioned for 15 days.
“If the question is, ‘Do I want Jack here pitching on Wednesday?’ The answer is yes,'” said Marmol. “I think he’s more than capable and ready to go. Does it help the ‘bigger picture’ if you look at the full month with a doubleheader with Cincinnati (on Sept. 17) coming up for it to line up in a way that’s favorable to us if he were to be slotted elsewhere (in the rotation)?
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“So it’s the right move for everybody.”
Marmol said Flaherty was on board with the decision.
“I understood it,” said Marmol. “He’s a competitor and he obviously wants to be up here as soon as possible. I understood how it impacted everything else. He was good about it. He was actually really good about it.”
When it was mentioned that Marmol had announced the extra rehab start, Flaherty, dressing at his locker said, dispassionately, “That’s great.” And then he went out to throw a scheduled bullpen session, declining further comment.
On Saturday, he said the decision on when he would rejoin the team was well above his pay grade.
“These are decisions that are made way over my head,” he had said. “I don’t get paid to make those decisions. All I can do is go out and pitch, wherever they tell me to.”
In Flaherty’s most recent rehab start on Friday, he allowed one run on four hits over 5⅓ innings, walking three and striking out three and admitting his fastball lacked command.
“I don’t feel like (the command) was off where you have to go down there to figure this out,” Marmol said. “But it does help for him to go down there and have one more with no (innings) cap. Just go down and pitch your game.”
Marmol then reiterated, “If I’m asked, ‘Do I want Jack Flaherty in our rotation today?’ … the answer is yes.”
Pujols sits out the start
Despite the national Sunday Night Baseball television audience, Albert Pujols began the game on the bench, with Brendan Donovan serving as the Cardinals’ designated hitter.
Marmol said he thought Atlanta starter Jake Odorizzi’s pitching style might give Pujols problems and, indeed, Pujols is 0 for 10 in his career against the Metro-East product.
“Can Albert handle him?’ The answer is yes,” said Marmol. “He’s swinging the bat really well against lefties, and he’s done a nice job against righties of late. Does the 0 for 10 impact that? I weigh all of it. I gave it a lot of thought.”
Carlson is back in the lineup; DeJong still out
Center fielder Dylan Carlson, who had pinch-hit single Saturday after missing four starts, was back in the lineup Sunday. Shortstop Paul DeJong, 2 for his past 36 with 18 strikeouts, was not in it for the third day in succession.
“It didn’t make sense to have DeJong in the lineup against this pitcher,” said Marmol.
Marmol, asked if he needed his best infield defense with Adam Wainwright pitching, pointed out that this year Wainwright’s ground-ball rate has been below the league average.
“He’s been more in the air — and strikeouts,” said Marmol.
Carlson, said Marmol, has been having trouble with fastballs up and with off-speed pitches down in the zone.
“Some of it is mechanical and some of it is approach-driven,” Marmol said. “There’s accountability to all of it, and he’s gone about it well.”
Since regular center fielder Harrison Bader was dealt to the New York Yankees and since Carlson was not included in a potential deal for Washington’s Juan Soto, Carlson had batted .203 before Sunday.
roster issues
Eleven Sept. 1 comes, the Cardinals also can add a position player to reach 14, but it cannot be outfielder/first baseman Juan Yepez, who was optioned to Memphis on Saturday. Yepez isn’t eligible to come back until Sept. 6, so another roster player from Memphis, such as outfielder Connor Capel or infielder Kramer Robertson or even catcher Ivan Herrera could be recalled for a weekend series with the Cubs here and one game of the Washington series before Yepez could be brought back.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism