Just a few days after the St. Louis Cardinals made a notable roster shuffle that included promoting catcher Jimmy Crooks and outfielder Nelson Velázquez, the organization has made another significant bullpen-related move. President of baseball operations Chaim Bloom has designated right-handed reliever Matt Pushard for assignment. Because Pushard is a Rule 5 Draft selection, he will first be exposed to waivers, and if no other team claims him, he must be offered back to the Miami Marlins, his original organization.
To fill the roster spot, the Cardinals are recalling right-handed pitcher Hunter Dobbins, adding him back into the major league mix as the corresponding transaction. The move reflects ongoing adjustments to the pitching staff as the team continues to search for consistency in its bullpen group.
Pushard’s time with St. Louis has been limited and uneven. Much of his season has already been interrupted by injury, which has prevented him from gaining a steady rhythm at the major league level. In the small sample of opportunities he did receive, he struggled to find effectiveness, posting a 5.14 earned run average across six appearances. His most difficult outing came Saturday night against the Chicago Cubs, where he was hit hard and was unable to contain the opposition’s offense.
Despite his struggles, the Cardinals had initially shown patience with several underperforming relievers in the bullpen, including Matt Svanson and Justin Bruihl. Both pitchers have also dealt with inconsistency, yet they remained on the roster longer than Pushard.
That context makes this decision notable, as it suggests the organization viewed Pushard’s performance and availability as more concerning or less sustainable compared to others still being evaluated.
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From a broader perspective, St. Louis has spent much of the season trying to stabilize its relief corps beyond its top-tier bullpen options. The back end of the bullpen has generally been dependable, but the middle relief group has been inconsistent, with several arms rotating in and out of roles without establishing clear reliability.
This ongoing instability has forced the coaching staff and front office to experiment frequently with different combinations of pitchers.
The decision to designate Pushard for assignment highlights how unsettled that middle relief group remains. Even as the Cardinals attempt to stay competitive, they continue to face challenges in building a dependable bridge between the starters and late-inning arms. The bullpen’s inconsistency has been one of the more persistent issues on the roster, and moves like this reflect attempts to address it in real time rather than waiting for long-term fixes.
At the same time, the recall of Hunter Dobbins signals another attempt to find workable solutions internally. Dobbins brings starting experience and could potentially offer length out of the bullpen if needed, which may provide the staff with additional flexibility. His return also suggests that the organization is willing to reshuffle roles and try different approaches as it evaluates who can best contribute in relief situations.
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Overall, the Cardinals’ latest transaction underscores a larger theme: the bullpen remains a work in progress. While the team has shown flashes of strong pitching from its top arms, the supporting cast has not yet solidified. As a result, the front office continues to cycle through options, hoping to find a more reliable mix that can hold up over the long grind of the season.
If St. Louis hopes to maintain its position in the standings and stay competitive through the summer, resolving these bullpen inconsistencies will be essential. For now, however, the continued roster movement suggests that the search for stability in the relief corps is still very much ongoing.
With Hunter Dobbins being added to the 40-man roster, what is the Cardinals plan for their bullpen?
It’s difficult to envision the Cardinals permanently shifting Hunter Dobbins into a relief role moving forward, which suggests that his current addition to the major league roster is likely tied to short-term scheduling needs rather than a long-term bullpen plan.
In all likelihood, his promotion aligns with the fact that he was already slated to start today for Memphis. That timing gives the Cardinals some flexibility, allowing him to be available as a fresh arm if they require additional innings either later today or possibly in the next day or two.
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However, given the broader context of the organization’s approach this season where development and long-term evaluation remain the priority it would be surprising if Dobbins was viewed as a permanent answer to the ongoing bullpen instability.
The expectation is that his stay in the majors will be brief, serving more as a temporary coverage option than a structural change to his role. Once he completes his usage window with the big league club, the most probable outcome is a return to Triple-A Memphis, unless the Cardinals decide to make a corresponding roster adjustment involving another pitcher.
One possible alternative would be a scenario where someone like Kyle Leahy is moved back into a bullpen role, which could theoretically open up space for a more permanent rotation piece. But even that type of reshuffling feels uncertain at this stage, as the organization continues to evaluate how it wants to balance development with competitiveness at the major league level.
Complicating matters further is the current congestion on the Cardinals’ 40-man roster, particularly among pitching prospects and injured arms. The team currently has multiple pitchers occupying roster spots such as Richard Fitts, Cooper Hjerpe, Tekoah Roby, and Tink Hence who are either sidelined by significant injuries or still far from being realistic major league contributors.
The issue is not just performance-related, but structural: many of these players cannot simply be transferred to the 60-day injured list without consequences. Doing so would either require starting service time clocks or making longer-term roster decisions the organization may not be ready to commit to yet.
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As a result, the front office is effectively working around a limited pool of roster flexibility, which forces careful juggling rather than straightforward solutions.
This roster constraint creates a sort of operational logjam. Because those injured or developing pitchers are still occupying 40-man spots, the Cardinals are restricted in how freely they can cycle fresh arms into the bullpen or rotate depth starters through the roster. Every addition or subtraction has ripple effects, and each decision has to account not only for immediate performance needs but also long-term control, development timelines, and player options.
At present, the only other readily available arm on the 40-man roster who can be called upon in the bullpen without additional roster maneuvering is Chris Roycroft. Meanwhile, relievers like Matt Svanson and Brycen Mautz were recently optioned to Memphis, meaning they are temporarily ineligible for immediate recall under MLB rules. That further narrows the Cardinals’ short-term bullpen options and forces them into a more limited set of choices when games become high-leverage or when starters fail to provide length.
Given that scarcity, it would not be surprising if the Cardinals look to add another relief arm to the 40-man roster in the coming days simply to stabilize their depth chart. The bullpen has been stretched thin at various points, and additional flexibility may be necessary if the team wants to avoid overworking its core relievers.
For the moment, however, this particular roster move does create a bit of breathing room in a different sense. It potentially clears a pathway for Lars Nootbaar to be reinstated to the 40-man roster once his rehab assignment concludes later this week. That kind of transaction underscores how tightly interconnected the roster decisions have become every pitching move is tied not only to performance needs on the mound, but also to the timing of position player returns and injury activations.
In short, the Cardinals are operating within a narrow set of constraints, constantly balancing immediate bullpen needs with long-term roster management. Dobbins’ promotion appears to be more of a short-term logistical solution than a strategic shift, while the broader bullpen and 40-man structure continues to require careful navigation as the season progresses.
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