Cardinals Designate Ramón Urías, Peter Strzelecki For Assignment

The Cardinals announced Wednesday that right-hander Peter Strzelecki and infielder Ramón Urías have both been designated for assignment. (Strzelecki was first reinstated from the 15-day injured list). The Urías DFA opens up roster space for standout rookie JJ Wetherholt, who has been reinstated from the injured list. There’s no corresponding move for Strzelecki. He wasn’t on the active roster due to that IL stint, but the Cards have determined they won’t add him back to the roster now that he’s healthy and will instead send him to waivers.

Urías, 32, signed a one-year, $2MM contract as a free agent back in February. He’s spent the bulk of his season on the injured list due to lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow) in his right arm. The Cards originally placed Urías on the IL on May 5. He was sent on a minor league rehab stint just under a month later but pulled from rehab and moved to the 60-day IL when he developed the same issue in his other elbow.

It’s seemed clear, based on the veteran infielder’s performance, that Urías hasn’t been feeling right at the plate. He came to St. Louis as a career .257/.321/.403 hitter in 1856 plate appearances as a big leaguer but has mustered only a .151/.260/.326 batting line in an even 100 trips to the plate. He’s never had a particularly compelling batted-ball profile, but this year’s 8.7% line-drive rate, 88.5 mph average exit velocity and 34.8% hard-hit rate are still noticeably short of his previous career marks (19.6%, 89.2 mph and 41.8%, respectively).

As shown in MLBTR’s Payroll Tracker, Urías’ contract contained a $4MM mutual option with a $500K buyout. Mutual options are generally just accounting measures anyhow — it’s been 12 years since the last time a mutual option was exercised by both parties anywhere in baseball — but today’s DFA formally confirms that the Cards will pay that buyout rather than exercise their end of the provision.

The 31-year-old Strzelecki (32 next month) pitched 14 innings with the Cards this season. Opponents tagged him for nine runs (5.79 ERA) on 13 hits, six walks and a pair of hit batters. He struck out just eight of his 61 opponents (13.1%).

Strzelecki had a terrific big league debut back in 2022, tossing 35 innings of 2.83 ERA ball with a 27% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk rate as a member of the Brewers’ bullpen. He posted diminished results (4.54 ERA) with good rate stats in a similar sample for Milwaukee the following season but has been unable to recapture that rookie form with three big league teams since being traded to the D-backs.

Strzelecki has pitched just 27 major league innings between the Snakes, Guardians and Cards over the past few years and has a 4.00 ERA, 14.8% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate. He’s struggled badly in the upper minors, carrying a 5.84 ERA dating back to 2024.

Both Urías and Strzelecki will head to waivers in the coming days. Both are likely to clear, and both can choose to become free agents (Urías without forfeiting the remainder of his guaranteed money). They’ll be free agents this winter and both figure to command minor league deals.

As for Wetherholt, he returns to the lineup after missing just under three weeks due to tendinitis in his right wrist. It’s not a lengthy absence, but it still carries weight in a tight race for National League Rookie of the Year. Wetherholt is hitting .242/.343/.370 but has been worth about 4.5 wins above replacement (4.4 fWAR, 4.7 bWAR) due to his outstanding defense and strong baserunning. Competitors Sal Stewart, Carson Benge and Nolan McLean logged underwhelming numbers during Wetherholt’s absence but still added to their counting stats and workload.

Rockies first baseman TJ Rumfield, meanwhile, is doing his best to make a late push for his own consideration; he’s hitting .400/.524/.585 over his past 82 plate appearances and has boosted his season batting line to .300/.392/.455 in the process.

Wetherholt will now jump back into the race and hope for a big finish, though it doesn’t sound like he’ll be 100% for the final handful of games. The 24-year-old tells MLB.com’s John Denton:

“I don’t think (pain-free) is like necessarily a goal just with the nature of the injury. But I feel good. I think it’s more going to be workload, trying to not overload the tendon. We’re trying to progressively heal as time goes on.”