Cardinals' rotation shuffle ends Scott Blewett's second act

The Cardinals designated right-hander Scott Blewett for assignment on July 22, according to MLB Trade Rumors, ending a stay in St. Louis that barely lasted a week. The move opened a 40-man roster spot for the club to activate pitcher Hunter Dobbins ahead of the finale against the Angels.

MLB Trade Rumors

@mlbtraderumors

Cardinals Designate Scott Blewett For Assignment t.co/iQp5JHq98S

Blewett's path to St. Louis was already a bit of a journey. He signed a minor league deal with the Cardinals over the offseason, pitched well enough at Triple-A to trigger an opt-out clause in his contract, and forced the club's hand into calling him up. It's the kind of grinder story fans love — until the big-league math doesn't work out.

The problem: Blewett is out of options, which meant the Cardinals couldn't just shuttle him back to the minors once his roster spot was needed elsewhere. That left DFA as the only real avenue, putting him on waivers right in the middle of the trade-deadline stretch, when 29 other clubs are combing through fringe pitching depth looking for bullpen help.

For context on the résumé at stake here: Blewett is a 2014 second-round pick out of high school by the Royals who has bounced through five organizations — Kansas City, Baltimore, Minnesota, Atlanta and now St. Louis — since debuting in September 2020. Across his big-league appearances he carries a 4-1 record and a 4.21 ERA, the profile of a journeyman who keeps finding his way back onto rosters because teams always need arms in July.

That journeyman quality is exactly why this DFA probably isn't the end of the story. Clubs picking through summer waiver wires love a reliever who's shown he can get outs in the majors and doesn't cost anything to acquire. Whether Blewett clears and heads back to Triple-A depth or gets claimed by a bullpen-needy contender, expect his name to resurface again before the deadline dust settles.