The Cardinals have designated right-hander Scott Blewett for assignment, according to MLB Trade Rumors, closing the book on one of the weirder roster sagas of St. Louis's second half. It's a whiplash ending for a guy who wasn't even on the 40-man a couple weeks ago.
MLB Trade Rumors broke the news that Blewett had been designated for assignment.
Blewett is a 30-year-old journeyman who's been through it. Drafted by the Royals in the 2nd round back in 2014, he debuted in 2020 and has bounced through Kansas City, Minnesota, Baltimore and Atlanta without ever sticking. St. Louis was stop number 5, and he only got there because he forced the issue himself.
Blewett had been grinding at Triple-A Memphis on a minor league deal, and when he exercised an opt-out clause, the Cardinals had a decision to make: promote him to the active roster or lose him for nothing. They picked him, selecting his contract just days ago. He wasn't lighting up the box score in the minors either -- a 5.18 ERA over 48 2/3 innings at Memphis, though a strong 28% strikeout rate suggested some bad luck baked in.
Once he got the call, Blewett actually delivered, tossing 2 scoreless innings in his lone outing for St. Louis before the DFA hammer dropped. That's the cruelty of being out of options at this point in his career -- he can't just get sent back down quietly. He now goes through waivers, and if he clears, he's a minor league free agent again.
The corresponding move brought Hunter Dobbins up from Memphis, reportedly as a spot starter to help the rotation get through a brutal 20-game stretch without a break. It's the kind of small, unglamorous transaction that happens in bulk every July, but it lands right in the thick of trade deadline season, when every 40-man spot in baseball suddenly matters.
None of this changes the Cardinals' bigger deadline calculus, but it's a reminder of how thin the margin is for fringe arms trying to hang on in this league. Blewett fought his way onto a roster, got 2 clean innings, and got squeezed right back out. Now it's a waiting game to see if another club takes a flier on him before he's minor league property again.