The St. Louis Cardinals lost some more depth down in the minors on Friday.
With free agency now open, some have had the opportunity to elect to head to the open market. On Friday, Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat noted that 12 minor leaguers for St. Louis elected free agency from the organization.
“Going through the minor league transactions log, and a bunch of Cardinals farmhands elected free agency yesterday: Drew Rom, Zack Weiss, Oddanier Mosqueda, Tyler Matzek, Jack Ralston, Zach Plesac, Aaron Wilkerson, Osvaldo Berrios, Curtis Taylor, Gavin Collins. … Also Ricardo Velez and Darlin Moquette,” Jones said.
Of this group, the guys that stand out are Plesac, Matzek, Weiss, and Wilkerson. These four all have major league experience under their belts. Plesac is a six-year big league veteran who has pitched in 87 games as a member of the Cleveland Guardians and Los Angeles Angels. He has a career 4.31 ERA, but didn’t make it up to St. Louis in 2025.
Jun 28, 2024; Anaheim, California, USA; Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Zach Plesac (34) pitches during the third inning against the Detroit Tigers at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images / Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
Matzek has pitched in 175 games across seven big league seasons and was a key piece for the Atlanta Braves’ bullpen on the way to the 2021 World Series.
Weiss has experience in 25 big league games and a 4.61 ERA to show for it. Wilkerson made 14 appearances as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers across three seasons, but hasn’t been to the big leagues since 2019.
At the end of the day, most of the minor league moves get glossed over. But, they are still important. For the Cardinals specifically, it was talked about during the season that the club didn’t have rotation depth in the high levels of the minors. That was a topic when the team was deciding whether to send Michael McGreevy to the majors or not for a full-time role. These are the types of decisions or moves that could impact things like that.
For a team like St. Louis that seemingly needs a rebuild, depth down in the minors is going to be critical. Another reason why is because what if the Cardinals were to sell ahead of the trade deadline like they did in 2025? Fortunately, they had depth options for the bullpen.
But, losing these guys for now is important and it’ll be interesting to see the types of minor league deals Chaim Bloom gives out, on top of the typical big league ones.
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