Through 15 starts this season, May is 5-6 with a 4.30 ERA and 77 strikeouts in 83 2/3 innings. He is on pace for the first 30-start season of his career, though he’s never started more than 23 in the majors. By the end of this month, the Cardinals will entertain trade offers for the right-hander, who is on a one-year deal with a $20 million mutual option. Whether they trade him will depend on where the team is in the standings and the offers they receive, and both of those elements will hinge on his performance.
And he feels that his game-to-game health has become more predictable because of the schedule, while his pitch use, unlike Iron Mike, has become less predictable.
“I’ve got a lot of pitches, and I want to make sure that every pitch was a thought process in the hitter’s head for a lot of counts,” May said. “That way I wasn’t so pitch-dependent or predictable. I didn’t want to be super-predictable because I have the amount of pitches and I have the amount of quality pitches that I have. I wanted to be less predictable, and I needed the arm path to do it.”
Stanek takes paternity leave
Ryne Stanek’s plan was to bolt home Sunday night and steal an off-day Monday in the Tampa area with his wife, Jessica, and their children as they also prepared for a new addition to their family. His timing could not have been better.
Jessica gave birth Monday night.
Ryne, the Cardinals’ veteran right-handed reliever, was able to remain with his family, and the Cardinals placed him on the paternity list Tuesday.
That freed up an active roster spot for right-hander Ryan Fernandez. The Cardinals were preparing to recall Fernandez from his rehab assignment at some point this week. The right-hander missed 22 games due to pain in his lower back. The injury interrupted one of his best stretches for the Cardinals since a promotion from Class AAA Memphis.