The St. Louis Cardinals made transaction headlines when they optioned rookie Thomas Saggese down to Triple-A Memphis despite a .341 batting average in limited playing time with the big club. Saggese was sent down in favor of former top prospect Jose Barrero, who was in the midst of a 19-game on-base streak with Memphis and will fill the infield depth role that Saggese’s demotion opens back up.

Barrero, 27, was not on the Cardinals 40-man roster as the team invited him to Spring Training as a non-roster player so the organization had to clear up a spot to add him to the active squad. The unlucky player turned out to be reliever Ryan Loutos, who was out to a decent start out of the Memphis bullpen so far in 2025.

Loutos, a 26-year-old righty from Illinois, made his big league debut last year and did not allow an earned run in his three appearances, covering 2.1 innings of work. With Triple-A, Loutos was working as one of their closers, pitching in eight games and tallying two saves with a 3.38 ERA. His success comes with some concerning peripherals, however, as he has only struck out six hitters in those innings and has allowed two walks and seven hits, including a home run.

Armed with a decent fastball and sweeper, Loutos will now hit go into DFA-limbo, giving the Cardinals five days to trade the reliever or place him on waivers, which would then allow him to be claimed by another team or sent back to Memphis.