The St. Louis Cardinals continue to shake up their pitching staff after a long bullpen day in last night’s loss to the Reds. The team announced that rookie Michael McGreevy has been recalled from Memphis and Roddery Munoz, who was just called up yesterday, was sent back down.

McGreevy was deep in competition for a starter role during Spring Training this year and did everything possible to win the spot. However, Matthew Liberatore and Steven Matz also performed well and Liberatore was named the fifth starter with Matz filling a long-relief/sixth starter role when the team moved to an expanded rotation. This led to McGreevy being optioned back down to Memphis to continue working as a starter rather than moved back and forth from the rotation.

These decisions have worked well so far, with Liberatore being the Cardinals most consistent starter and Matz surpassing expectations in either of the roles he has been asked to fill. To McGreevy’s credit, he took the decision in stride and has continued to be a solid starting option for Memphis.

In 28.2 innings with the Redbirds, the righty has a 4.08 ERA, which is slightly inflated from his last start when he gave up three runs in 3.2 innings of work. After not walking a batter in the spring, McGreevy has issued seven free passes, with three of them coming in that shortened last start. He has also struck out 25 batters and has a 3-1 record.

Cardinals call up Michael McGreevy but his role is unclear

Overall, McGreevy has done enough to deserve the promotion to St. Louis but his role with the team is currently unknown. Initial thoughts could be that Matz could shift to a bullpen role to provide and McGreevy would grab the starting assignments from the lefty.

Munoz will head back to Memphis after giving the Cardinals two innings of relief last night. With the team not having an off day until Thursday, the move makes sense to freshen up the pitching staff and give McGreevy his chance to stick with the big league club.