ST. LOUIS _ A day after a minor league deal added depth to their available left-handed relievers, the Cardinals acquired another lefty off waivers and will soon add him to the active roster.
The Cardinals claimed Adalberto Mejia off waivers from the Angels. The 26-year-old will join the major league team as soon as he's able to report to St. Louis, and the Cardinals are clearly stockpiling lefties either for this immediate series against the Cubs of for their ongoing quest to find a complement for Andrew Miller in the late innings.
To make room on the 40-man roster for Mejia, the Cardinals transferred infielder Jedd Gyorko to the 60-day injured list. The club pulled back Gyorko from his planned rehab assignment in Memphis and is exploring trade options for him now that he is healthy and ready to play somewhere and he could be moved before the trade deadline.
The Cardinals also made the recall of outfielder Lane Thomas official.
Mejia has held left-handed hitters to a .250 average with a .458 slugging percentage and an .825 OPS this season. Though, he has struck out eight of the 24 he's faced. In the previous three seasons, he's held left-handed hitters to a .755 OPS with a .261 average and a .432 slugging percentage. In 88 at-bats in the majors against Mejia, left-handed hitters have four homers and 21 strikeouts in the past three seasons.
Mejia had been designated for assignment by the Angels in order to clear room in the bullpen for a fresh arm after a 16-inning game against the Orioles this past week.
The Cardinals traded cash to the Los Angeles Dodgers for lefty Zac Rosscup on Monday, and Rosscup was immediately added to the Class AAA Memphis. Rosscup had already cleared waivers and been moved to the minor league roster, so the Cardinals did not have to add him to the 40-man roster.
