28-year old righty swinging shortstop Brendan Ryan is a solid defensive player but his bat is going to earn him a spot on the Cardinals’ bench. He has played in 99 games for the Cardinals this year and he is 69 of 310 (.223 avg, .583 OPS) with 34 runs scored, 2 homers, 22 RBIs and 8 stolen bases. Ryan will likely be headed to the bench now that the Cardinals have traded for Pedro Feliz to take over as the starter at 3B. That means that the current 3B (Felipe Lopez) will move to SS bumping Ryan to the bench. Ryan has no one to blame but himself for losing his starting gig.

The Cardinals have placed backup catcher Jason LaRue on the 15-day disabled list due to a concussion that he suffered after getting kicked in the head a few times by Reds’ starting pitcher Johnny Cueto in a bench clearing brawl earlier this week. LaRue has played in 29 games for the Cardinals this year and he is 11 of 56 (.196 avg, .596 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 2 homers and 5 RBIs. The Cardinals have called up 28-year old righty swinging outfielder Nick Stavinoha to replace LaRue on the active roster. Stavinoha has played in 60 games for the Cardinals already this season and he is 24 of 93 (.258 avg, .640 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 2 homers and 7 RBIs.

27-year old righty Blake Hawksworth will be going back to the pen. He started 8 games for the Cardinals this year and he was 3-4 with a 5.83 ERA and a 1.80 WHIP. He has now pitched in 30 games (8 starts) for the Cardinals this year and he is 4-7 with a 5.37 ERA and a 1.82 WHIP. Hawksworth has given up 96 hits (11 homers) in 70 1/3 innings and he has walked 32 batters so far this season. The Cardinals hope that a move back to the pen will get Hawksworth back to the pitcher he was as a rookie for them last year.

The Cardinals have placed 35-year old righty starting pitcher Jeff Suppan on the 15-day disabled list with right groin soreness. Suppan has started 8 games for the Cardinals this year and he is 1-4 with a 4.14 ERA and a 1.67 WHIP. Suppan is in danger of losing his job in the starting rotation while he’s out of action as Kyle Lohse is close to returning to action. The Cardinals have called up 25-year old righty swinging catcher Steve Hill to replace Suppan on the active roster. Hill has played in 93 games in AA-ball this year and he is 101 of 361 (.280 avg, .895 OPS) with 60 runs scored, 22 homers and 86 RBIs. The Cardinals might need Hill for a while as backup catcher Jason LaRue was injured in the brawl with the Reds yesterday.

The Cardinals felt that they could deal Ryan Ludwick to acquire Jake Westbrook because of rookie outfielder Jon Jay. The 25-year old lefty swinging Jay has played in 52 games for the Cardinals this year and he is 45 of 123 (.366 avg, .968 OPS) with 22 runs scored, 3 homers, 13 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Jay was the Cardinals’ #13 prospect coming into this season so they have high hopes for him both now and in the future. But the Cardinals need him to keep producing the rest of this season because the Reds are for real this year.