The Giants designated Luis Perdomo for assignment, which means that he’ll pass through waivers then return to the Cardinals’ farm system with all his option years intact. From Chris Haft’s article:

Perdomo, 24, owned a 3.48 ERA through 10 Cactus League appearances. But his lack of command in his final three outings unnerved the Giants. In that stretch, he yielded five earned runs, allowed nine hits and walked three in 1 2/3 innings. He finished with a 6.75 ERA to go with 17 hits allowed and eight walks in 12 innings. Perdomo’s likely to return to the St. Louis Cardinals, who lost him to the Giants in last December’s Rule 5.

I thought it unlikely that Perdomo would stick with the Giants after they overpaid for a few veteran RHRPs in the offseason, and even less likely when they announced that they’d use an 11-man pitching staff. The Giants eventually chose to take 12 pitchers North West with them, and Perdomo, fortunately for the Cardinals, will not be among them.

Perdomo’s selection in the Rule 5 had caused some amount of consternation with well-informed Cardinals fans. We traded Anthony Reyes, our top pitching prospect from a few years ago, for Luis Perdomo. That Mo left him unprotected last December—with open spots on the 40-man and Matt Scherer was added after having a slightly less impressive season, albeit at a higher level—was a move worth questioning. Mostly, I think, the Perdomo drama had to do with latent frustration over Anthony Reyes’ loss of fastball velocity and lack of a secondary pitch to use against right-handed batters.

In any case, Mo was right. His gamble preserved an option year for Perdomo, who will certainly be added to the 40-man next winter if he isn’t traded away from the distinct depth the Cardinals farm has in its advanced RHRP corps, especially now that Jess Todd (WWDUA) has joined it. I suppose there’s a chance that another team claims Perdomo, but I find it hard to imagine a team finalizing their opening day rosters and then changing their minds and stiffing one of their own prospects for the chance that this guy can make it all year.

Matthew Leach has the rundown.

I think that I guessed pretty well. I nailed the pitching staff, except for my failure to guess that the FO would pick up Dennys Reyes as a second lefty specialist.

Everybody I guessed would be in the infield for the opening day roster was correct, except the Cards are carrying Joe Thurston as a lefty utility guy. I thought that Mather and Barton would make the team for a good one-two punch of power and on-base/running skills. I still think Barton will help the team more than, say Brendan Ryan. I think I agree that Ryan’s chances of clearing waivers will be improved by a month on the major league roster and Barton will benefit from a month of everyday work at AAA. So I can sort of see the reasoning at work if I squint right.

Here’s hoping my breakout candidate breaks out indeed. I’m debating whether to announce a minor-league sleeper to watch after the last one got cut, much to my surprise, while I was down in Jupiter.