ST. LOUIS -- Shortly after feeling his mechanics click during a side session at Busch Stadium on Saturday afternoon, Luke Weaver learned that his next opportunity to take that adjustment into a game setting will come in a new role.
Interim manager Mike Shildt announced on Sunday that Daniel Poncedeleon will slide into the rotation and make the team's start in Los Angeles on Tuesday. That bumps Weaver to the bullpen, where Shildt said the right-hander will be deployed as a "shorter long man or a middle-innings guy" immediately.
With the swap, only one member of the Cardinals' Opening Day rotation (Miles Mikolas) has remained in that role uninterrupted.