One less potential Cardinals starter to worry about. KK is heading back to the KBO and is signing a 4-year deal with a team there.
Seemed likely to happen before the lockout, and the lockout pretty much ensured it. I wonder if we'll start seeing a some more of the lower and middle tier free agents start making the jump to Korea, Japan and elsewhere for at least this season, as this lockout drags on.One less potential Cardinals starter to worry about. KK is heading back to the KBO and is signing a 4-year deal with a team there.
The first Major League free-agent signing following the MLB lockout went to an unexpected player, as the Cardinals announced Friday that they’ve signed right-hander Drew VerHagen to a two-year contract. VerHagen, a client of ISE Baseball, spent the past two seasons pitching in Japan. He’ll reportedly be guaranteed a total of $5.5MM — $2.5MM in 2022 and $3MM in 2023. He can further boost his earnings via incentives.
While the 31-year-old VerHagen probably wasn’t predicted by many as the first post-lockout domino to fall, he’ll head back to the big leagues not only on a guaranteed contract but on a multi-year arrangement. The 6’6″ righty struggled for much of his six seasons with the Tigers, pitching to a 5.11 ERA over the life of 199 big league frames. His two-year stint overseas changed his fortunes, however, as VerHagen broke out as a key member of the Nippon-Ham Fighters’ bullpen.
My guess is Yepez and Nootbaar will have the majority of DH at-bats to start the season, and when Gorman gets promoted he will get ABs there as well, when he's not playing in the field.Wonder who the DH is gonna be this year.....
Wonder who the DH is gonna be this year.....
It's possible, and we are reportedly one of the three teams that have reached out to him, but I'd be surprised honestly if it happened.Long time rumor had been Pujols coming back on a one-year deal as a DH to end his career in St. Louis.
The Cardinals have announced that they’ve signed right-handed pitcher Nick Wittgren to a one-year contract. Wittgren will make $1.2MM, per Robert Murray of FanSided.
A veteran of six seasons, Wittgren will turn 31 in May. He spent his first three seasons in Miami before being traded to Cleveland, where he spent the past three years. In his career, he’s played in 258 games and thrown 271 1/3 innings with an ERA of 3.75. His 23.5% strikeout rate is right around average, though his walk rate of 6.7% is quite good.
Last year was a bit of a setback for the righty, as his ERA jumped up to 5.05, a career high. His strikeout rate also fell to 23.6% after being at 26% in 2019 and 28.6% in 2020. He was set to go through arbitration for a final time this winter, projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a salary of $2.8MM. However, the club decided to put him on waivers at the end of the year, effectively non-tendering him. Wittgren cleared and elected free agency.
A lot of chatter on some of the Cardinal fan pages. with opinions equally divided. My unimformed opinion, that ship has left port.Long time rumor had been Pujols coming back on a one-year deal as a DH to end his career in St. Louis.
Thanks Carlos. All the best to you.
Wish him the best. Had a great start to his career here that was unfortunately derailed by injuries.
I get it for nostalgia reasons, but I think it'd be a bad baseball move. He's only servicable against lefty pitching (his OPS against RHP last season was an abysmal 0.500). Which means you'd have to platoon him, but I'm not sure how receptive he'd be to that. Plus we don't have a lot of great lefty platoon partners for him. If we're going to spend on a DH it makes so much more sense to bring in a left handed batter (like Schwarber) and platoon him with internal options against lefty pitching.A lot of chatter on some of the Cardinal fan pages. with opinions equally divided. My unimformed opinion, that ship has left port.
Totally agree. It is no longer 2005.I get it for nostalgia reasons, but I think it'd be a bad baseball move. He's only servicable against lefty pitching (his OPS against RHP last season was an abysmal 0.500). Which means you'd have to platoon him, but I'm not sure how receptive he'd be to that. Plus we don't have a lot of great lefty platoon partners for him. If we're going to spend on a DH it makes so much more sense to bring in a left handed batter (like Schwarber) and platoon him with internal options against lefty pitching.
Cardinals notebook: Reliever Reyes has sore shoulder examined after something turns up in physical
Cardinals closer in 2021 says he isn't concerned and hopes to throw in a few days.www.stltoday.com
Rick Hummel
JUPITER, Fla. — Alex Reyes has been through worse. At least that’s what he thinks. He’s had elbow surgery and a lat muscle tear and a right pectoral injury and a broken left pinkie finger.
Just as the media was arriving at the Cardinals’ complex before the first day of spring training workouts on Monday, Reyes was walking toward his car, headed, as he later revealed, to the Jupiter Medical Center to have his sore right (pitching) shoulder examined after his club-administered physical raised a red flag.
Reyes, 27, the Cardinals’ closer for most of last season but earmarked as a long reliever or even starter this season, hasn’t thrown off a mound since the end of last season as he rested his shoulder.
“Just dealing with some stuff from last season. Hopefully, nothing major,” said Reyes, who did play some catch before coming here. “I feel good. Just checking off some of the boxes before I get some live throws in.”
Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said Reyes was “getting an extended (medical) look.”
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another season , another Reyes health alert
Unfortunately DeWitt has determined he's going to make the most amount of money by spending just enough to compete for a wild card spot. That's the sense I get.So, are we ever going to do something?
Fine if Matz is the 2021 version, not so fine if the 2020 version.
A relief pitcher whose best years were in Japan, when he STUNK as a major leaguer.
A relief pitcher last in the bigs in 2018.
A relief pitcher who has been at least mediocre or slightly above.
Though it was really fun, I ALMOST wish the 17 game streak hadn't happened.
And already Flaherty and Reyes are already bigger question marks than they were going into Spring Training.
Since baseball isn't very profitable, I'm starting to wish DeWitt would sell the team.
Corey talkCardinals signing Corey Dickerson to a one-year deal.
The Cardinals have agreed to a one-year deal with free-agent outfielder Corey Dickerson, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The deal is pending a physical. he would give the Cards a nice left-handed complement to a heavily right-handed lineup.
Dickerson, 32, spent the bulk of the past two seasons in Miami after signing a two-year, $17MM deal with the Marlins in the 2019-20 offseason.
The Blue Jays acquired him last summer while he was on the injured list due to a foot injury. Dickerson returned in August and hit quite well in 140 plate appearances with the Jays down the stretch, offsetting a less-productive start to his season in Miami.
In 312 plate appearances against righties last season, Dickerson slashed .277/.330/.419 (104 wRC+).
From a defensive standpoint, Dickerson has been a pure left fielder for the bulk of his career,
improved his glovework in the middle of his career, culminating in a 2018 season that saw him post 15 Defensive Runs Saved and take home an NL Gold Glove
His ratings have fallen off since then — as one might expect from a player entering his mid-30s and dealing with multiple foot and hamstring injuries. Still, defensive metrics felt he was a roughly average defender in 2021.
A roughly average hitter with average glovework in the outfield might not bring about tons of excitement among the fanbase, but for a Cardinals club whose only pure left-handed hitter is young Lars Nootbaar, he’ll give the lineup some needed balance.
In a vacuum I'd agree, but there are opportunity costs involved with this move.I'm not opposed to it. Gives a lefty option off the bench that the team hasn't really had.