The Cardinals have agreed on minor league deals with Miguel Batista and Ian Snell, according to the club (via Twitter). Both right-handers will receive invitations to Spring Training.
Batista, 40 in February, turned in a 3.70 ERA with 6.0 K/9 and 4.9 BB/9 for the Nationals last season. In 16 major league seasons with eight different clubs, Batista owns a 4.51 ERA with 5.8 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9.
Snell, 29, was part of a seven-player swap between the Mariners and the Pirates in 2009. The hurler cleared waivers and accepted a Triple-A assignment after being DFA'd by the M's in June. Snell has a career 4.80 ERA with 7.2 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9.
Both are awful, I hate both, I´m a Mariners fan…
Miguel Batista should stick to his novels.
-wtk
I bet these signings pay off for the Cards. These guys have been around the block a time or two. Niether have ever really been on a good team before much less a playoff race, they may do well on a quality squad and with Dave Duncan. They are pretty household names I think and both on minor league deals, good signings I’d say
Miguel Batista is a World Series starter. Left the game winning, too.
So is Anthony Reyes…
If anyone can fix Ian Snell, it is Dave Duncan.
Tony LaRussa once swore at Miguel Batista in Spanish from the dugout when Batista was pitching with the Diamondbacks. Que gilipollas!
Isn’t he the guy that started a brawl with Tino Martinez?
Way to start off the thread by completely doggin these guys. I hate you!! How does it feel…
Yeah guys! You should’ve considered how those words would make Ian and Miguel feel! That was real rotten of you!
You missed my point, I just didn’t like the guy rushing to be the first comment and then bashing them.
Just an FYI_Big leaguers and their families read this site too.
So like January 14th seems like a big day to sign contracts. How about Chris young now?
Clearly the MLB clubs are in a rush to announce these “blockbuster” moves before the attention of the lay US sports fan gets completely swept away by the NFL playoffs, a shift that should commence tomorrow and continue through early February.
I know the Cardinals helped out Joel Pineiro, but these guys are on a whole other level of awful.
THIS.
Snell can’t hold his own in AAA these days and Batista is pretty much ready for retirement. Both are fodder that have no value to a 25-man roster… Anywhere.
Luckily, neither are on the 25-man roster.
And the hope is they won’t wind up on it. There’s very little chance that Snell wins a job out of Spring Training, and the odds are against Bautista as well. These are basically depth signings. If a starting pitcher gets injured, Snell is now probably the best choice to fill in as the 6th starter (which tells you how bad our starting pitching depth is after the 5 regular rotation members).
After 5 SP’s, who does have great depth? Of course, if Snell or Bautista start picking up innings, the Cardinals are in trouble — especially if those were innings which otherwise would have gone to Carp or Wainright. But for minor league deals, what’s the harm; maybe Batista still has a little left in the tank or Snell can find what he had four years ago (the odds are long, but the risks are nil).
After 5 SP’s, who does have great depth? Of course, if Snell or Bautista start picking up innings, the Cardinals are in trouble — especially if those were innings which otherwise would have gone to Carp or Wainright. But for minor league deals, what’s the harm; maybe Batista still has a little left in the tank or Snell can find what he had four years ago (the odds are long, but the risks are nil).
LOL If they come back with duncons help then the Cards will have a beast piting staff
Blah blah blah Dave Duncan blah blah blah fix these vets right up blah blah blah.
Well, someone was going to say it. Heck, it might even be true. Duncan can be a frigging magician sometimes. Kinda doubt it with these two though.
EDIT: looks like J-Kat said more or less the same thing. I’m with you, sir.
Isn’t Miguel Batista going to judge Miss Iowa?
As President of the Miguel Batista Fan Club, I can assure you that Miss Iowa figured heavily in his free agent decision. First, he considered playing for the Royals, a mere 194 miles from the love of his life or even playing for the Twins almost as close. However, he realized that he would be leaving his legions of Nationals fans behind. As a compromise he chose to find a National League team in the heartland in the St. Louis Cardinals that would have a chance of allowing him to proclaim his love for Miss Iowa on national TV in the playoffs.
He even has considered playing for the Cubs so that he could accept a minor league deal and start playing for their AAA franchise in Iowa where he could visit the loving arms of Miss Iowa after every game.
Isn’t Miguel Batista going to judge Miss Iowa?
After last year’s travesty where rotund Penny couldn’t pitch more than a month and Lohse developed some forearm ailment rarely seen in baseball players, these guys may be nice to have around in AAA waiting in the wings. IMHO, Batista > P.J. Walters.
I consider these signings a success if Batista is called up to pitch 3 or 4 games while a member of the rotation or bullpen is hurt (probably Lohse again), and treads water with a WHIP of 1.4 or 1.5.
? I don’t mind the signings. Roll the dice on a washed-up vet and a guy that never lived up to his promise. I do mind the timing. Every iota of energy should be devoted to a Pujols extension right now. No distractions! However small.
And ditto on the overblown Dave Duncan praise. Love the guy, but let’s be careful not to expect him to “fix” every vet that walks through the door. Yes, he has a really good track record. But he’s not fail-proof. I remember Kip Wells. And Sidney Ponson. And Mike Maroth. And even future HOFer (and one of my all-time fave pitchers), John Smoltz. He’s not a magician. He’d probably be the first to tell you that.
I’m another Mariner’s fan who’s curious about how this common garden experiment will play out. Snell and Batista both have had reputations for having good stuff and pitching poorly. Chances are Duncan doesn’t have a magic wand (Snell has always had trouble with lefties and Batista’s getting old), but if pitch selection and mechanics are at least partly to blame for their respective failures, it’s plausible you could tweak that and have two decent middle relievers.
Also, here’s a nice piece by Golebiewski on Snell from 2009.
http://www.baseballdailydigest.com/2009/12/30/what-happened-to-ian-snell/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Indeed, Duncan doesn’t have a perfect track record (Hill, Clement, among his failed projects) but his successes (Piniero, Suppan, Woody Williams, Springer, etc…) are enough to believe he can have quite the effect.
And I wouldn’t call Smoltz a failure. Duncan did get several quality starts out of him before the season ended. And to be fair, Duncan had less than half a season to work with the guy. Getting to know a pitcher’s mentality midseason must be difficult.
clement didnt do anything for the cards cuz he was never healthy
Ian Smell , Post Here.
The Cardinals biggest problem last year was injuries combining with poor depth. This adds insurance to the depth. A healthy Cardinals team with depth will win the NL Central. Not the best news I could be hearing from the Cardinals, but def not bad news.
im ok with Batista but Snell?! how much of an improvement over Ottavino/Walters is this? We should have used Lynn(though we still might).
This makes sense as a low risk, moderate reward move. I’ve always been fascinated by Snell – he has the kind of talent that gets managers and pitching coaches fired, as outsiders always think he should be better that he is based on his stuff. In St. Louis, he’ll play for a manager and pitching coach that aren’t counting on him for much and aren’t at risk for getting fired of he pitches poorly. Snell has had problems with an anxiety disorder, as I recall – the cardinals tried very hard a couple of years ago working with Khalil Greene who has a similar problem, though that experiment was unsuccessful. The Greene experiment cost the Cardinals several million dollars and a decent pitcher (Gregorsen), but this has little to no risk.
SoulD, if Batista considered playing for the Cubs, he’s either desperately in love; Miss Iowa’s a stone fox…or he’s just plain desperate! AZs for the signings, they’re OK with a fairly good upside as AAA insurance and NO real downside. But the BEST news in the club’s tweet is that they have invited the living legend and Cuban missile crisis to Spring Training as a non-roster player. Given a decent look, the ageless AMAURY CAZANA MARTI definitely WILL make the team out of camp and will play a lot of right field as well as destroying baseballs at the plate…driving opposing managers and pitchers NUTS! In fact, because of the legends surrounding him, he will be a VERY menacing presence even just sitting on the bench! This is wonderful news, indeed!!!
SoulD, if Batista considered playing for the Cubs, he’s either desperately in love; Miss Iowa’s a stone fox…or he’s just plain desperate! AZs for the signings, they’re OK with a fairly good upside as AAA insurance and NO real downside. But the BEST news in the club’s tweet is that they have invited the living legend and Cuban missile crisis to Spring Training as a non-roster player. Given a decent look, the ageless AMAURY CAZANA MARTI definitely WILL make the team out of camp and will play a lot of right field as well as destroying baseballs at the plate…driving opposing managers and pitchers NUTS! In fact, because of the legends surrounding him, he will be a VERY menacing presence even just sitting on the bench! This is wonderful news, indeed!!!