The Cardinals are interested in trading for Athletics left-hander Brian Fuentes, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (via Twitter). Oakland designated the reliever for assignment on Tuesday after he posted a 6.84 ERA with 6.5 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in 26 appearances.
The Cardinals currently have two left-handers in their bullpen but could benefit from adding Fuentes to the mix as Marc Rzepczynski (5.52 ERA) has struggled and Barret Browning has only pitched 4.1 innings in his entire Major League career. Fuentes, 37 in August, is in the second year of a two-year, $10.5MM contract he signed following the 2010 season. He'll earn $5MM this year and his contract includes a $6.5MM club option for 2013 ($500K buyout).
Please god no. This guy has been garbage since he left Colorado (other than the 1 season in LA).
He’s just fine as a LOOGY.
Managers just allow him to face RHB, which should never happen.
No, no he’s not.
Line against lefties this year: .265/.333/.471, with 6 K’s in 39 PA.
Fuentes has not been able to effectively pitch to any type of batter this year
Dodgers? need a lefty behind elbert.
no risk, and some reqard possible.
All the cards need to do mis pick up 1 million on the contract and he is all yours.
Good luck with that, cards
Go after a right handed pitcher. Our left handed pitching is good. We need to get a guy like Luke Gregerson. And a rotation guy like Anibal Sanchez.
Our left handed pitching is good? Are you watching the St. Louis Cardinals? No, our left handed pitching is tragic, terrible…dreadful.
agreed. If we get a lefty and a starter, we would be set. Move Kelly to the bullpen and let him shine and a LOOGY would make this team great. A healthy return from Garcia this season wouldn’t be bad either.
No really. Browning is dominating and Scramble is having a slump. LHP is not a concern.
hey now Barret Browning hasnt done too bad
Funny how they mentioned about your LOOGYs’ performances in the article and they don’t look so good.
No thx.
How about trying to get Brandon League from the Mariners instead…we need right handed help in the pen…Sanchez and Salas are terrible this year, Cleto gives up a HR every time out, Marte is hit and miss, and you never know what Mitchell Boggs will show up…We could use a starter but we really need a pen mix up and Im talking about sending a guy up and down like we have been lately
I’ve been pretty happy with Boggs’ performance this year. Truthfully, you could say the same thing about any releiver because their performances can be so fickle. One year they’ll be really good and they’ll be completely useless the next. Case in point, Salas and Sanchez were great last year, but horrible this year. Some of it is over-exposure (as is the case with Marte). Regardless, the Cardinals need both a lefty and a righty, so expressing interest in Fuentes still makes sense. You would hope that the Cardinals won’t need to give up a high ceiling player to fix the bullpen this year like they did last year.
Do they really need to trade for him? It’s obvious that he’s going to be placed on outright waivers; clear the waivers because no one will claim his salary; and, because of his service time, elect free agency. I suppose he could sign with a different team, but that’s a managable risk.
Very low risk trade piece, I think he would be better than the Rook we have in the pen now. Smart move by Mo to get a guy when he isnt worth much. I still think they plan to go after an arm for the rotation.
Huston Street – PLEASE!
Agreed. Him or Gregerson not a LHP!!!!!
People forget that the Cardinals had some interest in Fuentes a few years back, and he opted to sign with the Angels instead for an absurd amount of money instead. Two years and $18m or something like that.
I remember people feeling like STL dodged a bullet back then, and that was well before his current struggles. Trying to acquire him now seems desperate.
I hope Duquette sees this. If the Cards want Fuentes, they may be willing to take Gregg too…you know, since they apparently like bad relievers
get it done
Can we have Lance Berkman? 😉
No no a thousand times NO! Fuentes had little left when he left here in Colorado and has gone downhill since. He is not effective and will not solve the Redbirds bullpen issues. Street is not the answer either. There is a reason that the Rockies, with the worst pitching in the league, let Street go (and are paying some of his salary).
Be smart about this, Mo. Don’t just pick up “a guy”.
I forget, did he actually quit or is this a leave of absence?