The Cardinals have signed 27-year-old infielder Dean Anna to a Major League contract, reports Chad Jennings of LoHud.com (via Twitter).
Anna made his big league debut in 2014 with the Yankees, appearing in 12 games and totaling 25 plate appearances. He batted .136/.200/.318 with his first Major League homer in that time, and he also picked up an inning on the mound when he spared the Yankee bullpen by pitching an inning in a 16-1 blowout (he allowed two runs on three hits — no walks though!).
Anna is capable of playing shortstop, second base, third base and the corner outfield spots, having logged at least 50 games at each of those spots in the minors. He has an excellent track record at Triple-A, where he’s a lifetime .296/.385/.432 hitter in 823 plate appearances.
12 in 15 baby!!!!
No for real who is this guy?
who??
Well, I guess this guy will serve as the Cardinal’s utility player next year. Not sure why he got a major league deal though…..
Because hes got a mean FB!!!!
Wow…Just……Wow…..He must be a good clubhouse guy.
Yea, the fact that he can play damn near any position is no factor.
I would say this means Descalso will definitely be non-tendered, I’d expect Garcia or Diaz to take his spot as the utility guy by mid-season.
I would rather have Descalso over Garcia Diaz and Anna.. Anna don’t really do anything that Descalso didn’t…
OR, another way to look at it is, Anna does the same thing Descalso does, for much, much less money.
.136/.200/.318 is much much worse than Descalso. This is a freaking head scratcher. Wow!
…in his first 25 Major League plate appearances after scorching the ball at AAA. I seem to recall Kolten Wong having a very similar track record a year ago, and he just finished 3rd in RotY voting.
Now I’m not expecting this guy to be of Wong’s caliber, but it is an excellent upgrade for a bench that has been absolutely horrible offensively for the last two seasons.
Small sample size. He’s nearly a .300 batter in AAA.
Just proves that the Cardinals are cheap….
Really? Cards just blew $3 million on Ty Wigginton to be a righty power bench guy and he didn’t last half-a-season. It’s a lesson MO has learned.
so they gave Mark Ellis 5 million to sit on the bench and do nothing…. Why not pay Descalso who can play more positions then Mark Ellis. Lol
Except his price is a few million less. 😉
Does that mean Cards will non-tender Descalso?
my guess is yes
How in the hell did Dean Anna get a major league deal
He can play almost any position and is a career 296 hitter in AAA. Why shouldn’t he get a major league deal?
Because several organizations have found him unworthy of a roster spot?
You’d make a pretty awful GM if your criteria for whether a player is worthwhile is whether other teams have passed on him.
Is it the sole criteria anyone should use? Of course not. But unless you have access to someone’s internal metrics, that’s about the best we’ve got.
I also got to watch him play for the Yanks this season. He looked as advertised: a AAAA player that can man a lot of positions to varying degrees of effectiveness.
(cough) (cough) Albert Pujols (cough) (cough)
Because 296 has obviously not translated into major league talent. Furthermore he is a bench guy and will not get to hit very much, which means he is not going to see the ball and that 296 average in AAA will will mean nothing when he’s hitting 100 in August because he only play 1-2x a week.
championship
Led the Pacific Coast league in hitting in 2013 while in the Padres organization playing for Tucson. Good pick up by St. Louis. Nice to have another left hand batter off the bench who can play multiple positions.
WOOHOO!!! this is gonna help the offense!!!! Sweet!!!!
Mozeliak and the coaching must have saw something they liked. I don’t think he’d give a 25-man roster spot that easily. Reminds me of Lance Berkman’s signing.
At least Berkman had a major league track record.
And he is clearly a good pitcher.
There’s that impact bat we’re looking for!
It seems that many Cards fans on here do not realize that this is not the only move that The Cardinals are going to make this offseason. They know the holes in their organization and Anna potentially fills one of them. He is a utility player and even though he had a down year in the minors last year, he will do just about the same as descalso did this year, if not better. Really a no risk signing because Greg Garcia could take his place if he does not pan out.
On a side note, i am intrigued about Evan Gattis being on the trade market. The Braves want another catcher to start next year. With that being the case I think The Cardinals could get him for relatively cheap. He hits lefties well, give Yadi some breaks, play the outfield, and play first so that Matt Adams doesn’t have to face lefties too many times.
This is a Mozeliak cover your bet move. Increase the number of options that are available. Might just get lucky.
Bye bye Daniel Descalso…
last year was pretty lousy. I wonder if his agent said, “sign Anna, I’ll get _______ to pay close attention to your offer.”
If he can hit 296 in AAA, he probably can get by well enough in the bigs. might be a steal.
—I wonder if his agent said, “sign Anna, I’ll get _______ to pay close attention to your offer.”—
That is highly unlikely.
Ellis is gone, right? He has to be, there isn’t a spot available for him next year.
Dean Anna is probably the most underrated player in baseball.. I hope he actually gets a shot with the Cardinals.. The Yankees kept the track record of not allowing the young guys to play with him.. Seriously, they played Brian Roberts over this kid a year after he destroyed the ball in AAA.. Good move Cardinals..
He spent 6 years (or whatever the limit is) in the minors to become a Minor League free agent. Some guys just take a while longer to develop like Matt Carpenter, plus he lost a bunch of this past season to injury.
2-3 years of productivity from age 27, seriously?! Most Major League hitters continue to hit well at least into their early 30’s. This isn’t a contact sport like the NFL.
History indicates that MLB players peak at age 27/28. This is another lame signing by Mo. This will probably be the highlight of the offseason lol