The Cardinals announced today that they’ve signed three players to minor league deals: catcher Eric Fryer, outfielder/left-handed pitcher Jordan Schafer and catcher Gabriel Lino. Each of the three have been invited to Major League Spring Training.
The 31-year-old Fryer should be a familiar face for Cardinals fans after he raked in a small sample as Yadier Molina‘s backup last year. Fryer made the roster after expected backup Brayan Pena hit the disabled list with a knee injury and hit a robust .368/.415/.421 in 41 plate appearances across 24 games with St. Louis. He was ultimately designated for assignment and picked up off waivers by the Pirates, with whom he batted .218/.300/.269 in 92 trips to the plate. Fryer spent the 2013-15 seasons in the Twins organization and is a lifetime .254/.332/.328 hitter in 291 MLB plate appearances.
Schafer, 30, was once one of the Braves’ top outfield prospects but went to Houston in the 2011 Michael Bourn trade and was never fully able to realize his potential. He wound up with the Twins in 2014-15, where he got his most recent taste of MLB experience, but is a career .228/.308/.307 hitter in 463 games/1472 plate appearances. His struggles at the plate led him to work out as a pitcher in the Dodgers organization last year, where he posted a 3.83 ERA with 59 strikeouts against 18 walks in 49 total innings. Most of Schafer’s work came at the Double-A level, where he threw quite well. He did ascend to Triple-A briefly late in the year, but he surrendered seven runs in 6 1/3 innings there.
Lino, 23, has spent most of his career in the Phillies organization and reached Triple-A in 2015 before moving back down a level in 2016. He’s a career .230/.303/.341 hitter in parts of seven minor league seasons and has thrown out one-third of the runners that have attempted stolen bases against him in his minor league career.
Three low-key, but fairly astute signings.
Fryer will likely make the team as the backup catcher. They needed someoneon a minor league deal so they didn’t gave to make a 40 man roster move. Duke will go to the 60 Day DL and it’s a pretty good bet Fryer starts the year on the 25 man roster.
Yippee!! Fryer was a solid backup catcher, happy to have him back
I was thinking about Fryer last week when Mo said that Carson Kelly will likely be at AAA to get at-bats. So Fryer is a nice snag. And I agree – he should make the 25-man roster.
good to see fryer back.
With Molina’s steady decline, the Cards’ catching situation is “out of the frying pan, into the Fryer”.
I know you’re just making a silly pun, but he improved offensively in virtually every single category last year.. He slashed .365/.398/.529 in the second half
Not to rain on the Eric Fryer parade here, but Fryer actually slashed .175/.284/.206 in the second half last year. He was awful with the Pirates.
He only had 92 PA in Pit. But yeah, he’s not being brought in for offense. He knows the pitching staff so he’s an easy plug and go guy. If anything happens to Molina and there’s regular playing time available, Kelly will be called up and be the starter.
Actually, Ruthless’ slash line was Yadi’s second half, after his hand was more healed…. i.e. he’s not in steady decline…
His defense has been in steady decline. His foot speed is approaching his brother Benjie’s. He is not a power threat.
He may still have a few more years, but not good ones if Matheny makes him catch 140-plus games yet again.
He’s a catcher in his mid-thirties that’s been behind the plate virtually every day he hasn’t had something broken for a decade… Of course his defense is declining. But the wrist was finally healthy last year and he put up his highest ISO since 2013. He’s fine and if he’s healthy, he’ll be behind the plate.
A catcher in his mid-30s as you say….. and with all that mileage on him, and his ability to control the running game in a downward spin, playing him behind the plate for 140 games is counterproductive.
The Cards have been unable to find a capable backup / guy who can share the load behind the plate. Fryer isn’t the answer.
Fryer did a respectable job with the birds in his limited playing time last year. I was surprised we didn’t see more of him. Yadi needs 125 games maximum behind the plate. Fryer can catch the other 37 games.
Pena was supposed to be that capable backup last year and this year. That was a mess.
With Kelly, the Cardinals catching situation is fine. They just want him to continue getting regular reps in Memphis. Molina had a pretty good year last year, too.
Pretty good year with the bat, albeit no power threat. Defensively, he fell to around league average.
Schafer was lowkey filthy last year, might be a legit 2-way guy for real. Him being an extra bat off the bench would make him pretty valuable even if he’s not-great at both, his career OPS is a lowly .615, but that’s still better than almost all pitchers, plus he can play all 3 OF spots. That’s a perfect 25th man.
He’d be especially valuable since the Cardinals don’t really have a fifth outfielder besides Jose Martinez, and the fourth outfielder, Pham, is probably going to be injured at some point
Pham just got hurt with your post.
Super funny!
Pham being out with an injury equals addition by subtraction.
He cant hit tho, which is the whole reason he started pitching.
I didn’t know about Schaefer and pitching.
I assume he’ll be an outfielder for us. But could he pitch?
The Cardinals just have to do with Schafer the same thing they did with Rick Ankiel, but backwards…
Someone tell me that fryer is a beast
He approaches beastliness.