The Cardinals announced on Friday that they’ve designated veteran infielder Jhonny Peralta for assignment and activated second baseman Kolten Wong from the disabled list.
Peralta is playing out the final season of a four-year, $53MM contract, and while he was quite productive through the first half of that pact, his performance has cratered across the past two seasons. The 35-year-old Peralta tore a ligament in his thumb in Spring Training 2016 and never seemed to fully recover. He went on to have a second DL stint for the same thumb later that summer and finished up the ’16 campaign with a pedestrian .260/.307/.408 batting line in just 82 games.
[Related: Updated St. Louis Cardinals depth chart]
The 2017 campaign, however, has been infinitely worse for Peralta. He’s spent time on the disabled list this year with an upper respiratory infection and, when healthy, has struggled through one of the worst prolonged stretches of his career. In 58 plate appearances this season, Peralta has batted just .204/.259/.204. As GM John Mozeliak explained, Peralta simply wasn’t going to have the opportunity to accumulate much playing time. With Jedd Gyorko taking over as the primary third baseman, Aledmys Diaz at shortstop and Wong at second base, the best Peralta could’ve hoped for would’ve been a utility role. Instead, it appears that job will go to rookie Paul DeJong for the time being.
Peralta is earning $10MM this season, so it’s all but certain that he’ll clear waivers and be formally released in the coming days. At that point, he’ll be able to sign with any club for the pro-rated portion of the league minimum for any time spent in the Majors. The Cardinals will be on the hook for the remainder of his salary (roughly $6.29MM through season’s end), minus that pro-rated league minimum sum he’d get were he to sign with another club.
This isn’t surprising
Red Sox?
Without a doubt.
Not hardly. This guy is toaster material and has been since year 2 of his deal with the Cards.. might as well let that whale play, or hopefully Rutledge.
He’s better than Rutledge and Marerro plus played for Dembrowski in Detroit.
Just like Gyorko was toast by year two of his deal with the Padres. Have to listen to this with every player who has a down couple of years even though it’s only right I don’t know what percent of the time, certainly not 99% or whatever “toaster material” implies.
I thought the same thing
Come on..really?
No thanks! Rather Moustakas play 3B for my beloved Red Sox.
But you have to trade something for Moustakas, while Peralta is league minimum cash, assuming he clear waivers.
This exactly. There’s very little risk in grabbing him and trying him out (though all signs point to little success). Even if he gave the Red Sox an option for a month and then they traded for someone else at the deadline, could be an incredibly low risk fill in.
Trader Dave doesn’t like cheap waiver deals. His MO playbook is simple; trade the cream of the farm system for risky overpaid veterans and hope that he strikes lightening in a bottle.
Want proof?
See the bloated Tigers roster. Remnants of his era in Motown
peralta sucks
Actually he doesn’t. Since his injury, he hasn’t had the opportunity to have consistent swings or playing time. I believe he could benefit a lot of teams in a play off hunt. With both leadership and his play.
leading needles?
Nah, he doesn’t suck, the cardinals just DFA’d him for funsies…
Not really. He actually was a Top 3 SS in the NL a couple years ago. He just hasn’t been the same since his injury and has never really fully recovered. Too bad for him, but hopefully he can catch on elsewhere.
Clueless baseball fan! He’s been hurt! Look it up!
Obviously and it’s too bad for him. He never really rebounded from being hurt last year. I hope he catches on with another team and does well.
injuries happen. it’s part of baseball.
How intelligent.
This comment was for partyatnapolis.
That’s a profound observation.
that move won’t fix anything
Another contract that didn’t fully play out that we have to eat the cost on. Broxton, now Peralta..
Not as bad as it could be, but still.
Big deal. Other organizations get burnt far more frequently on much bigger deals
Which is why I added in that last part., it could be worse. Having to eat a contract, no matter how big sucks.
Talk to the Angels…
When I wrote that, that’s who I was thinking of actually.
Dexter fowler
An announcer just stated, on MLB Radio, that he held John Mozeleck responsible for the Cardinals 2017 failures. Because of poor contracts and poor accusations over the past few years. He defended Mathaney on those basis.
Poor accusations?
they are wrong.
Try craig, castillo and panda
Awlful players acquired through trade and free agency! Craig has to be the richest career minor leaguer in history!
from 2011-2013 he was a 3.4 WAR/600 player
No it wasn’t
Oh be quiet you clueless person
You got Jedd for free basically
This is true.
Peralta contract provided full value in year 1 & 2.. 3 & 4 are the lost value seasons.. not gonna hate on him.. solid pro
but cards need changes & the dfa was path of least resistance.
peralta will latch on with a team.
This has the White Sox written all over it, not too far of a move for him either!
If he can play 3B, the Sox should take a flyer that his PED assisted offense will improve. Marrero had one two homer game but otherwise hasn’t so what’s the risk? As I’ve said many times before, I don’t see them going for a big ticket upgrade to them trying to reset the luxury tax penalties this year. of course, if the Giants would take back Panda …
We’re good.
How about if trader DD throws in his next grandchild?
I know it’s unlikely, but I’d love AJ Preller to pull off a negative equity sort of trade here, and basically take Peralta’s contract off the Cardinals hands. with Allen Cordoba (ie, remove his rule 5 restrictions so he can be optioned) and a few lower level lottery pieces coming with. Spang has been pretty bad, and despite Schimpf breaking advance stats, he hasn’t exactly been productive in the traditional sense, so plugging Peralta in at 3rd and hoping for him to rebound enough to flip before the deadline doesn’t seem unfathomable. That said, the thinning of the Cards organizational depth in recent years might make them less willing to part with any pieces, lottery tickets or not, and they’re clearly already willing to just dump the $10mil, so I do think it’s unlikely..
prorated $10 mil
That’s a good idea, Preller can acquire Peralta and maybe STL can throw a couple million to offset what’s owed but the kicker in the deal being STL releases Cordoba’s rule V rights so the Padres can put him in the appropriate minors affiliate to continue his growth and just let Peralta play SS, who knows maybe he re-establish’s value and the Padres can then deal him later this year.
That seems odd for the Cards. Wouldn’t they prefer Córdoba to Peralta? Why would they do that?
They would. There is no way they would do this over $6mil. They would rather just eat the $6mil with a chance at getting him back.
They would do it because it’s the same organization that didn’t value a 20 year old enough to promote him from rookie ball when he clearly showed that he was dominating that league. They had and still have options they favor ahead of him.
Plus, most importantly they don’t have a horse in this race. Either the Padres keep Córdoba all year and acquire his rights for free and just option him to the appropriate level they see fit next year possibly AA, or the Cardinals help expedite the process by trading Peralta to SD, kicking in half of what he is currently owed which would be about 3.5 million or so and remove the rule V rights for Córdoba. They would save half of what’s owed to Peralta instead of just DFA’ing him and paying the whole amount remaining.
That’s why they would do it.
That’s not how it works. The Cards are under no obligation to help San Diego keep Córdoba. And Córdoba wasn’t promoted out of rookie ball for a pretty obvious reason.
That’s not how it works. Padres would have to waive him, then he’d have to clear waivers (no chance!). At that point, the Padres and Cards could work out a deal for his rights.
Giants might give him a shot to free up Nunez into a utility role and relieve the reliance on some of the youth influx.
I doubt it. They don’t need another infielder. They need a true OFer.
He’ll land with another team.
They sent down the wrong coach too. Marmol has been the worst 3rd base coach I have ever seen on a MLB roster. At least the worst Cardinal. Mabry needs to be fired not the assistant hitting coach, but Matheny loves him too much because they are buddies. Fire both of them.
marmol is the first base coach
Troll- he used to be the first base coach. They had moved him to 3rd and Maloney to 1st. He was terrible at 3rd. They sent Maloney down and moved Marmol back to 1st
Hmmm- they did fire the 3rd base coach- Maloney
If you actually followed the Cardinals instead of just looking it up like some writers then you would know Marmol has been coaching 3rd
I’ve watched every Cards game this season and Marmol has bot coached 3rd base this year which is his first at the major league level.
i’ve never seen marmol at third. games of june 6 and 7 marmol was at first. not sure about the 8th. video proof on mlb.com
Red bird you are so wrong that’s funny. They moved Marmol to 3rd early in the season so you are either dumb or a liar
Yes because they moved him from 3rd to first when they sent Maloney packing. Lol
what’s this? 6-7-2017. m.mlb.com/stl/video/v1473471683/stlcin-gyorko-driv…
and this? 5-30-17. m.mlb.com/stl/video/v1444691883/ladstl-molina-plat…
or this, m.mlb.com/stl/video/topic/26271672/v1398645783/bos…
need more? m.mlb.com/stl/video/v1345582683/milstl-wong-drives…
opening series. m.mlb.com/video/topic/6479266/v1254676683/chcstl-y…
no maloney at first, ever.
at league minimum someone needing a third baseman will take a flyer on him. Hell, there might even be a bidding war
Bidding war? In order for their to be a bidding war someone would have to offer more than what his current contract is. Absent that, he makes the same no matter what.
I was laughing while I wrote that.
He is awful. Must be nice to make millions being terrible at your job
How about the Dodgers pick up the remainder of his contract, trade A-Gon, Kershaw and “throw in” Puiq.
Bye Jhonny, good luck to you! They still need that impact Bat
Giants put him at third or in left it doesn’t really matter
Or they could just put Lou Seal in left.
Would it make sense for MIA to negotiate a competitive package for Phelps from STL and tack on a “cash and Peralta for a PTBNL” component to see if Peralta could re-establish enough value as a Marlin paid with mostly STL money for MIA to trade him to a contender at the trade deadline?
He’s Burnt Toast!! Time to go spend all that $$$$$$ money he made!!
He should head to Toronto Travis on the dl without a return day. He might be able to bounce back
No thanks, Jays aren’t touching Peralta. Goins will take Travis place. Elite glove, decent power, low average/OBP. Gibby loves Goins.
It’s interesting to note all the haters hating on Peralta. Have any of you ever torn ligaments in your thumb and then tried to swing a bat. It can take years for this to heal, and sometimes it never heals properly, so it can severely affect the grip and swing on the bat. Furthermore, because he hasn’t had regular playing time of course he is going to be down on timing and average.
a bunch of internet trolls