Cardinals reliever Brett Cecil says he’s pleased thus far with the results of his carpal tunnel surgery, as Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. The southpaw is preparing to throw from a mound for the first time since his procedure in early April.
Cecil ended up going under the knife when he experienced a loss of sensation in his fingers this spring. That was only the latest in a line of woes for the veteran hurler, whose tenure in St. Louis has not gone as hoped when the team gave him a rare four-year deal in advance of the 2017 campaign. He’s earning $7.5MM this year and $7MM next, with full no-trade rights.
Last season, Cecil experienced shoulder and foot problems — along with notable declines in velocity, swinging-strike rate, and chase rate (among other things). Simply put, he wasn’t fooling opposing hitters. Cecil walked more of them than he struck out en route to 32 2/3 innings of 6.89 ERA pitching.
It’s anyone’s guess whether Cecil will ever be anything close to the stud setup man the Cards thought they were getting. But they’ll soon get a sense of his post-surgical form. If all goes well, Cecil could launch a rehab assignment not long after his 33rd birthday in early July and perhaps even make it back to the MLB mound by the end of the month.
Put a fork in him. For as pitching rich as the Cards purport to be, it’s crazy to see the comically-awful track record of handing out 8 figure contracts to relief pitching, year after year.
Philbo, +1
Please provide example(s) not named either Holland or Cecil in the last decade that had ANY lasting impact on the team’s finances or appreciably accredited their ability to make other moves? You make it sound like this has always been a thing, which it most definitely hasn’t been under Mo.
one of the worst FA contracts given out. even b4 health and injuries. those just push it over the top.
Yeah, never got or liked this signing.
I’m a Cards fan, but live in Toronto, so I saw enough of Cecil to not like the Cards forking our the cash for him.
Thank goodness Miller has started to turn it around, or might be using the old George Bush line of “Fool me twice!”
Cecil pitched well for the Jays most of the time. However, could not believe what St Louis decided to pay him. It helped pave the way for other bullpen arms to command big dollars. He set the bar early in the 2016-17 offseason. Still appreciate his contributions to the 2015-16 Jays teams.
At least we didn’t sign Joe Kelly to that contract the Dodgers gave….
Not much of a difference. less than $1M a year difference
Wish I could make 7m a year for nothing!heck let him work the concessions.
Brilliant Mo signing. These are becoming the norm.
At least all the team gave up was money…could have been a trade involving valuable prospect capital.