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Cardinals Sign Brandon Dickson

By Anthony Franco | June 18, 2021 at 8:35pm CDT

The Cardinals have signed right-hander Brandon Dickson to a minor league contract, as Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Twitter link) first reported. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Memphis.

Dickson, 36, is looking to return to the majors after nearly a decade away. He pitched 14 2/3 MLB innings for St. Louis between 2011-12 but joined the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball before the 2013 season. Dickson spent the next eight years with the Buffaloes, pitching to a 3.32 ERA across 892 1/3 innings at Japan’s highest level. He began his NPB career as a starter but worked as a closer the past few seasons, suggesting he’s likely to serve as bullpen depth for St. Louis. Last season, Dickson worked to a 3.28 ERA with a 21.1% strikeout rate and a 10.5% walk percentage.

Dickson becomes the second arm the Cards have added in recent days, as St. Louis signed veteran lefty Wade LeBlanc to a big league deal yesterday. Nevertheless, the Cardinals front office is still hunting for pitching depth, Goold writes in a separate piece. St. Louis has been in contact with rival clubs about trading for starting pitching, he notes, and they’ve been active on the free agent market. Goold reported last week that St. Louis has been in contact with free agent Shelby Miller about a potential reunion, but he added today that Miller has received offers from several teams since being released by the Cubs last month.

The Cardinals rotation looks in need of an upgrade if the 35-34 club is going to make a run in the NL Central. Jack Flaherty and Miles Mikolas are down with injuries for extended periods of time, leaving St. Louis with a current starting staff of Adam Wainwright, Kwang-hyun Kim, Johan Oviedo, John Gant and Carlos Martínez. Oviedo and Martínez have struggled this season, while Gant’s elevated 15.8% walk rate raises some doubt about his ability to keep his ERA around its current 3.50 mark.

It’s still too early in the year for many teams to abandon hope of competing, but there are a couple arms who could offer passable innings at the back of the rotation and should be available right now. The Diamondbacks have no hope of contending this season and could consider moving Merrill Kelly, who’s controllable through 2022 via a $5.5MM club option. He only has a 5.40 ERA this year but his peripherals (21.4% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate, 4.26 SIERA) are closer to average. Pittsburgh figures to be willing to trade Tyler Anderson, who has a similar combination of poor ERA (4.89) but more adequate underlying numbers (21% strikeout rate, 6.5% walk percentage, 4.33 SIERA). The Rangers and Tigers would surely listen on Mike Foltynewicz and José Ureña, respectively, although it’s not clear either is an upgrade over Martínez or Oviedo with how poorly they’ve pitched this season.

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St. Louis Cardinals Transactions Shelby Miller

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View Comments (27)
Post a Comment

27 Comments

  1. DarkSide830

    4 years ago

    he’s back!

    1
    Reply
  2. vincent k. mcmahon

    4 years ago

    A real blast from the past.

    Reply
  3. Msvhs79

    4 years ago

    Martinez is a total head case! He needs to go to the pen or to another team for a fresh start. Unfortunately we can’t cut bait with him because we have no one else to eat up some innings. I really feel like the Brewers are the team to beat in the Central. I hope we can pull it together but there are years when nothing can seem to ho right!

    3
    Reply
    • SalaryCapMyth

      4 years ago

      I’m a Braves fan. I know something about that this season too.

      Reply
    • solaris602

      4 years ago

      I have to give STL credit for the patience they’ve had with him. One start he’s lights out and the next he’s a train wreck. He’s still gonna be in that rotation, though, because there just isn’t an alternative right now.

      1
      Reply
      • belkiolle

        4 years ago

        He’s got 13 starts this year.

        3 were terrible.. No explanation needed

        4 have been lights out giving up 0 or 1 runs averaging 7 innings per outing.

        2 of the other 6 have been Quality Starts and all of them have been winnable giving up 4 runs or less.. It should be 3 of the 6 as Quality Starts but his defense cost him 3 earned runs in Cleveland a couple weeks back.

        There are a lot worse #4 starters in the league than Martinez. He’s just having to pitch as the #2 due to injury.

        Reply
  4. Peart of the game

    4 years ago

    I’m surprised to be honest as I didn’t think Orix would release a solid reliever like Dickson as he has been very good up until last year when he walked more batters than normal while striking out less than normal too. Could be a good addition if he’s healthy.

    1
    Reply
    • DarkSide830

      4 years ago

      supposedly couldn’t get a visa to get to Japan and coudlnt bring his family this year. looks like a mutual thing.

      Reply
    • Putmeincoach12

      4 years ago

      Just what the Cards need then. Another guy who can’t throw strikes?

      1
      Reply
  5. mack423

    4 years ago

    I like Oviedo going forward; I wouldn’t worry too much about his effectiveness if his last start was indicative of his new pitching philosophy. His innings limit might be another issue.

    1
    Reply
  6. eephus11

    4 years ago

    Is Jesse Orosco available?

    4
    Reply
  7. Joel Peterson

    4 years ago

    Another mid 30s guy from Alabama. Woohoo…….

    Reply
  8. Joel Peterson

    4 years ago

    Former Cardinal? Geez I don’t remember that happening. Good gosh.

    Reply
    • KCelts

      4 years ago

      His name is on the back of a 2011 World Series Champions T-shirt so he is World Champion Brandon Dickson to us.

      Reply
  9. JMO2493

    4 years ago

    maybe they’ll sign Keith Butler and Kevin Siegrist next

    1
    Reply
  10. Ron Tingley

    4 years ago

    Consistently gave up more hits than innings pitched in the minors to only turn it around in the JPL. Makes me wonder if they are even playing at a AAA level over there.

    1
    Reply
  11. 619bird

    4 years ago

    Yeah the Cardinals are active but the question is if they’ll do anything before the mlb deadline. Not these moves!

    Reply
    • charper32

      4 years ago

      I don’t think they’re actively looking.

      Reply
  12. timyanks

    4 years ago

    there’s no reason to ever write about the cardinals ever making a trade within the division.

    Reply
  13. charper32

    4 years ago

    Jesus Christ, guess they have no aspirations to finish top 3 in the division. Hope this gets Mo fired.

    Reply
    • timyanks

      4 years ago

      let’s not stop at mo, keep the line rolling

      Reply
  14. pdr4bama

    4 years ago

    They can re-sign Steve Kline as well; especially since he wouldn’t be able to flip off TLR from the bullpen!

    Reply
  15. solaris602

    4 years ago

    I heard a stat during last night’s game that sorta serves as a distraction from the Cardinals’ rotation crisis: By the 5th inning last night vs ATL the bullpen had pitched exactly 100 fewer innings than the starters year to date, yet they’d issued 3 more walks than the starters. Let that soak in for a moment.

    1
    Reply
  16. 17dizzy

    4 years ago

    Signing Dickson and LeBlanc ought to strike FEAR into the other National League Central Teams!!!

    Thanks on your fantastic moves John “Low Hanging Fruit” Mozeliak!!!!!

    1
    Reply
  17. Dad

    4 years ago

    Maybe Mo is signing guys who remember how to pitch without the sticky tack

    Reply
  18. charper32

    4 years ago

    WTF??????

    1
    Reply
  19. Sonny 3

    4 years ago

    Sign Cashner

    Reply

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