The Cardinals have signed right-hander Ryan Tepera, with Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat relaying word from president of baseball operations John Mozeliak. It seems as though Tepera will take the roster spot of Génesis Cabrera, whose designation for assignment was reported earlier.
Tepera, 35, has plenty of years of effective relief work on his résumé but 2023 has been challenging. He began the year with the Angels but posted a 7.27 earned run average through 10 outings before that club designated him for assignment and released him. The righty then landed with the Rangers on a minor league deal and reported to their Triple-A club. He tossed eight scoreless innings for Round Rock but didn’t get a roster spot with the Rangers and opted out of that deal last week.
Although the results earlier in the year weren’t pretty, there’s plenty of logic to this pickup for the Cards. Coming into this year, Tepera had a 3.50 career ERA in 354 2/3 innings, so the rough patch with the Halos to start this season represents a drop in the pocket in terms of his larger body of work. His strikeout rate was over 30% in each of 2020 and 2021 before tailing off to the 20% range in the past two seasons, but he just struck out 37.9% of opponents during his stint in Round Rock.
There’s also no financial risk for the Cards. Tepera signed a two-year, $14MM deal with the Angels prior to the 2022 campaign. Though he had a solid 3.61 ERA last year, his struggles a few months back got him released. The Angels are still on the hook for the majority of what’s left of that deal and the Cardinals will only be responsible for the prorated league minimum for any time Tepera spends on their roster.
The Cards have had a disappointing season and are currently 40-53 on the year, putting them in last place in the National League Central and 11.5 games out of a playoff spot. Mozeliak recently admitted that the club will have to go into the deadline as sellers, making moves that set the club up for 2024. The bullpen features some impending free agents like Jordan Hicks and Chris Stratton would would make sense as trade candidates, with Tepera perhaps moving up the bullpen chart in the wake of whatever moves the Cards make. He could theoretically pitch himself into being a candidate himself, though he’ll only two weeks to do so, with the deadline on August 1.
A 35 year old with an ERA of 7.
Wonderful. Just what the team needs.
Wow, I wanted the Cardinals to sign Tepera when he became a free agent two years ago. Welcome to the Cardinals. He pitched well for the Rangers in Triple A and he opted out of the contract a few days ago. Lets see how he performs with the Cardinals. If he pitches well for us we could trade him at the trade deadline if the Cardinals decide to be seller. By the way, the Cardinals should consider sending Andre Pallante to Triple A because he is not pitching well at all this season.
The Rangers just picked up Chapman because they wanted to improve their bullpen.
You think he’s gonna pitch well in the next 2 weeks and suddenly have trade value? Come on man.
He’s always been a good-to-great pitcher, and everyone (including you) knows you don’t judge a pitcher after 8.2 IP. Low risk, very high reward pickup even if STL are out of contention.
The Rangers were looking for pen help. They didn’t promote Tepara they signed Chapman.
What high reward are we talking here? He could pitch 30 innings of shutout ball from here on out. The Cardinals season is lost and he’s a free agent at the end the year. What reward is there?
Loutos has had a good year at Memphis he got lit up recently before that his ERA was under 3.5. Could give him a chance to get his feet wet and be ready for 2024. Instead we got a 35 year old who is a soon to be free agent.
Teams make puzzling decisions daily and, as Cardinals fans, we’re both privy to that concept in years-recent. Why didn’t STL give Arozarena or Garcia a legitimate shot? Did Mo really trade Gallen because he didn’t attend optional workouts? We’ll never know.
Also – don’t forget that the Rangers DFA’d Adolis Garcia and every single team passed on him. Why give the Rangers credence here? It’s just another puzzling move.
As for the high upside, I’m thinking of those still watching daily that are sick of the bullpen blowing every lead; him coming in and performing would certainly help my blood pressure haha
They have nothing to lose and something to gain by signing Tepera. We all know how RPs in general, go up and down. He was rock solid for the Cubs a couple of years ago and signed a big FA deal after.
He’s not a high velo guy. This was a smart move I’m surprised Hoyer didn’t make.
How is it “no reward” if he pans out? It’s always seemed to me that it’s not the big splash signings that move the needle, it’s several under the radar deals like this working out that make a real difference.
What is there to gain by signing Tepara?
Be specific
What needle are we moving here?
Come on man.
Would a solid, low investment RP who makes their BP better not be moving the needle? Is that not a “gain”? Silly nitpicking.. man.
The Angels cut him after 8 1/3 innings with a 7.27 ERA and allowing 3 of 7 inherited runners to score. Yes, he’s done a 180 in the minors, but lets see if he can maintain anything similar to that performance, or will he be closer to what he gave the Angels?
The deadline that is in…14 days?
Dang! Perfect age and ERA for the Mets arson squad!
DETROIT TIGERS SIGN MAX CLARK !
You trying to steal the Cardinals thunder pal? This post is about Ryan freaking Tepara. Show some respect.
Can we bring back TJ McFarland too lol
Seems like they would be better off just promoting a pitcher performing well in AAA. McGreevy probably isn’t quite ready, so why not let Leahy come up and see if he’s a diamond in the rough? Or give Naile extended run. It’s not like the Cards are playing for this season.
Gonna guess he pitches to a sub 1,00 ERA over the next couple of weeks before being traded at the deadline.
They brought up Leahy, he just doesn’t have big league stuff. That really goes for all the bullpen at AAA.
Ya. Leahy is bad. Is Jake Walsh injured? I thought we’d see him at some point again this year.
@mrperkins- Tepera doesn’t have big league stuff anymore either.
Leahy is already up.
I agree! This team will be full of AAAA pitchers after the deadline. Might as well get a head start and bring Naile or Leahy up now.
Leahy pitched yesterday.
Naile sucks, but who cares at this point.
Leahy is already up.
Tepera is the latest on a long but not distinguished list of guys the Angels pay to play elsewhere or not at all.
Kinda like my Johnson
You can be my wing man any day.
I anticipate this is a move that makes sure we have enough guys to pitch when we trade away as many pitchers as we can at the deadline lol.. He was horrid to start this year but looked great at AAA for the Rangers so it’s worth taking a flyer.
So we got rid of Cabrera who is a lefty reliever for a righty who is older and has worse stats.
Why? What could possibly be the motivation behind this move???
Motivations? 1) Cabrera has been awful, 2) Tepera is a no-risk move even if he doesn’t pan out.
It’s a no reward move even if he does pan out.
There’s Mo’s #3 starter next year. See how easy that was. Now he can relax again.
Cabrera and Ollie had it out. genesis had to go. we have no good arms ready in the minors. Im fine with Tepera. it wouldnt be a surprise for him to find his career form again which was very good
I’m interested in that story. Where did you hear that? Can you imagine Mighty Mouse trying to stare down Genesis Cabrera? Hilarity ensues.
It happened in London. Pre-game. Don’t the details but when you get into Ollie’s doghouse you quickly get sent to the pound.
Also heard of another incident earlier in the season.
Was hoping he came back to the cubs. Seems like a good guy. Wish him luck.
This is just the beginning of all the “great moves” the Cardinals are going to make before the deadline. Release one mediocre relief pitcher, and go out and sign another.
The Cardinals MIGHT make some other moves, but no one that’s worth much.
DeWtt (or Dimwitt depending on how you look at it) will be happy, he’ll take on even less salary than he has now, tell all the fans they did trade some players, seats will still be filled full.
He keeps on making money while the Cardinals keep going the wrong way with management and players.
Lost season, just filling out the roster at this point.
This organization got caught up in analytics…and have forgotten the old Cardinal Way which was just good fundamental baseball players.
Amen.
Cardinals fans are brutal. St. Louis has been one of the most consistent franchises of the 21st century. They have made the playoffs is what, 18 of the last 20 seasons or something crazy like that and they have a World Series title in the 2000’s as well. There are probably 24+ owners who would love to have the results St. Louis has over the past 2 decades or so.
There’s no question that this team underperformed this season and that they need to invest in some starting pitchers this offseason to get back on track, but they do have a nice nucleus of young, talented players to build off of. They should trade their expiring contracts away at the deadline and then put a full court press on pitching this offseason. With the right moves, the Cardinals could potentially win the NL Central as soon as next season. They just need to keep pace with the Reds somehow (who would have thought that statement would be made in 2023)?
It’s so predictable… A small (good) move like this and a contingent of the Best Fans in Baseball will scream something about “this” being the grand move Mo will make. No, it isn’t. Chill out! I’m a huge Cardinals fan but the behavior of some fellow fans is ridiculous.
I hear what you’re saying Mantooth. It’s true that we have enjoyed a very successful run for most of 25 years. But it’s not the losing that drives myself and others crazy, it’s the completely predictable/preventable nature of the losing. If this was a roster that suddenly got old fast, or got hit by a rash of injuries at key positions, or even if we knew it was time to rebuild, I could live with all of that.
But everyone and I mean EVERYONE knew we didn’t have enough starting pitching. That problem has been compounded by a $90 million catcher who isn’t a catcher and a coaching staff that isn’t qualified to do their job. These problems all lead back to one arrogant mother f’er who won’t acknowledge that he’s done anything wrong. That’s where the frustration and cynicism comes from.
I hear what you are saying Don but really they came into this season with a better rotation last year…and they made the playoffs…plus there wasn’t much out there to improve the rotation…problem was the cardinals lost one of the best game callers in the game…so I agree with you but their wasn’t much out there to improve the rotation…should have got Murphy though
Maybe not in free agency. But the roster surplus we are hoping to trade from now was there 6 months ago too. Mo got gun shy over the winter because he has taken so much criticism for previous trades.
Acquiring pitching always comes with risk. If he made a move and the guy got hurt, people forgive that. But sitting on his hands is what has people frustrated.
Even if this year’s rotation was better on paper, he was still banking on Flaherty being healthy and Waino being immortal. There’s no explaining away this season. It’s not bad luck. It’s bad management.
Yea the management has been horrible…like relying on three rookie coaches lol…I can only think oh Pabl Lopez from the marlins that they could have got…but look at what the Twins gave up for him…I love Waino but he hurt the team by trying for his 200 wins…nostalgia hurt the cards
The Cardinals are buyers !!!!!
alright Ryan Tepera! #18 in NL MVP votes in 2020!!
wait… why was he getting MVP votes in 2020?
I still say…just ridding themselves of the false captain, the junior towel boy masquerading as a Major League Manager…if it wasn’t for his connections (or compromising evidence) regarding someone at the highest eschelons of power, than Little Oliver would be a parking valet at Elmer’s Pancake House. And then this team would immediately turn itself around with these exact players on this roster right now. That’s the shame of it all.
Well………..so far I want Genesis back. Way to go Mo!
“drop in the pocket?”
Maybe it’s a Canadian phrase, but I think Darragh meant “drop in the bucket.”