The Cardinals announced today that they’ve signed free agent reliever Keynan Middleton, as first reported by Robert Murray of FanSided (X link). The club announced that the deal is a one-year arrangement with a club option for 2025. Murray adds that the ACES client is guaranteed $6MM by the deal, and will earn $11MM if the option is exercised. Middleton will make $5MM next season with a $1MM buyout on the $6MM option, according to The Associated Press.
Middleton, 30, is coming off a solid season split between the White Sox and Yankees. The right-hander had bounced between the Angels, Mariners and Diamondbacks over the preceding three years. He inked a minor league deal with Chicago last January and was selected onto the MLB roster within a couple weeks of Opening Day.
The 6’3″ righty had a strong first half in Chicago. He pitched to a 3.96 ERA while striking out more than 30% of opposing hitters across 36 1/3 innings. With the Sox out of contention and Middleton headed back to free agency, he became one of the more obvious trade targets at the deadline. Chicago flipped him to New York for High-A righty Juan Carela on August 1.
Middleton made headlines a few days later with some parting shots at the White Sox’s clubhouse culture. Lance Lynn, who’d played with Middleton in Chicago before being traded to the Dodgers, went on the record to back him up. They’ll be teammates again in St. Louis after Lynn inked a one-year deal with the Cards at the start of the offseason.
Shoulder inflammation sent Middleton to the injured list in early September. That kept him from making much of an impact in the Bronx, where he was limited to 12 appearances. He struck out 17 and allowed only three runs in 14 1/3 innings as a Yankee, finishing his year on a generally strong note. For the season, he worked to a 3.38 ERA with a 30.2% strikeout percentage. He logged 50 2/3 innings, his heaviest workload since his 2017 rookie campaign.
While Middleton runs his fastball into the 95-96 MPH range, he leaned more heavily on both his changeup and slider last season. He missed bats with all three pitches and generated swinging strikes on an excellent 17% of his offerings overall. As has been the case throughout his career, Middleton issued a few more walks than is ideal — a 10.8% clip. He has more swing-and-miss upside than a standard middle reliever, though.
St. Louis entered the offseason with a goal of adding two pitchers to the bullpen. They dealt outfielder Richie Palacios to the Rays for Andrew Kittredge last month. They’ll dip into free agency for Middleton on what should be a modest one- or two-year commitment. The Cardinals have a projected payroll around $179MM, according to Roster Resource. That’s right in line with their season-opening mark a year ago.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Good move if it’s a one year deal.
I thought the Cards were better than that. Middleton is terrible out of the bullpen.
Avenger
Well he sucked in 2020-2022, but was good both before and after. His 15 innings with the Yankees probably doubled his 2024 salary.
I would take him over Lance Lynn, any day of the week, unless I was cleaning out a buffet bar
Stay classy, Cub fan.
Cards today trying to prove they’re not better. Really need to question some of their decision making as of late in every facet.
He’s decent. Wonder what the price is. That should be about it for the Cardinals offseason.
Still hoping for another ace, but that ought to do it for the pen.
Could have used the Lynn and Gibson money for Montgomery but that ship has sailed. The team appears to be set with a few guys competing for pen spots in spring.
we need a new GM
Yep. Cards are done for the offseason, but most of us agree that those two salaries should have been combined to get a single #2 starter. Missed opportunity.
Better yet, a new owner who puts winning and fans before profits.
I would’ve even settled for sacrificing 1 year of Lynn or Gibson for 2 years of Giolito at the same AAV…at least Giolito still brings some upside.
Even if the Cardinals could’ve signed Montgomery instead of both Lynn and Gibson, that would still leave them a starting pitcher short, as Thompson works much better as the 6th starter / swingman.
Lynn has upside, too. It just depends on whether we’re getting the 2022 version, the 2023 version, or someone in between.
Having Liberatore and Thompson compete for the 5th spot made perfect sense. And there are numerous guys in AAA who will be ready at some point like Graceffo, McGreevy, Kloffenstein and Robberse. We didn’t need more back end guys. Hopefully one of Lynn and Gibson can prove to be more than that.
No, it didn’t! They are depth guys only at this point, and don’t forget that a lack of starting depth compared to what was expected has really hurt the team over the last 2-3 years. Out of that list, only Thompson has had even a bit of MLB success so far! The others have either sucked so far in their chances at the Majors, or they’re guys still developing in AAA who may or may not be useful in the Majors this year.
The Cardinals absolutely needed a depth signing for the 5th rotation spot! It just didn’t make a lot of sense to make two of them.
Liberatore was hurt by poor defense and some bad sequencing. There is a very decent chance he’s better than both Gibson and Lynn at this point. And if hes not Thompson could be as well. Cardinals only needed 2 starters not 3.
After their rotation dissolved into a pitiful oblivion last year (for a variety of reasons, one of which was absolutely Libby’s ineffectiveness whatever the cause may have been) it was too great a risk to only add two starters as opposed to 3, especially since one of the returners is the oft-injured Matz.
The outcome we got was always the most likely.
I don’t think Lance Lynn is any less risky than relying on Liberatore and Thompson. And most importantly we would have a number 2 starter instead of an ace and a bunch of hope.
There’s a chance but a very unlikely chance. The odds are that both Gibson and Lynn are better than at least Liberatore for 2024, while Thompson is better off as a swingman who can also provide bullpen coverage if/when not needed in the rotation.
You might have a case for Thompson, but aside from the odd decent start, Liberatore has yet to show anything that could lead us to believe that he can pitch in a competitive big league rotation.
Liberatore is learning and improving. Lynn and Gibson are old and declining. I wouldn’t call it unlikely.
Gray
Montgomery
Mikolas
Matz
Liberatore
Thompson
That’s better than
Gray
Mikolas
Matz
Gibson
Lynn
Liberatore
Thompson
Liberatore 2023 ERA
5.25. That’s not good
Liberatores FIP
4.28
That’s decent.
Use FIP. It’s a better stat. The Cardinals defense sucked last year.
It’s easy to get on the internet and spend other people’s money isn’t it?
Liberatore has to prove that he’s improved before he’s considered for a rotation spot on a team that’s trying to contend.
Your rotation may technically be better overall 1-5, but that 5th spot is still an unproven black hole, and it gets much worse once there’s an injury or two. At least Lynn and Gibson can eat innings, and Gibson has a much higher floor than Liberatore.
Besides, an offer of $23M per year (Gibson’s and Lynn’s combined 2024 salaries) probably still wouldn’t be enough to land Montgomery.
There is a very good chance Liberatore is better than Lynn in 2024. And he could also use the experience he’s now not going to get to help the team in future years.
Eating innings isn’t a good thing if the pitchers aren’t actually good. And again there is depth at AAA. Quite a bit of it.
I think Montgomery gets 25 a year. It’s close enough.
He gave up more than 5 runs per game. How is that good? Use FIP instead? That’s like saying, “put the camera over here. It makes me look better”.
Defense matters. Having Walker pretend to be a right fielder all year made the pitchers look worse than they actually were.
ERA is what happened
FIP IA what should have happened
yes walker is a clown and so is our front office
For starting pitching, we need a #1, a #3, and a #5. What we got instead is a 1.5, and two 4.5s…which is highly likely not gonna be enough.
Yankees truly dropping the ball. No Peralta no Burnes and No Middleton! We get Soto but he can’t pitch and give up all young arms.
Lol calm down bruh. Middleton’s a decent relief arm but relievers aren’t that hard to come by.
Can’t wait until Cashman overpays for Snell now
Some of us don’t mind when the Yankees suck
Yankees won the Off-season in the beginning. Now they are sinking faster than the Titanic after losing Yamamoto. Off-season went from an A to F very fast.
An F? Man Yankees fans are so melodramatic. You guys have a very good team. Just need a reliever or two
A few are melodramatic. With peak windows on Judge and Cole likely close to closing, the Yankees should be all-in. In addition to the reliever(s) you mention, they need another very good starter. C+ so far.
Even I’m not that dramatic about the Yankees, even though I can be dramatic about them sometimes, but never like that.
Always the waiting game with Cashman. At least he signed Soto…. But he will end up settling for a reliever like Brasier, which makes me throw up a bit….
They never give up prospects that are position players for pitching. And are getting one year for Soto.
He traded for Soto……
Yeah, my verbiage was off… I meant traded, not signed. My bad.
Agreed but for almost all pitching. How many SS and outfielders can they keep!
Clipper: You think the Yankees still need bullpen help?
They really need a starter and could shave gotten Burnes. They should pivot to the Marlins for a starter now. They did lose King and Peralta! King hurts!
Suit: Yes I think they could really use one more BP guy. BUT, I believe there are other priorities, one of which is an additional SP.
I don’t expect them to get both, but Cashman’s tendency to fill out the roster with subpar guys, as well as his reliance on perennially injured players, has come back to bite him more often than not, imho.
Soto was a big trade acquisition obviously, and imo that was the most crucial need of the offseason. I will not beat Cashman up for that move, but we lost a lot of pitching this offseason.
Clip, my fear is that Cashman thinks he is onto something with the Luke Weaver signing. He is NOT the answer to the giant question mark in the 6-8 spots in terms of starting pitching.
As far as the bullpen, I don’t think there is anything left out there that is a big enough upgrade over the in-house options, to pay the luxury tax implications for.
Hopefully the back end guys in FA run out of teams looking to add to their MLB roster and start settling for minor league deals. Need at least 2 more depth SP’s capable of throwing 40-50 decent innings when the inevitable injuries strike. I do like the guy we got from Cleveland for Florial though. Might be something there.
Yankees have been way too top-heavy for awhile. That’s why injuries derail them instantly.
King has yet to prove he can pitch a full season
I liked Keynan as a Mariner. Many of us thought he was doing fine and he was sent down to AAA without a clear reason & shattered his confidence that year. I’ll always root for him
Middleton is a fine player. That is all. No massive loss.
Who’s the DFA?
The most “Cardinals of recent years move” would probably be Matt Carpenter
Buddy Kennedy?
Michael Siani?
Can’t we just get rid of Siani, Kennedy, Fermin, and Carp and be done with it. It’s scary to think any of them will be in the Show this year. That would not be a good sign.
too many free passes
Next up: Mike Clevinger and Tim Anderson
Can’t be worse than ver hagen. Was hoping for more of a wild card like brasier or a sure thing like maton. Middleton is what he is, a slightly above average reliever with strikeout stuff and a little wildness. They could have done worse. Hopefully, a trade of extra parts or a dfa of fermin or saini is what opens the 40 spot.
KM was on my shortlist with those guys. I’d have been happy with any of them. Maybe they save a little money with KM and have room for one more move.
Very surprising! Cardinals usually don’t like signing free agents like this.
He’s one of the leftovers that other teams didn’t want. I’m sure they signed him at a much cheaper price.
it’s what moe does
I think this is a good signing for the cardinals to complete their bullpen now we just need one more good pitcher for our rotation to complete our roster
No chance. They’re done. Rotation is built to eat innings this year, which is just the thing you need to excite a fan base.
Nice bullpen signing.
I hope Hal sells the Yankees and the next owner shows Cash the door. No WS since 09 is catastrophic for a Team like the Yankees. They spend and spend and still s***.
Yet aside from last year, they’ve always done an excellent job dating back to when Mozeliak took over as GM in the 2007-08 offseason. You can’t argue with a track record of a World Series Championship, 2 NL Pennants, 10 trips to the playoffs, and a winning record every single year except last year in the 16 years since then.
Going back to when the current ownership bought the team in 1995 adds another Championship, 2 more Pennants, and a similar rate of making the playoffs more often than not.
Lani – I tend to agree the organization has done many things very well, while their flaws (failure to develop pitching or keep up with modern trends; poor free agent spending outside the Pacific Rim; and an inability to identify, recognize or advance ML talent once it reaches AAA) persist. And now, in the last couple years, they’ve demonstrated a poor grasp of public relations (Schildt, the handling of W. Contreras, etc.)
I don’t believe in throwing out the baby with the bathwater, but the team has been so centered on hiring and promoting former Cardinals or from within that it’s fallen behind in key aspects, such as pitching labs, pitch modeling, tunneling, etc. At least once, they ought sign someone directly away from one of the teams that are at the forefront in those areas.
It remains very much a question mark whether this coaching staff and front office is up to the challenge of fixing all the things that went wrong last year (on their watch, I might add).
How Lynn, Gibson, Kitridge, Middleton, etc. pan out and how the young players (Winn, Walker, Carlson, Liberatore, Thompson, etc.) develop will tell a lot about the direction this organization is headed.
None of those are real problems. There have been a few cases of notable failures here and there, and then the pitching mostly fell apart last year, but that kind of stuff happens to all teams no matter how well they’re run. Overall, the organization has been pretty good at all of those things over their tenure.
They’ve developed a lot of good pitchers and other players over the years, but then some of their best young pitchers became injury prone, and people point out their worst trade failures like Alcantara while ignoring the many more successes they’ve had in those regards.
Free agent spending is one of the Cardinals’ bigger strengths, aside from some notable flops with free agent relievers. They avoid going too far out of their comfort zone, yet they do spend in free agency to fill notable roster holes when it makes sense to do so, while most of the guys they sign work out at least decently. Contreras still had a pretty good first year despite being a notable defensive downgrade. (Even Fowler was a decent player for 3 out of the 4 years the Cardinals had him despite not living up to his contract.)
I don’t know where you even came up with the idea that they’re bad at keeping up with modern trends. There’s also no indication whatsoever that they don’t do a good amount of lab work, as most of that kind of information doesn’t even go public in the first place.
The only reason the challenge is in question is due to the sheer difficulty they had in rebuilding half of the entire pitching staff in a single offseason. While there’s still no real #2 starter, they look to have done a pretty good job with the budget they had. This team may take another year to truly get back in contention, but that would only be because it usually takes more than a single offseason to fix so many pitching holes.
The Cardinals certainly offered Pujols at least $25M per year, and that was back in the 2011-12 offseason. While it wasn’t quite $20M, they then gave Wainwright $19.5M per year during the 2013-14 offseason.
I’m far too busy/lazy this morning to do a lot of research myself on this, especially since it’s not my argument, but I do recall the story at the time was that they offered him 5 years for $150 million, and he was insulted, because he wanted 10 years. Then they countered with 10 years for $210 million, and the Angels gave him a contract with incentives/bonuses that gave him 10 years for around $250 million. The damage in the relationship was done, and he bolted for the Angels.. Speculation was that there may have been spousal influence in the decision as well, but none of us will ever know if that is true.
Isn’t that Kate Middleton’s brother?
Another unexciting signing for the team, who will be the DFA for this one. Cardinal fans need to be prepared for another bad season, my hope is that if the Cardinals get off to a bad start that ownership cleans house quickly , to show fans that they care about putting together a winning team. MO and Marmol need to go.
At least they’re signing people on the heels of a last-place finish. Imagine being a poor fool like me who roots for Boston…
I would agree that the Cards are still middle-of-the-pack in the NL Central, though.
Fortunately the Central looks terrible now, so the Cards have as good a shot as anyone. Sadly, for any Central team, all that means is a quick exit from the playoffs.
Who is absolutely better than them? The Cubs and Brewers have lost a lot. The Reds and Pirates have a lot of upside with their youth, but they aren’t sure things yet. The division is wide open.
Yesterday, I would say the Brewers were still better, but now they’ve finally pulled the trigger on a Corbin Burnes trade.
You never know about a supposed quick exit from the playoffs, though. The 2006 Cardinals are proof enough of that.
While I agree with the “you never know” theory in sports in general, recent history is a better harbinger of what might happen in this year’s playoffs, and recent history borders on disastrous in that regard. The 2006 Cards team was loaded with players who had experienced great success in the playoffs over the previous 5-6 years. This team is decidedly lacking in that regard.
Recent history? The most recent two NL Pennants were won by Wild Card teams, one with 84 wins, and the other a third place team with 87 wins. While neither of them were able to go all the way, those weren’t quick playoff exits, either, especiially since they had to play an extra playoff round compared to some other playoff teams (albeit very likely to also be required of the 2024 NL Central Champion).
Recent CARDINALS history. Very important distinction. What have the Cardinals done in the playoffs lately (the team or the individual players) that would make you think they would make a run to the title this year? I’m only judging this team based on what this team is, not based on what other teams have done.
That’s a very small sample size that doesn’t mean much where the MLB playoffs are concerned.
It also has little to do with the current 2024 team. The fact that so many of the players have recent playoff experience matters a lot more than that they got knocked out in the first round three years in a row.
Ownership is a huge part of the problem. While all professional sports owners hide true income, it is fairly speculated that the Cards’ organizational income/value is significantly above what they spend. The owners would have sold the team by now if they weren’t making a tidy profit. And you would expect them to make a tidy profit. They’re not running a charity. It’s just frustrating at times like this when they keep the purse strings so tight when they obviously need to be in win-now mode with an aging core of veterans whose clocks are ticking.
Almost all teams try to make a profit every single year. As you said, they’re not running charities. Very rarely do you see a team like the 2023 Padres purposely go into the red (we assume) trying to win now, and look at what the Padres have become both now and 5 years from now when the attempt didn’t work.
Very happy with this addition as a Cardinals fan. It’s not a flashy move, but Middleton looked really good last year and seemed to figure some things out regarding his pitch usage. The fastball velo totally plays too. Also appears to have the right personality for this club.
I really thought the club was done adding, so bringing KM in was a pleasant surprise to me. He was on my shortlist for them all offseason though as an affordable, and yet quality, addition to their bullpen which clearly needed refreshing. Their leverage options are now Helsley, Gallegos, Kitteredge, and Middelton. That’s a really solid unit, especially if Helsley and Gallegos get back to form.
The only question I have is if they are truly done (as in, not open to any deals until the deadline) or if they are done but open to an unexpected move? Is there any chance at all that Montgomery could be brought back on the right deal? It has to be super unlikely, but boy would he make this rotation look so much better. I’m a Matz believer, but if there was a way to flip him and bring back Monty, I’d be thrilled. Gray-Monty as the 1-2 punch would easily be the best in the division now that Burnes is gone.
Don’t forget about JoJo he was a nice surprise last year and I loved the bulldog mentality he had
They’d they have to trade either Goldy, Arenado, or Contreras to have the money to even make a run at Montgomery, and none of those guys are getting traded at this point.
I agree. That’s why I prefaced it as the “right deal”. Perhaps the industry undervalues Monty (probably not) and STL could make an exception for him on a short term deal. Very unlikely, but that’s the scenario I was envisioning.
At a payroll of $179 million… you don’t think they have the money to go after anyone they want if they wanted to? I believe they are the 3rd highest attendance in baseball. I’m sure merch and all of that is way up there also… that’s the complaint for cards fans. They have the $ to go get whoever they want they just choose to stick to a relatively small budget
They certainly can and should raise payroll. I just don’t think they will, unfortunately.
I don’t think Helsley needs to round back into form. He’s a good late-game reliever who just needs the SVOs and health to be a 40 save closer. Gallegos, on the other hand, I agree that he needs to return to 2022 form. The other BP pieces will probably be Pallante, Fernandez and King. O’Brien, Robertson and Zuniga are other options that will probably be in Memphis. Maton would improve the pen even more but it seems they’re done after this signing.
For RH, I meant that a return to form for him is health. For Gallegos, it is performance.
A Maton addition would be outstanding. I would be surprised, but then again the KM signing surprised me too.
Right now the leverage options are: Helsley, Gallegos, Kitteredge, JoJo, and Middleton. That’s a nice group all things considered.
that’s true
Good pickup
Are the Yankees just sitting on their hands? What a trash offseason.
Yeah, they haven’t made any big moves since the Soto trade, but I am not acting as if it’s the end of the world, unlike some Yankee fans, because I will not do so if I find a logical reason to do so.
I’m just amazed that with the payroll they have, that they have so many question marks. So many players that we will need to spend even more money on next year to retain, players we paid lots for that need to have a resurgence, and so many spots that will need to be filled by rookies who are ??? as well..
The team could be great, but for the payroll, the uncertainty is baffling.
I was expecting Maton, we get Middleton. But I’m OK with this. The Cards need power arms in their pen.
RP = Ryan Fernandez (R5)
RP = John King
RP = Andre Pallante
RP = Andrew Kittredge
RP = JoJo Romero
RP = Keynan Middleton
RP = Gio Gallegos
CL = Ryan Helsley
40-man: Zach Thompson/Nick Robertson/Matthew Liberatore/Drew Rom/Guillermo Zuniga/Riley O’Brien/Adam Kloffenstein/Sem Robberse
Minors: Wilking Rodriguez (RP), Packy Naughton (RP), Victor Santos (RP)/Josh James (RP)
This signing will at least put them in the mix for 2nd or 3rd place in the central, Brew crew losing Burnes was significant, Reds look to be the favorites now, I thought the Cubs or Cards would get an ace but didn’t happen
Let’s move past last year and focus on this year? Who in the central is going to beat them? I get the reds have a young core but they are losing theor best asset in Votto. Please don’t hinge it on De La Cruz… he came apart with alot of holes last year. The Reds always have good peospects… every year… the Cubs dis basically nothing so far, the Brewers are toast and the pirates don’t have a clue what they are doing
I kinda think the cards are gonna go off in 2024. Goldy probably wasn’t too happy to see Arizona make it to the show (he had a down year) arenado could have opted out for more $ but didn’t… then had a pretty terrible year… alot of baseball left in those 2 along with the younger guys should be interesting. Lynn has to pitch, Gibson has to pitch, gray has to be himself…if yadi has a hands on approach with the team, it could be magical or a complete bust
Boonedoggle rolled him out there at a crazy rate as soon as he got his claws on the poor guy and that was the end of him for the season. Typical.
I’m afraid my biggest nightmare of Brais signing with Yankees might come true!!! I was okay with the rest of ex Redsox signing with them… they were bums!!! Braiser is Mr Redsox!!!
Love seeing hard earned ticket and beer money spent on mediocrity.
I’m a little concerned with that dollar value, but happy to see that they’re only locked in for a year. Don’t love how they spent the money this year, but I’m waiting and hoping to be proved wrong. The Central is certainly just the dumpster fire they need to open the door to success.