The Cardinals announced the signing of infielder Ramón Urías to a one-year contract. The Wasserman client is reportedly guaranteed $2MM. He’ll receive a $1.5MM salary and is guaranteed a $500K buyout on a 2027 mutual option valued at $4MM.
The infielder can earn an additional $2MM in performances bonuses: $125K apiece for 350 and 375 plate appearances; $200K each at 400 and 425 PAs; $250K at 450, 475 and 500 PAs; and $300K apiece at 525 and 550 plate appearances. St. Louis designated Zak Kent for assignment to create roster space.
Urías, 32 in June, has been a solid multi-positional player for the past six big league seasons. Most of that time was spent with the Orioles, though he was traded to the Astros at last year’s deadline. He has stepped to the plate 1,856 times in the majors, roughly three full seasons’ worth, and hit 50 home runs in that time. His .257/.321/.403 batting line translates to a 104 wRC+, indicating he’s been 4% above average on the whole.
His defense is even stronger than his offense. He has mostly played third base but has also spent some time at the other infield positions. He’s probably stretched as a shortstop but he has received strong reviews for his work at the hot corner. He won the American League Gold Glove at that position in 2022, getting credited with 14 Defensive Runs Saved and eight Outs Above Average. For what it’s worth, in the years since, DRS still views him as a positive defender but OAA has him below par. His work at the keystone is well regarded, with 11 DRS and 2 OAA. He has fewer than 100 innings at first base.
He is coming off a down year at the plate. Between the O’s and the ‘Stros, he slashed .241/.292/.384 for an 87 wRC+. Houston could have retained him via arbitration for 2026, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting a $4.4MM salary, but they decided to non-tender him instead.
For St. Louis, Urías should backfill some of their missing infield depth. The Cards are rebuilding and traded away Nolan Arenado, Brendan Donovan and Willson Contreras this winter. Those moves both saved money and also freed up playing time for some younger players the organization would like to get a look at.
On the dirt, they project to have Masyn Winn at short and Alec Burleson at first, with the other two positions a bit more open. Nolan Gorman seems likely to take over the third base job but also has lots of experience at second. JJ Wetherholt could get the second base gig but he hasn’t yet cracked the major leagues.
Behind those leading candidates, the Cards also have José Fermín, Thomas Saggese, Bryan Torres and César Prieto on the 40-man roster. No one in that group has more than 100 big league games played. All of them except for Fermín have options, so perhaps the club would prefer them to get regular playing time in the minors if they don’t have regular big league jobs. Gorman also has options and is coming off two rough years at the plate.
When dealing with a group of fairly unproven guys, some will perform and some will not. On top of that, injuries are inevitable. Urías is coming off a down year at the plate but is a fairly reliable veteran who could step in to cover for some of the other guys, if necessary. If he’s on the roster and playing well in the summer, he would be a logical trade candidate for the rebuilding club.
Jeff Jones of The Belleville News-Democrat first reported the Cardinals were nearing a deal with Urías. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported the sides agreed to a one-year, $2MM deal with a $500K buyout on a mutual option. The Associated Press reported the option value and the bonus specifics.
Photo courtesy of Cary Edmondson, Imagn Images
Now THIS is Urías racing.
I am very confused by this reference is he a big Star Wars fan?
Probably
Somehow, Chaim Bloom returned.
Weird, wonder if its a precursor to a trade
Exactly my thoughts. Gorman?
Surprised the o’s took Ramos on waivers when gorman could probably he had cheap
My guess is, he can fill in nicely at third if Gorman can’t stick with the big club. Saggesse CAN play 3rd, but if a few months of Gorman doesn’t look promising, this gives the Cards some flexibility to move on from Gorman.
Seems like a decent, inexpensive move with some upside, has a little pop, plus he hits right-handed and this helps the club not have to rush JJ, too. I like it.
Bingo. That’s exactly what this move is.
Who’s rushing Weatherholt? All indications are that he’s ready for not just the Big Leagues but a starting job as well. He’d have to have an absolutely terrible Spring Training (or an injury) to not be in the Opening Day starting lineup.
Meanwhile, it’s unlikely that both Gorman and Saggese will bust, and Fermin is already a right-handed utility IF who deserves a bench spot.
There’s no reason at all for Wetherholt not to break camp with the Cardinals. He hasn’t been rushed.
Roby and Hjerpe to the 60 day.
No
Bloom special
Solid depth, I was surprised he lingered so long on the market .
Thought that, too. Such a versatile glove at a cheap price. Maybe he was asking for a little too much $ during the offseason and was afraid he was runnnig out of time?
Gorman and Wetherholt both hit from the left side so Urias gives the Cardinals an additional RH Infielder to pair with Saggese as 2B/3B options
What about Fermin? He’s a right-handed utility IF who’s out of options and has actually hit better in MLB than Saggese so far. Urias probably plays better defense, but he’s really not much of an upgrade over what they already have with Fermin.
Fermin Does not play good defense anywhere. He absolutely cant throw even fron 2nd.He hit fine in a small sample but is 27 yr old singles hitter with bad defense
If they need a late-inning infield defensive replacement, they could use Saggese. Fermin would then primarily pinch-hit and is playable on defense when necessary.
@Lanidrac
I agree. Urias also brings a bit more experience and track record to the bench mix over Fermin, Saggese, Church, Prieto, and Torres.
This is an incremental addition, but it helps.
Not compared to using the roster spot for an actual outfielder.
I see they’re trying to convert Saggese and/or Fermin to the OF, but there’s no guarantee it will actually work for either of them (or Herrera, for that matter).
Interesting pickup. Bloom said he wanted a RH bat for the outfield
Could also slide Burly back to the OF and get Gorman reps at first as a solution to that. Or just turn Saggese into pretty much a full time OF next year to really see if the Donovan role works for him. Good thing about a young roster that won’t win much is you can get creative.
Moving Burleson back to the OF wouldn’t solve anything, since he’s also left-handed.
Saggese is a possibility, but it’s far from a sure thing that he could learn to play the grass.
Yes it would, Burly is playing against everyone, he’s a full time bat. Gorman or Noot would be the ones out against lefties, sliding Burly to the OF puts Noot on the bench and Urias’s bat into the lineup
I suppose that works if Nootbaar isn’t ready for Opening Day, but when he’s healthy, then you’re just creating a new problem by taking Nootbaar’s bat and glove out of the lineup, as Nootbaar actually has decent splits against lefties in his career.
While Urias may hit a little better against lefties than Nootbaar does, assuming Gorman is then playing 1B (if he can even play the position), the slight offensive upgrade and better 3B defense isn’t worth the significant downgrages at defense at both 1B and LF.
The Cardinals were always one of the best run organizations in baseball. I don’t ever remember them in a rebuild and they always had competitive teams. Now I look at Sportrac and they are 29th in payroll (only ahead of the Marlins). What happen to this organization?
Owner DeWallet
The team wasted a lot of draft picks signing free agents, trying to make up for the failures of the minor league development department. When COVID came around, DeWitt got cheap and didn’t re-up half of their minor league coaching staff. A bad situation got really, really worse.
They hired Chaim Bloom as a consultant a few years ago. He gave them a three-hour presentation, telling them all about their failures. It was an eye-opener.
The long-time farm director Gary LaRoche retired. POBO John Mozaliak announced his retirement.
Bloom was hired to replace Mo last year. Bloom started hiring the youngest, best brightest development guys from other orgs. The Cardinals always hired guys from within. This was a welcome change.
They now have a full staff of coaches, instructors, development guys, analysts, physical therapists, (and anyone else who can help) throughout the minor leagues.
DeWitt also paid to build new spring training facilities – including a pitching lab, hitting lab, and all the latest technology. They also built new facilities in the Dominican Republic.
Smart, plugged-in Cardinals fans get it. The casual, rose-colored glasses fans are up in arms. Lots of give-aways planned at the ballpark this year.
They’re on the right track, but fans need to be patient for a year or two. That doesn’t go over well with a lot of folks. We’ll see.
@LouEhitaker – The Marlins could have won the NL East with Cabrera and Weathers, they could still win the NL East if Snelling and White hit the rotation and take off like McClean did last season in NYC. They have a lot of good pitching in Miami and their offensive is a year older in a good way.
Marlins should be a betting favorite but the front office will likely trade Alcantara and some bullpen parts at the deadline. They dont miss on too many opportunities to add prospect capital and cut payroll.
Thr Cardinals also have a team capable of competing albeit for third in the division. I think they are two or three seasons away.
@Lou – it’s a rebuild, as eatonculo discusses in some detail.
Payroll is definitely down, but I don’t think the total spend ranks quite that low. Do the numbers you’re looking at include the $ that the Cardinals sent to pay down salaries of traded players (Gray, Contrera, and Arenado)? I’m seeing Spotrac putting Cardinals at #23 in payroll in ranking with those $ included.
Well I think Elias should’ve done this after today’s news.
Whose to say urias would want to return after we traded him
His wallet.
We sent him out to get in a playoff race and playing time. I doubt he has any ill will.
Love this move for the cards, soild dedefender/utility man for the club. GO CARDINALS!
Would rather have Derek Jeter in his prime tbh.
Would rather have Derek Jeter’s dating record in his prime.
You really think any of those girls can hit?
Yes I do……… yes I do
Winner winner ☝️
They were celebs but none of them were athletes.
You’re suggesting Mariah Carey can’t hit a curve ball?
Depends on the curveball. If it’s fine, (which can’t curve or I loose control and then after a few my elbow starts to feel something, she doesn’t need to move and will draw a walk.) If it’s Seth Lugo’s, …
Lose*
Feel like this is the most common mistake I see on the internet.
They can smash
Thanks for catching my typo.
I like to think Jessica Alba and Minka Kelly can do anything. JMO
I’m right there with you. It boggles my mind how many people I see spelling lose as loose and losing as loosing. I’m not expecting everybody to be Scripps Howard Spelling Bee winners but that is a pretty easy word to spell.
Urias wasn’t a bad pickup. Trading for Correa made Urias redundant though.
Trading for correa was an ill advised, sentimental trade that royally complicates the roster and payroll.
I’ve seen some national pundits theorize that the Correa deal was Jim Crane’s doing, is that the sentiment among astros fans?
It was. Any sentimental move is Jim Crane’s doing (so was Jose Abreu). It’s not a theory, it’s the truth. I think we’re a bit harsh on Dana, considering what Jim has done.
It appears that the Cardinals are about to sign Urias to a contract as insurance in the event Weatherholt needs additional time at Memphis.
I like Urias, but I would rather see Saggese get 500 at bats. I think Gorman should have been traded for a prospect.
It’s probably not wise to sell low on Gorman after already trading Donovan, but yeah, they already have Saggese as backup for that possibility, as well as another pretty good right-handed infield bench option in Fermin.
Saggese and Scott II are two of the worst hitters on the club! Why does Saggese name keep coming up all the time!
Saggese has had less than 350 Major League at-bats! He’s been a superior hitter in every level of the minors.
Scott needs to overhaul his approach, but Saggese just needs more opportunity.
There are lots of top prospects who were terrible in their first Big League cup of coffee who then became good players, like Kolten Wong and Masyn Winn. The same will probably also be true for Saggese (and Crooks, as well).
Saggese wasn’t even that bad last year (especially compared to his even smaller MLB sample size in 2024) and still managed +0.4 bWAR.
Well,.maybe he’ll break up a perfect game when the O’s play the Red Birds this year like he did for the Stros last year. Can’t buy that kind of irony.
I don’t like what Brandon Young did.
I think Urias is a fine ballplayer but shouldn’t be playing everyday
He won’t be.
This could be a huge signing. Are the Cards going to compete this year? Maybe.
Not likely with the patchwork rotation they are likely trotting out there
Huge how? It’s Ramon Urias.
What? The Cardinals won’t compete for 5 plus years and no WS for at least a decade. You must be a bot.
What’s that username? Hamburger Sausageface III. Can you explain?
Yeah I’d like to know the backstory on that as well as the first two Hamburger Sausagefaces.
30 years ago I knew a girl they called the Massachusetts Meatburger but that was for very unflattering reasons.
Everyone is entitled to theor opinion but this cant really be your take right? They have the #2 farm system in baseball (behind only the Pirates) they have 6 pucks this year in the top 100. They currently have 7 of the tip 100 prospects in baseball and they currently have basically nothing on the payroll books guaranteed. Yes, the next 2 years might be rough but 5 years and 10 years? Ya, thats not happening bro
The Mariners I would say have a better farm.
So you’re one of those. People who think prospects mean ANYTHING crack me up. Less than 1% star rate and a 12% ever make the big leagues at all.
Can you explain to me your username? What happened to Hamburger Sausagefaces I and II?
Hamburger
All superstar players start out as prospects dummy. Im also fully aware that prospects are hit and miss to a point. Im also aware, that with the right personel, you can find a superstar in the making that doesnt go in the first round. Its starts with drafting then becomes development. So you dont want to take a half hearted shot at theor payroll? If the Cardinals get exhausted of the rebuild, they could always just keep a few and buy the rest of the team
Sausageface, Smoke another one..
It’s at least worth mentioning that Ramon is a former Cardinal farmhand, claimed off waivers by the Orioles.
And a former Oriole prospect blocker. Now he can return to the Cards and block someone there in a rebuild. Hopefully not Wetherholt.
BR says he signed in 2018 out of Mexico. A deep dive for a good point to make in post for sure. Seems like forever ago!
Urias will start in left field. 😉
Vote of confidence for Gorman.
So many questions, so few answers. Certainly interesting, which should make Baseball in St. Louis different. In a couple of months, perhaps not so much fun but who knows? My call for the biggest surprise Prieto
Dude can hit!
So the Cardinals could still use an innings-eater starting pitcher, veteran bullpen depth, and a right-handed platoon outfielder, and they instead go with a right-handed utility infielder, when they already have two decent options for that role with Saggese and Fermin?
Well, whatever, at least they should finally figure out what they have with some of their young players this year.
I think they’ll be active on the waiver wire toward the end of spring training, especially with pitchers.
So more AAAA pitching that they already have clogging up half of their bullpen? Yippee! [/sarcasm]
Lanidrac, I do not think they are done quite yet..
they really should have signed Sugano. he’s ill fitted for Denver but would have been a good cost controlled lottery ticket in St Louis. someone has to fill the innings.
Remember Springfield ran away with the AA championship. That doesn’t happen unless there isn’t talent there.
Springfield was so good because the Cardinals did not promote its best players there to AAA
Well, except for their best player – JJ Wetherholdt.
???? Really? I mean they kept Bernal there for his age 21 season, but Crooks spent a good chunk of time in Memphis and you want to give both those guys starters reps. I’m not sure who you are referring to. Baez wasn’t promoted to AA till late May, so you would expect he would gain experience at that level as well. Wetherholt only played part of the season there and none of the post season.
Welp….that should do it. Pack it up Dodgers, there’s a new champ in town.
For that to happen, tightwad owner, Billionaire Bill DeWallet, would have to let the moths out of his fat wallet. That’s not happening.
I like it. Have been saying all offseason that Gorman cannot and will not play 3B because of his defense there.
I like Saggese and Fermin, but Fermin is a better fit at 2B than 3B and the Cards seem very inclined to give Saggese some OF time. It also seems Marmol didn’t want Bloom to add another RH OF bat based on his comments, so 3B might have been a middle ground to still add some stability to the mix without really blocking anyone else.
I think with no pressure from everyone that got traded, these guys should start hitting like we all know they should.
Wonder if the Orioles are having second thoughts on not resigning him with there injury problems in the infield
Finally – St. Louis’ big offseason move!
Sounds Urias becomes the new Brendan Donovan, the role many of use thought Saggese would assume. Sounds like the Cardinals will give Saggese every chance to convert into a mostly full-time outfielder.
Nope. Fermin, Saggese, Church, Prieto, Torres, and now Urias are all vying for three bench jobs.
Church will probably be the left-handed left-fielder until Noot returns. Fermin, Saggese, Urias, and maybe Prieto are vying to be the right-handed platoon partner to Church. It’s definitely not a full-time job.
(One of those guys will probably platoon with Gorman at third a bit too.)
Disappointed he didn’t return to the Orioles.
Anything so I don’t have to watch Gorman strike out every at bat.
He’s got to get that strikeout rate below 30% OR he’s going to have to hit more than 30 home runs.
Now the Cards have someone who can play Third base, instead of Gorman , who sucks.
Urias name came up in lots of these chats most of the winter for teams looking for infield help. Generally on the threads where other teams fans wanted Donovan for cheap cause “they could just sign Urias for cheap and have roughly the same player only right handed.” The right handed was something several fans seemed to prefer over Donovan for some reason. Either way I imagine Urias could have signed this contract for a bench role on a contender, but chose STL cause he wants to bust his butt and earn a starting spot. Hope he does, or at least makes Gorman and JJ earn it.