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Willson Contreras To Return To Catching Duties On Monday

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Willson Contreras will return to catching duties on Monday, per John Denton of MLB.com. He’ll catch Jack Flaherty’s start. The move comes almost a week after the team revealed they’d be using Contreras exclusively as a designated hitter.

“We felt really good about the progress that we’ve made and it lines up really well for him to catch on Monday with Jack (Flaherty) on the mound,” manager Oli Marmol told reporters (including Denton).

It marks the latest twist into what’s become quite the saga for the Cardinals and their major off-season recruit. Just a week ago it was reported that the team would rely on Andrew Knizner and Tres Barrera for catching duties, as they worked through issues the team described as a “lack of confidence”.

It hasn’t taken long for that to turn around, but questions will certainly be forthcoming over the team’s handling of this, and whether it needed to be played out as publicly as it was when all it took was Contreras skipping a week or so of catching duties – roughly one trip through the team’s rotation.

The Cardinals have won four of the five matches they’ve played since shifting Contreras off catching duties, but run prevention has remained an issue through those games, with the team giving up 21 runs through that period. At the time of Contreras’ demotion, the Cards ranked 24th in starting pitching ERA, and they’ve slipped back to 26th since.

For Contreras’ part, he struggled at the plate over the past week, hitting just .192/.250/.346, but it is of course impossible to know exactly how the team’s decision affected his performance at the plate. On the season, Contreras has continued to be a strong threat with the bat, and is hitting .263/.340/.406 with three home runs so far, good for a 109 wRC+.

It’s been a challenging season so far in St Louis, with the team sitting in last place in the National League with a 14-25 record. As noted, they have been a bit better over the past week but there’s still a long way to go for them to turn their season around.

MLB Trade Rumors Podcast: Willson Contreras Out At Catcher For Cardinals, Braves Rotation, Rays, Astros

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Episode 6 of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Simon Hampton is joined by Katie Woo of The Athletic to discuss:

  • The Cardinals’ decision to move Willson Contreras out of the catching position for the time being (3:16)
  • Nolan Arenado’s early-season struggles (8:22)
  • Will the Cardinals trade an outfielder to fill other needs? (9:49)
  • Jordan Montgomery, possible extension candidate? (12:06)

After Katie talked Cardinals with Simon, MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald comes on the podcast to dig into:

  • The Braves’ rotation in the wake of Max Fried’s forearm strain (15:56)
  • Why have the Rays been so good? (19:17)
  • The Astros’ sluggish start to the season (25:16)

Check out our past episodes!

Taylor Motter Accepts Outright Assignment

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Cardinals utilityman Taylor Motter has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Memphis, the club informed reporters (including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News Democrat). He remains in the organization without occupying a spot on the 40-man roster.

St. Louis had designated Motter for assignment last weekend. He cleared waivers on Monday but had the right to test free agency as a player who has gone unclaimed on outright waivers multiple times in his career. After some time to consider the decision, he’ll stick in the system and try to play his way back onto the big league roster.

Motter signed a minor league deal with St. Louis last offseason. He’s twice gotten onto the MLB roster but been DFA rather quickly both times. Over his two stints, he’s played in eight games and tallied a .200/.273/.300 batting line through 22 trips to the plate. That brings his career slash to .191/.263/.309 in 169 major league contests. The right-handed hitter is far more accomplished at the Triple-A level. He’s a .262/.352/.482 hitter in more than 2000 Triple-A plate appearances over parts of six seasons.

Among the reasons for Motter’s initial stint on the MLB roster was a season-opening injured list stay for Paul DeJong. The Cards reinstated DeJong a couple weeks ago and have seen their one-time starting shortstop get off to a scorching start in a utility role. Through 12 games, DeJong has already picked up three homers and sports a .350/.409/.650 line overall.

That’s miles better than the .182/.269/.352 slash DeJong had mustered from 2021-22. While it’s too early to draw firm conclusions, he’s obviously off to a much stronger start than anticipated, a particularly welcome development in the final guaranteed season of his contract.

The Upcoming Shortstop Class Looks Increasingly Bleak

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The top free agent storyline of each of the past two offseasons was the respective star-studded shortstop classes. In 2021-22, it was Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Trevor Story and Javier Báez. Last winter, Correa was back on the market again, joined by Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts and Dansby Swanson.

Next winter’s group was never going to rival that previous collection. The class in general is very light on star position player talent beyond Shohei Ohtani. It’s particularly barren up the middle of the diamond. It’s hard to imagine a more complete 180° turn than how things appear to be trending with the shortstop class, though. Virtually everyone involved is off to a very slow start.

The early-season performances from the impending free agents at the position:

Amed Rosario (28)*

While Rosario is not the superstar some evaluators had anticipated during his time in the Mets’ farm system, he’d been a solid regular for two seasons since landing in Cleveland in the Francisco Lindor blockbuster. Rosario’s solid batting averages helped offset his very low walk tallies. He hit 25+ doubles with double-digit homers in both 2021-22, playing on a near everyday basis. His cumulative .282/.316/.406 batting line was almost exactly league average. Public metrics were mixed on Rosario’s defense but the Guardians have been content to keep him at shortstop despite plenty of upper minors infield talent. Only 27 and without a ton of market competition, he entered the year in position for a strong three or four-year contract.

That could still be the case but Rosario is doing himself no favors with his early performance. He’s sitting on a .217/.262/.300 showing through his first 130 plate appearances. He has just one homer and is striking out at a 29.2% clip that’d easily be the worst full-season mark of his career if it holds. After making contact on 81.3% of his swings last season, he’s putting the bat on the ball only 71.5% of the time this year. He’s also committed six errors in 255 1/3 innings after being charged with just 12 in more than 1200 frames last year. Rosario is still the top impending free agent shortstop by default but he’s struggling in all areas right now.

Javier Báez (31), can opt out of final four years and $98MM on his contract

Báez is hitting .256/.318/.376 through his first 130 plate appearances. That’s an improvement over the lackluster .238/.278/.393 line he managed during his first season in Detroit. His 16.2% strikeout rate is the lowest of his career, pushing his overall offense near league average in spite of just three home runs in 32 games. Báez’s 2023 campaign has been fine but hardly overwhelming. It’s nowhere near what it’d take for him to beat the $98MM remaining on his existing contract. He’d need a torrid summer to put himself in position to test free agency.

Enrique Hernández (32)

Hernández has been pushed into primary shortstop duty by the Red Sox’ various injuries. The early reviews from public defensive metrics aren’t favorable, with Statcast putting him at seven outs below average in 199 innings. Hernández is off to an equally slow start at the plate. He’s hitting .236/.295/.362 over 139 plate appearances on the heels of a .222/.291/.338 showing last year. He’s been a valuable super-utility option and everyday center fielder at times in his career, including a 20-homer campaign in 2021. The past year-plus hasn’t been especially impressive, though, and Hernández has yet to demonstrate he’s capable of handling shortstop regularly from a defensive standpoint.

Brandon Crawford (37)

The career-long Giant had a tough April on both sides of the ball. He’s hitting .169/.244/.352 with a personal-high 28.2% strikeout rate in 21 games. His defensive marks through 173 2/3 innings are unanimously below-average. A right calf strain sent him to the injured list last week. Even if Crawford is willing to explore all opportunities next winter after 13 seasons in San Francisco, he’ll need much better production once he returns from the IL to find any interest as a starting shortstop.

Elvis Andrus (35)

Much of what applies to Crawford is also true for Andrus. He’s a 15-year MLB veteran with a couple All-Star appearances to his name but his offense has fallen off in recent seasons. Andrus was a well below-average hitter from 2018-21. He rebounded with a solid .249/.303/.404 showing last season but still didn’t generate much free agent attention. After settling for a $3MM deal with the White Sox, he’s hitting only .208/.291/.264 in 142 plate appearances this year. Andrus hit 17 homers last season but has just one through the first six weeks.

Nick Ahmed (34)

Another glove-first veteran, Ahmed is also off to a rough start at the plate. He carries a .227/.239/.318 line over 67 plate appearances. He’s hit only one home run and walked just once. Ahmed has always been a bottom-of-the-lineup defensive specialist, but his career .235/.289/.380 slash is much more tenable than the production he’s managed thus far in 2023. He lost almost all of last season to shoulder surgery.

Gio Urshela (32)

Urshela is hitting plenty of singles to start his time in Orange County. His .303 batting average is impressive but is paired with just a .325 on-base percentage and .345 slugging mark. He’s walking at a career-low 3.3% clip and has only three extra-base hits (two doubles and a homer) in 123 plate appearances.

More concerning for teams looking to the shortstop market is Urshela’s lack of experience at the position. He’s been a third baseman for the majority of his career. Since landing with the Angels, he’s assumed a multi-positional infield role that has given him eight-plus starts at shortstop and both corner infield spots. Even if he starts hitting for more power, he’s better deployed as a versatile infielder who can moonlight at shortstop than an everyday solution there.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa (28)

Kiner-Falefa lost his starting shortstop role with the Yankees towards the end of last season. He’s been kicked into a multi-positional capacity this year and hasn’t logged a single inning at the position in 2023. While Kiner-Falefa presumably could still handle shortstop if asked, he’s contributed nothing offensively in the early going. Through 72 plate appearances, he owns a .191/.225/.206 line.

Adalberto Mondesí (28)

Mondesí is young and has flashed tantalizing tools throughout his major league career. He’s also reached base at a meager .280 clip over 358 MLB games and battled various injuries. An April 2022 ACL tear cut that season short after just 15 games. The Red Sox nevertheless acquired him from the Royals over the offseason, but he’s yet to play a game with Boston. Mondesí opened the season on the 60-day injured list and won’t make his Sox debut until at least the end of this month. There’s a chance for him to play his way into some free agent interest. He’ll need an extended stretch of health and performance.

Players With Club Options

Both Tim Anderson and Paul DeJong can hit free agency if the White Sox and Cardinals decline respective 2024 club options. That seems likely in DeJong’s case but is reflective of the .196/.280/.351 line he managed between 2020-22. If he plays well enough to warrant significant free agent interest — he has been excellent in 11 games this season, to his credit — the Cardinals would exercise their $12.5MM option and keep him off the market anyhow.

The White Sox hold a $14MM option on Anderson’s services. That looks as if it’ll be a no-brainer for Chicago to keep him around (or exercise and make him available in trade). The only way Anderson gets to free agency is if his 2023 season is decimated by injury or an uncharacteristic performance drop-off, in which case he’d be a question mark as well.

Outlook

This was never going to be a great group. It’s comprised largely of glove-first veterans in their mid-30s. Players like Andrus, Ahmed, Crawford and José Iglesias — who’ll also hit free agency and has bounced around on minor league deals thus far in 2023 — don’t tend to be priority targets. That opened the door for the likes of Rosario, Báez and a potentially healthy Mondesí — younger players who have shown some offensive upside — to separate themselves from the pack in a way they wouldn’t have the last couple winters. No one has seized the mantle to this point. While there are still more than four months for someone to emerge, the early returns on the shortstop class aren’t promising.

*age for the 2024 season

Cardinals Outright Taylor Motter

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Cardinals utilityman Taylor Motter has been sent outright to Triple-A Memphis, according to the transaction tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment on Saturday.

Motter has had a rather eventful time in the St. Louis organization since signing a minor league contract last November. He broke camp out of Spring Training, securing a season-opening bench spot with Paul DeJong on the injured list. When DeJong was reinstated three weeks into the year, Motter was DFA. He cleared waivers and was outrighted to Memphis, but the Cards apparently didn’t want to risk losing him to minor league free agency. St. Louis re-signed him to a major league deal within hours of the outright, optioning top prospect Jordan Walker to create roster space.

That second stint on the MLB roster proved briefer than the first. Motter lost his spot again within two weeks as the Cards added a third catcher to push Willson Contreras to designated hitter over the weekend. The right-handed hitting Motter has played in just eight games for St. Louis overall. He’s managed a .200/.273/.300 line in 22 trips to the plate. Motter has played for seven big league clubs in parts of six seasons. The 33-year-old sports a .191/.263/.309 slash in 169 MLB contests.

As was the case last time around, Motter will now decide whether to report to Memphis. He’s been outrighted multiple times in his career and thus has the ability to test the open market each time he clears waivers. A career .262/.352/.482 hitter in Triple-A, Motter would certainly be able to find minor league interest elsewhere were he to look to free agency.

Cardinals To Shift Willson Contreras Off Catcher

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TODAY: St. Louis president of baseball operations John Mozeliak specified that Contreras will be a designated hitter rather than an outfielder “unless there’s some sort of emergency,” Katie Woo and Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic report. Mozeliak also shed some more light on the decision to make the position change, saying that “obviously the Cardinals were used to [Molina] behind the plate for close to two decades. The nuances of that position, maybe very subtle, are what a lot of our pitchers were used to. What we were seeing was a lack of confidence.

“Normally, you would say, why didn’t you address this in Spring Training? But in Spring Training, it’s so different in terms of what people are trying to work on. Pitchers are going a couple of innings. It doesn’t really count….We just decided to do it head on, put it out there. Do we think we’ve seen Willson catch his last game? No. But this is going to take a little time to get him to where we feel he understands the expectations of what this role is for us.”

Like manager Oliver Marmol said yesterday, Mozeliak reiterated that Contreras wasn’t being singled out as a cause of the team’s struggles. “What I don’t want to have happen is a finger-point, this is all Willson’s fault. It’s not. There are many parts of our team right now that are not performing to what we expected,” Mozeliak said.

MAY 6: On the face of it, the Cardinals’ decision to call up minor league catcher Tres Barrera didn’t seem like the sort of deal to make headlines around baseball, but the ramifications of it are significant. It’s not so much the call up of Barrera, but the fact his arrival means St Louis will shift Willson Contreras off catcher for the “next couple of weeks”, as Katie Woo of The Athletic reports, with Andrew Knizner to take over as the primary backstop.

It’s a huge move to shift your star off-season recruit off his primary position just a month into his first season, but the Cards clearly feel this is the best move to help them turn around their 10-23 start to the season. Contreras, signed to a five-year, $87.5MM deal in the winter, will now serve as a DH/outfielder for the team, further muddying an already crowded outfield picture in St Louis.

At the plate, Contreras has been his usual self, slashing .280/.361/.421 with a pair of home runs, good for a wRC+ of 119. That’s a slight drop on his numbers from last year but pretty much in line with his career numbers. His offensive work was never likely to be the source of any concern though, with the focus here surely on his work behind the plate.

Catchers are a challenging position to assess statistically, but there’s generally been some question marks over Contreras’ work behind the plate. Concerns over his ability to handle a pitching staff and call a game surfaced around the trade deadline last year when he was with the Cubs, and Chicago wound up holding him onto him until he hit free agency at the end of the season. That’s obviously a tricky concern to really quantify, but it’s certainly worth considering in the wake of this news.

Fangraphs gives him a -1 mark on their framing metric, while Statcast has him about middle of the pack in that regard. As far as pop time goes Contreras ranks tenth out of MLB catchers, and has cut down five of a potential 17 stolen bases so far this season. While he doesn’t rank as elite in either regard, it’s not awful either and certainly suggests that there’s more than just catching statistics that are driving this move. While there will surely be some explanation of this move from the Cardinals front office, there’s a good chance their pitching staff’s start to the season played a part here.

St Louis ranks 24th in the majors in starting pitcher ERA, a ranking that could be a lot lower were it not for the excellent start made by Jordan Montgomery. Behind the left-hander, Steven Matz, Miles Mikolas and Jack Flaherty are all sporting ERAs well north of 5. While the reporting suggests this move is only for the next couple of weeks, it’ll be interesting to see if Contreras can force his way back into handling catching duties or whether this the long term move.

For now though, it creates even more uncertainty in the Cardinals outfield picture. In today’s game, the team ran out Lars Nootbar, Dylan Carlson and Alec Burleson in the outfield, with Contreras handling DH, and that seems like the most common group we’ll see over the next few weeks. Yet the team will welcome back Tyler O’Neill at some stage, and still has top outfield prospect Jordan Walker at Triple-A, while Contreras is expected to feature in the outfield mix as well.

It’s possible Contreras winds up working his way back into the catching picture at some point, but the Cardinals were often speculated as a team that could look to trade an outfielder before this move today, and with another key bat now in that mix a trade certainly seems like a possibility at some point over the summer.

Cardinals Activate Adam Wainwright, Select Tres Barrera, DFA Taylor Motter

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The Cardinals announced a series of roster moves prior to today’s clash with the Tigers, activating veteran Adam Wainwright from the 15-day IL and selecting the contract of catcher Tres Barrera. Guillermo Zuniga was optioned to Triple-A while infielder Taylor Motter was designated for assignment. Wainwright will start today’s match.

The return of Wainwright is a big boost to a Cardinals rotation that – outside of Jordan Montgomery – has struggled mightily to start the season. Cardinals starters rank 24th in the majors with a 5.39 ERA, with Montgomery’s 3.29 mark holding things together while Steven Matz, Miles Mikolas and Jack Flaherty have all disappointed.

The 41-year-old Wainwright will make his first start of what will be his final big league season. Despite his age, Wainwright has been a reliable starter for the Cardinals in recent years, making 64 starts in the past two seasons and working to a 3.37 ERA. His return should help as the Cardinals try to stabilize their rotation, and get back into the race for the NL Central after a disappointing 10-23 start.

The selection of Barrera is also a noteworthy one, as it sees the Cardinals shift major off-season recruit Willson Contreras off catching duties. St Louis will now primarily work with Andrew Knizner at backstop with Barrera backing him up, while Contreras will almost exclusively see time at DH and in the outfield, manager Oli Marmol told reporters (including Derrick Goold of the St Louis Post-Dispatch).

The presence of Contreras in the outfield and DH will further crowd the Cardinals’ picture there, with Tyler O’Neill, Lars Nootbar, Dylan Carlson and the recently optioned Jordan Walker all factors in play. Contreras has hit at usual above average clip, posting a .280/.361/.421 line with a pair of home runs but his framing numbers are below average and with the Cards’ rotation struggling it appears they’ve moved to shake things up a bit.

Barrera joined the Cardinals on a minor league deal this winter after spending the entirety of his career in the Nationals organization. He has exactly one year of service time over three big league seasons, putting together a .231/.317/.315 line with two home runs in that time. He’ll now presumably serve as Knizner’s backup with the big league club.

Motter also joined the Cardinals this year to a work as a utility option off the bench. He’d put together a .200/.273/.300 line in just 22 plate appearances, striking out in more than 36% of his plate appearances. In his brief stint with the Cardinals he logged time at second and third, but he’s also seen time at short and in the outfield for other teams throughout his career. While the offensive numbers don’t inspire much confidence, it’s possible another team sees value in Motter’s ability to bounce round the diamond and places a claim on the 33-year-old.

Zuniga, 24, made his big league debut for the Cards this season, pitching just a solitary inning out of the bullpen, striking out a couple of batters and keeping things scoreless. He’ll head back to Triple-A and continue to provide the team with relief pitching depth there, where he has a 5.40 ERA in 8 1/3 innings this season.

Cardinals Place Tyler O’Neill On IL, Select James Naile

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The Cardinals announced a series of roster moves today, selecting right-hander James Naile and recalling first baseman/outfielder Juan Yepez from Triple-A Memphis. In corresponding moves, outfielder Tyler O’Neill was placed on the 10-day injured list with a lower back strain while right-hander Jake Woodford was placed on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation. To open a spot on the 40-man for Naile, righty Wilking Rodríguez was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

O’Neill, 28 in June, has a tremendous ceiling but has been held back by injuries in recent years. In 2021, he launched 34 home runs and hit .286/.352/.560 overall for a 144 wRC+. He also stole 15 bases and got good grades for his glovework, leading to a tally of 5.6 wins above replacement from FanGraphs. But last year, he made multiple trips to the IL and only got into 96 games, playing with diminished production when on the field. This year, he’s hitting just .228/.283/.337 while striking out in 34.3% of his trips to the plate.

The Cardinals have been dealing with a crowded outfield mix this year, as young players like Alec Burleson and Jordan Walker made the club out of camp, joining O’Neill, Dylan Carlson and Lars Nootbaar, though the latter missed some time on the injured list. It was hard enough to divvy up the playing time that the Cards optioned Walker to the minors to get more regular at-bats in the minors. Now that O’Neill isn’t in the mix, that should make things simpler, though Yepez has been recalled instead of Walker today.

As for Naile, 30, this will be his second stint on the roster, having been selected in June of last year. He spent the rest of the year getting frequently optioned and recalled, posting an ERA of 5.00 in the majors over nine scattered appearances. He was designated for assignment in February but cleared waivers and stayed in the organization. He has an ERA of 2.50 through 18 Triple-A innings so far this year. The club used a lot of their lower leverage pitchers yesterday when starter Jack Flaherty lasted only 2 1/3 innings, so bringing up Naile will give the club a fresh arm to call upon. He still has a couple of options and can be sent back down to the minors when needed.

Rodríguez, 33, was selected from the Yankees in the Rule 5 draft but had a shoulder injury pop up in the spring. He underwent surgery earlier this week and is expected to miss the next four to six months, making this move an expected formality.

MLB Trade Rumors Podcast: White Sox Struggles, Red Sox Options, Managers On The Hot Seat

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Episode 5 of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Simon Hampton is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss:

  • The state of the White Sox, and why they find themselves in a deep hole in the AL Central after one month of the season (3:20)
  • If they opt to sell at the deadline, who could they look to move and who might be off limits? (8:10)
  • Whether the Cardinals could look to trade Tommy Edman as Masyn Winn nears the big leagues (18:35)
  • Options for the Red Sox to improve their roster over the next few months (21:54)
  • Plus, are there any managers on the hot seat at this early stage of the season? (25:41)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Cardinals’ Rule 5 Pick Wilking Rodriguez Undergoes Shoulder Surgery

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Cardinals righty Wilking Rodriguez, whom they selected from the Yankees in the 2022 Rule 5 Draft, underwent arthroscopic shoulder surgery today and will miss the next four to six months, manager Oli Marmol announced to reporters (Twitter link via Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat).

The surgery likely ends Rodriguez’s season. He’ll spend the entire season on the Cardinals’ big league injured list, which won’t wipe away his Rule 5 status. The Cards will have the right to keep Rodriguez if they’re comfortable carrying him on the 40-man roster all offseason and putting him on the Opening Day roster in 2024. He’d still need 90 days on the active roster next season before he’d shed his Rule 5 designation and be eligible to be optioned to the minors.

Rodriguez, 33, is a rather remarkable story. Eight years have elapsed since his last season of affiliated ball, and it’s been nine years since his lone MLB stint with the Royals. He’s been a regular in the Venezuelan Winter League and, more recently, in the Mexican League, where he’s been particularly impressive of late. From 2021-22, Rodriguez tossed 73 innings of 2.71 ERA ball, including a 2.01 ERA and 43.2% strikeout rate in 44 2/3 frames last year.

The Yankees saw that production and signed Rodriguez to a minor league deal back in August. However, Rodriguez had so much minor league service from with the Rays, Reds, Royals and Yanks themselves from 2007-15, that he was eligible for selection when the Rule 5 Draft rolled around. The Cardinals selected him, hoping to plug Rodriguez’s power arm into the bullpen. Things won’t play out that way, and only time will tell whether the Cardinals want to carry the experiment over into the 2024 campaign. For now, Rodriguez will accrue MLB service time and pay so long as he’s on the Cardinals’ Major League disabled list.

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