The Cardinals announced Monday that they’ve claimed left-hander Packy Naughton off waivers from the Angels. The Cards had one open spot on the 40-man roster, which is now full.
A ninth-round pick by the Reds back in 2017, Naughton was traded to the Halos in the Aug. 2020 trade that shipped outfielder Brian Goodwin to Cincinnati. Naughton made his big league debut in Anaheim last season and wound up pitching 22 2/3 innings with an unsightly 6.35 ERA and more walks (14) than strikeouts (12).
That said, the 25-year-old has a solid minor league track record, having compiled 431 2/3 innings of 3.77 ERA ball with a 21.2% strikeout rate, a 5.7% walk rate and 42.1% grounder rate. Naughton ranked in the middle tiers of both the Angels and Reds farm systems over the years, per Baseball America, who noted that despite lacking a power arsenal Naughton possessed the durability and feel for pitching to profile as a back-end starter.
Indeed, made 28 starts in both 2018 and in 2019, pitching to solid ERAs (4.03 in Class-A and 3.32 between Class-A Advanced and Double-A) with low walk rates and below-average strikeout numbers. For a Cardinals team that’s largely built around an elite defense, he’s a sensible depth pickup. That depth is all the more crucial right now with ace Jack Flaherty and fellow righty Alex Reyes both expected to begin the season on the injured list. Naughton isn’t any kind of favorite to open the year in the Cardinals’ rotation, but he’s a 25-year-old with a pair of option years remaining, so he gives the Cards some nice flexibility.
Tacoshells
Patrick Naughty
Francys01
Welcome to the Cardinals organization.
Tacoshells
Hahaha
StlSwifty
Cmon cards what are we doing? You can’t replace guys like flaherty and Reyes with waiver claims like this. Step it up.
Four4fore
They will try to pass him or someone else through waivers if they find someone to fill a hole. That way he’s in their organization.
17dizzy
Good Job John Mozeliak!!!! This move should strike fear in the hearts to all of the Cardinals opposing teams!!!!
jonsteele
PACKY DERM!
baseballpun
He had all these pizzas…
Codeeg
This dude sounds like he should be a 1930s player
User 4245925809
Agreed. An all time name. Not some crazy, who knows how someone could come up with it, much less spell it name we see nowdays, but classic sounding one 1st and last.
JerryBird
The Mad Naughtarian?
Tacoshells
Packinaughty
Kruk it
Naughton from Naughton leaves Naughton
playhard9
Yay that means no more room for an Albert “Winnie the” Pujols reunion! Maybe one at bat in September to retire as a Cardinal. Will let the young kids get more at bats.
Ted
MLB All-Name Team 2022 nominee…
nukeg
Richard Lovelady and Brooks Pounders have already been named Captains of the squad.
mlb1225
Can’t forget about Lars Nootbaar.
Kruk it
John Wockenfuss and Mark Lemongello
WAR Pig
Naughton by Nootbar
Monkey’s Uncle
The name of my next band right there.
stubby66
Has anyone heard of what the rosters will be as far as how many guys you get to carry. I say set it at 28 the whole year and leave it there . Then September go up to 30 . You know it’s the profession that has the most games yet the rosters really aren’t big enough for the whole season. Go 14 and 14 as far pitchers and position players. Then doubleheaders you add one player for that day. Plus it’s time to possibly go 45 man roster too.
Holy Cow!
Why so serious? This is all about Packy Naughton!
sean-11
80 grade name. Should be in Boston
RoastGobot
You can’t just say packy
californiaangels
Could be a real sneaky steal here. Kinda bummed Angels let him go
Halo11Fan
The Angels have far too many utility infielders on their 40-man roster.
No Shortstop, Not a lot of starting pitching depth, but a plethora of utility infielders
When you manage your 40-man roster poorly, which the Angels have done in back to back years, you lose players like him.
He probably will not be useful, but he has a chance.
HalosHeavenJJ
Exactly. We know we have too many utility infielders but not enough pitching.
So we let go of a pitcher to make room on the 40 man roster.
Brilliant!
The good news is that other teams will likely be passing guys like Packy through waivers once the regular season is close. Hopefully we snag a couple.
orange2001
Kyle Tyler is another that I fear losing. Meanwhile we still have AJ Ramos (I know he’s not on the 40-man roster, but still, something wrong when we lose Naughton and likely Tyler yet AJ Ramos will remain in the organization).
Halo11Fan
I just noticed the news about Tyler. Rotten roster construction.
Angels & NL West
The Angels add Tepera and Bradley and someone has the audacity to whine about losing Packy Naughton? Come on guys, let’s have some perspective.
As for SP that should get starts ahead of Packy, here’s my top ten – Ohtani, Thor, Sandoval, Suarez, Lorenzen, Canning, Detmers, Barria, Bachman and Bush.
Everyone must be happy with the bullpen if we have moved on to complaining about roster construction and releasing Packy. I guess that’s a good thing…
Plugnplay
Totally agree Angels & NL West. Packy was well down the List on the depth chart to start. It also makes sense, and I understand the reasoning. If there not going to sign a premium SS, you need to keep and look at all the middle infielders you can, and hope one stands out and runs away with the job.
MrAngelFan
I don’t see Packy’s upside. If I had to choose to DFA between the bottom 3 of the roster, between Junk, Pena, and Naughton. I would release Naughton as well.
I am not excited about the prospects of having Valazquez be our starting SS..
I am good however with Wade taking over the Phil Gosselin role from last year and playing wherever need be.
MrAngelFan
Sorry I meant Diaz, not Pena.
bkbk
Bah, I think this bites the angels. Hes gonna be a bullpen arm for a long time.
Holy Cow!
The Cards are about four days late on this one.
Jackalopal
Naughton my watch.
mrmackey
They had one last roster spot to pack Packy in to.
Camden453
I’m sorry but Packy Naughton is not a winning name. Personnel should be chosen based somewhat on the name
Names are given to us by the gods. A good name means the gods will look down well on the person
Nolan Arenado. That’s a good name. But Packy Naughton? Paul Dejong? Lars Nootbar?
And don’t even get me started on John Nogowski
Monkey’s Uncle
I wish these guys had been infielders on the same team, so we could have a double play of Naughton to Nootbaar to Nogowski.
prov356
The gods?
Riontyler
Guess its better than Naughton…. I’ll see myself out.
Monkey’s Uncle
Pack it up, pack it in, Packy Naugh-ton…
Classicfinder
Naughton!!!
Rsox
Terrible name for a ballplayer. Great name for a Cockney pickpocket in 1800’s England
A'sfaninLondonUK
@Rsox
Agreed – finally a Dickensian twist…
Sincerely yours
Tipsy O’Flanaghan – Turf Accountant
Dave M707
Another dumpster dive… so disappointing no discussion of Montas or Mannea, those would be upgrades!
swanhenge
Naughton. I’ve been watching you. And I know you been watching me.
Monkey’s Uncle
+100 for the Eddie Murphy reference, I just did a spit take.
msqboxer
The Angels waived him…enough said in regards to talent.
Garywally57
He’s cheap. Bill DeWallet’s kind of player. The poor man is only worth 4 billion. Over 3 million Cardinal fans will pay see this kind of player.
mrperkins
I’ll trust the judgement of the guy who got Happ, LeBlanc, Luis Garcia, Tj McFarlane, and Jon Lester off the scrap heap last year and got valuable contribution out of them over your 2 cent talent evaluation. Might just take Mo to the swap meet this weekend.
Cardinal1966
Message to DeWitt…a fan of 55 years. This move reaffirms the Cards are not about winning but saving money.
3/5 of the starting pitchers have “chronic” medical issues (Mikolas, Hudson and Flaherty). The 4th pitcher is 40 years old.
The bull pen is poor (closer?) chaotic.
Cardinal nation expects and deserves better leadership effort; this blueprint to build a complete team has not been successful under Mozalik’s management (poor trades, poor contracts and unable to evaluate talent).
Bottom line… sell… the Cardinals to an owner who wants to win the World Series, not simply a wild card berth.
Joe It All
I grew up with a Patrick who went by Packy. Never thought I’d hear of another especially a professional athlete.
CardsNation5
Damn my team stay dumpster diving. Bill DeWitt ought to be ashamed of himself. People blame Mozeliak, but Bill is the one who signs the checks.
17dizzy
0-4 Over a 6.00 ERA. YELP!! That’s the Cardinals idea of Building Up Better!!
Wow! The starting pitching staff is 3 pulled muscles or strained ligaments away from being wiped out!!!! This is their solution!!!