The Cardinals announced that right-hander Blake Parker has been signed to a minor league contract. Parker will receive an invitation to the Cards’ Major League spring camp.
This will mark the third straight winter with a minor league deal for Parker, though he has produced good bottom-line results in each of the last two seasons. With the Phillies in 2020, Parker had a 2.81 ERA in 16 innings during the abbreviated season, posting a 36.2% strikeout rate but also an unwieldy 13% walk rate. Both of those latter numbers dropped with Cleveland last year, as while Parker’s control improved with a 7.6% walk rate, he only managed a 20% strikeout rate. Still, Parker did have a 3.09 ERA over 43 2/3 frames out of the Indians’ bullpen.
With a 3.47 ERA over 345 1/3 career innings in the majors, Parker has been a solid relief option for the majority of his nine big league seasons. He struggled through a rough year in 2019, however, as a lack of control and an inability to keep the ball in the park led to some poor results with the Twins (after beginning the season as Minnesota’s closer) and Phillies.
The 36-year-old Parker will now look to again win himself another trip to the majors via the St. Louis bullpen. Zach McAllister and Kyle Ryan are two of the other experienced non-roster candidates vying for jobs, and the Cardinals also brought the likes of Drew VerHagen and Nick Wittgren into the fold on MLB contracts. Aaron Brooks was another minor league signing, but the Cards have already locked him into a guaranteed by adding him to their 40-man roster.
All in all, there are plenty of arms competing for jobs on a staff that is still adjusting to the news that Jack Flaherty and Alex Reyes will begin the season on the injured list. Reyes is out until at least late May and Flaherty’s timetable is less certain, thus creating ripple effects in both the rotation and the bullpen.
Surprised the Angels didnt take a chance on him if all he got was a minors contract. He even had success with them
Years ago. He’s done.
He’s had an above average ERA+ for the last 5 years. There’s still life in that arm.
He’s not what he used to be, but a minor league deal for a veteran reliever coming off a near 1 WAR season is a solid depth move. Can’t have enough arms.
YES I LOVE THIS MAN
My MLB The Show Franchise Setup man
Huh.
So it looks like he was better for other teams than he was the Yankees. & even for us he was okayish. More or less.
36 years old & he’s made a little over four million bucks. Certainly done alright, but he’s not necessarily on the road to riches or whatever.
Considering all of those teams and years that salary chart is definitely incomplete.
Another cheap and low hanging fruit option signing by John Mozeliak, with the approval of multi billionaire owner, Bill DeWallet.
And your point is?
You do realize owners are generally not involved in day to day operations, including minor league roster additions. Owner and GM sets a plan and budget in offseason, then GM executes against the plan. But, if you want to continue to use colorful adjectives to paint a false narrative for other people of lesser intelligence to follow, repeat, etc., then feel free.
Fake Cardinal fan troll. People complain about every single move the Cardinals make. Its funny though. After totally lambasting Mozeliak for trading for AJ Happ, Jon Lester, and signing LeBlanc, Luis Garcia, and TJ McFarlane off the scrap heap last year and then watching them play a major role in getting to the playoffs, I haven’t seen any letup in the whining.
gary has some good points thou, for years now mo has been picking low hanging fruit and it’s getting tiresome. i.e. going into this season we had big question marks with pitching and ss and did nothing to address either one, yes we got matz which imo was a good move but we needed more than a mid rotation arm and going with dejong at ss. i like dejong but at this point we know who he is and he is not an everyday ss. what frustrates me about mo is that we can afford a big ticket fa and not effect the cards bottom line because bally sports pays the players salaries. where i disagree with gary is i don’t think the dewitts are cheap, they did sign off on nolan and goldy’s deals, i believe that the dewitts want to spend wisely on big ticket items and not do what the mets are doing and throwing around stupid money around and have an above avg team and no payroll flexibility and dead contracts that can’t be moved. also the moves to get happ, lester, leblanc, ect. where head scratcheing moves that panned out but at the same time where more low hanging fruit moves. imo i think it’s time for mo to go and get a new voice in the pbo position, not saying mo is a bad pbo just that his cheapness and message has gotten stale over the years.
No. He doesnt. He is a parrot repeating tired, old, incorrect statements. Nothing else.
@downvoter can you please elaborate on these incorrect statements, because the majority of mo’s moves have been low hanging fruit type of moves. i.e. all the players you mentioned in mrperkins post were just that yes they panned out i’ll give you that but it wasn’t like other teams were beating down the door to get them either. would you be saying the same thing if all the players mrperkins mentioned we acquired fell flat on there face and were horrible especially down the stretch?
It’s dam if you don’t, dam if you do kinda thing though…yes Mo is trying to find a diamond in the rough kinda thing and hoping it works out…going with quantity over quality really…but everyone would also criticize him for signing a big free agent and it blowing up in his face…this is especially true with bullpen arms, which are very volatile….I kinda agree with the quantity over quality when it comes to bullpen arms and hoping they can have a great year rather than signing a big FA to a long term contract and he has one good year and the rest are bad…just my opinion
@cards81 i agree with you guys on bullpen guys a lot of them are usually in there late 20’s to early 30’s and been abused like a $500 beater car. the thing that has been upsetting with mo (at least for me) when it comes to the rotation and the lineup a lot of times it feels like he has to prove he is the smartest guy in the room. going into this season we needed sp help and a ss and all he did was get one quality sp and that was it, matz was a solid pickup but we needed another quality sp other than matz. also when it comes to ss dejong is who he is he is above avg fielder with a bellow avg bat, i would accept him a ss if he either played gg d or mashed but he isn’t either of them and i don’t have enough trust in sosa in just a half a season of everyday playing time. imo i feel like mo has become like Icarus and has also gotten complacent, it feels like if he just builds a team good enough to make the playoffs it’s good enough kinda like the blues were before the stillmans bought the team.
The Cardinals have had a lot more success from relievers in the bargain bin rather than the rack. Got burned badly by Cecil, Miller, and Holland recently. You never know with relievers. One bad outing can make the whole years stats skewed.
Garywally57- Why do you bother complaining on a minor league deal for a guy who could be useful? I bet you were bitching about the Cards signing Happ and Lester last year too.
@putmeincoach he is just making a point mo has been shopping in the bargain bin hoping for a ws winner and it’s not working and getting old. also mrperkins makes a point that paying high dollar for relievers is fools gold but my point is that mo has been doing low hanging fruit for the whole roster and i’m just saying there are some spots in the roster you just need to pony up and get if that player can get you over the hump even if a few years later the deal looks bad.
Felt the Phillies should have signed him to a 2yr deal in the 3-4 million (total) range after 2020……
Low risk commitment and he’s been a consistent low-mid leverage performer his whole career. Given what they trotted out there in 2021 combined with a somewhat refusal to use the minor leaguers….He could have provided some steady innings.
Cardinals are 12th in team salary I believe sitting around $145M. They are about $15M below the team above them Toronto. I’m hoping that gap gets closed by acquiring someone.
Why not. Veteran with good stuff. Cheap. Probably a 1 and done season signing. Don’t be surprised with what he can do out of the bullpen. Great set up man.
If I hear the term “low hanging fruit” one more time, I’m leaving this site