The Rays and Cardinals got together on a swap this afternoon that sent outfielder Richie Palacios to Tampa and right-hander Andrew Kittredge to St. Louis. Joel Sherman of The New York Post first reported that the sides were in talks regarding the two players, while The Athletic’s Katie Woo first reported that the deal between the two sides was complete.
Kittredge, 34 in March, was a 45th-round pick by the Mariners back in 2008 but didn’t make his big league debut until 2017 as a member of the Rays. After riding the shuttle between Triple-A and the majors in the first two seasons of his career, Kittredge earned a more permanent role with the club in 2019, when he pitched to a 4.17 ERA and 3.56 FIP in 49 2/3 innings of work across 37 appearances. Kittredge was relied upon for both single-inning and multi-inning relief appearances while acting as both an opener and a late-inning arm for the club throughout the season. Kittredge went on to impress early in the shortened 2020 campaign with a 2.25 ERA, but saw his season limited to just eight appearances by a UCL sprain.
Kittredge elected free agency following the 2020 season but re-signed with the Rays on a minor league deal shortly thereafter and wound up turning in a dominant 2021 season. Kittredge pitched 71 2/3 across 57 appearances and kept his ERA at a sparkling 1.88 figure during the time. He struck out 27.3% of batters faced while walking just 5.3% and maintaining a strong 53.5% groundball rate. Kittredge’s ERA was third in the majors behind only Jacob deGrom and Ranger Suarez among pitchers with at least 70 innings of work that season, easily earning him the first All Star appearance of his career.
Unfortunately for both the Rays and Kittredge, much of his time has been spent on the injured list since that phenomenal 2021 campaign. He dealt with back tightness early in the 2022 campaign before undergoing Tommy John surgery that June and didn’t return to the majors until mid-August. In 31 appearances between the 2022 and ’23 campaigns, Kittredge performed solidly despite the circumstances with a 3.13 ERA and 4.18 FIP in 31 2/3 innings of work. With that being said, some of the veteran righty’s peripherals took a turn for the worse during that time. The righty’s groundball rate dipped to just 42.7% during that time while his strikeout rate sank to 19.2%.
Even so, the addition of Kittredge offers the Cardinals a veteran arm with late inning experience to supplement the back of their bullpen, which currently features Giovanny Gallegos, Ryan Helsley, and JoJo Romero. Gallegos suffered a down season in 2023 while Helsley and Romero combined for just 73 1/3 innings of work, leaving plenty of uncertainty surrounding the group headed into 2024. While Kittredge has some question marks himself, he provides another quality arm with a track record of success in the majors: since he became a regular fixture in the Tampa bullpen back in 2019, Kittredge owns a 2.85 ERA and 3.43 FIP across 161 innings of work. For a Cardinals club that had made bullpen upgrades and explicit goal this offseason, adding Kittredge could go a long way to achieving that objective.
In exchange for Kittredge’s services, the Cardinals are giving up Palacios. The club acquired the 26-year-old outfielder from the Guardians in a cash deal back in June and the youngster took off in 32 games with St. Louis, slashing .258/.307/.516 in 102 trips to the plate in the majors while posting a .299/.418/.459 slash line in 195 Triple-A plate appearances with the organization. The offensive outburst from Palacios was relatively unexpected, as he had struggled to a .232/.293/.286 slash line with the Guardians in 2022 and mustered just a .217/.351/.318 line in 56 Triple-A games prior to the trade.
Clearly, the Rays are betting that Palacios unlocked a new level during his time in St. Louis. If he can hit at an above-average clip in the majors, the lefty-swinging youngster could provide the Rays with an outfield bat to fill the void left by Luke Raley, who the club swapped to Seattle earlier today. It’s even possible he could chip in at second base, where he has spent 920 1/3 innings in the minors (though he’s only made three appearances there at the big league level), alongside Brandon Lowe.
Tantalizing as the upside Palacios flashed last season was, however, it seems unlikely he would’ve been able to garner more than a bench role in St. Louis due to the club’s deep outfield mix and the presence of both Brendan Donovan and Nolan Gorman at the keystone. The lack of a clear role for Palacios in St. Louis and Kittredge’s lack of additional team control beyond 2024 make this swap a relatively low-cost gamble for both sides that could pay significant dividends in 2024 (and, in the case of the Rays and Palacios, beyond).
Rays are busy today!
Arozarena for Liberatore, the sequel?
@MannyBeingMVP
That’s exactly what I was thinking when I saw this!
Could be worse, at least with Liberatore they got a top prospect with control. Kitterage is a 34 year old relief pitcher in the last year of arbitration.
This is the only way Libby and control can be used in the same sentence.
@Jason
Haha that’s pretty good man
Scary thought!
Manny Being MVP likes a good marauder.
Not this one. That trade still stings but this will be one of those unremarkable trades that does fill needed gaps for both clubs. Cardinals needed quality bullpen options and when healthy he’s been just that. Again unremarkable but solid holes filled for both
Unremarkable? Before he got hurt the dude was the NUMBER ONE pitcher in baseball at inducing swing and miss out of the zone. This was a steal if he’s healthy. If not it costs almost nothing.
My first thought as well. Surprised the Cards would even risk looking that foolish twice.
Yep. Trying to create a diversion from the Wander drama, with trades that make no sense.
Explain how this makes no sense.
I hope Kitterage doesn’t walk as many batters as Gallegos does when the heat is on!!!
That would definitely be an upgrade over Walks turning into blown saves and blown Holds as Gallegos produced in 2023.
(The Cardinals still haven’t corrected their most massive problem!!! The Cardinals need a true Manager!! Not Oli Marmol).
That was a reach wasn’t it?
Stove is hot!
Kitteridge is an excellent pickup for the Cards without giving up a top prospect.
How so? 31 IP over last 2 years and a FA at EOY. They hVe up a guy under control through 2030 and could have been a solid backup OF and potential extra CF option.
Yeah. Hard to get excited about this move. Ray’s win again. Gave up an aging pitcher who looks like he will never be the same, if he can pitch at all for a guy who I was expecting to move ahead of Carlson as a lefty fourth outfielder. With all the relievers either already signed or still out there, it amazes me to think this is the best they could do. Hugely disappointing.
Yeah, and Kittredge is now healthy again after that TJS.
It’s easily worth getting him even for just one year, since the Cardinals don’t actually need another backup OF or CF option, especially with Scott coming up within the next couple of years.
They can’t keep depleting the CF depth. If Tommy has complications from his wrist surgery or has to play SS because Winn needs more time in the minors, they are in trouble.
This trade makes no sense. Palacios might have played way over his head last season, but he still had something to offer.
Healthy? Effective? Says who? The Rays? Pretty sure the sentence, “34-year-old in the last year of arbitration”, should tell you all you need to know.
kremer —
Richie Palacios is not a top prospect, not even a middling one, and his stats underline that. However, the Cardinals in need of plenty of pitching get a guy who gets outs. He’s 33 (so?) and in 7 MLB seasons he’s only had one bad year.
Um, that’s why they have Carlson, duh!
Even beyond him, Nootbaar plays a decent CF.
I think they’re counting on Victor Scott II either to start the season or on an early call up. Think Vince Coleman like impact.
Scott won’t be ready until mid-season at the earliest.
This is not to say that the Rays are always correct but for contrast none of the following three players were top 100 prospects in MLB or even top 10 prospects for the team they were acquired from when the Rays made a trade.for them:
1. Willy Adames
2. Randy Arozarena
3. Isaac Paredes
Now, I am not suggesting that your eyeballs are wrong or that your assessment of his underlying stats are incorrect.
What I am suggesting, is that I will continue to rely on the Tampa Bay Rays front office whose success rate in trades is well over 50%.
Yes, the Rays have a great scouting staff. Maybe the best in baseball.
Scott is far better than Palacios if he started tomorrow. This fabrication that Palacios is a future star like Arozarena contradicts reality.
Two things.
First, I am not saying that Palacios will be a star.
My first point was that none of:
1. Arozarena
2. Paredes
or.
3.. Adames
were expected to be above average baseball players when traded for by the Rays but somehow all ended up being above average.
My 2nd point in reply to your declaration.
I have no position on whether Scott today is far better than Palacios. Are you using your own eyeballs, underlying metrics, or MLB prospect reports to make your assessment.
If it is based upon MLB prospect reports, I will take the Rays ability to scout these guys over the internet report of MLB prospects all day long.
As a long time Rays fan….we do exist…not disappointed to see him go. He was lights out one year, otherwise pretty average. Maybe he’ll find it again, but the track record says that it was an outlier.
Even if 2021 was a career year, the Cardinals will gladly take a track record of a 2.85 ERA and 3.43 FIP since 2019 as a very good addition to their bullpen!
Arguably the most underrated stadium in all of sports.
Random
Trading young talent again to the Rays for a guy who has pitched 31 innings in two years and will be 34 by the time the season starts. No thanks
Oh come on Palacios is a nobody. Michael Siani can do what Palacios did last year. Kittredge looks like a quality pen piece.
I mean, Adolis Garcia was a nobody for a while. DFA’d by the Cards AND the Rangers.
Palacios had an 823 OPS last year, despite only a .258 BABIP.
That’s not a nobody.
That’s a small sample size dude. I am not saying he’s worthless but to act like the sky is falling because he’s gone for what appears to be a solid reliever is silly. Mercado, Palacios and Siani all basically the same guy.
Yeah man. 34 year old RP averaging 15 IP over the last 2 years screams solid pickup. For years you heard the FOntalk about “years of control” as a reason to hold onto guys. Now they find a solid waiver pickup (who hit better than Carlson last year and I would rather see back up CF) and deal him for an injury prone RP in the last year of control? Meh.
Edman is the starting center fielder
Then Carlson
Then Nootbaar
Siani and Scott will both be in AAA
@kremer You must not be familiar with either the rehab length or the success rate of Tommy John Surgeries among pitchers. He even came back for a decent period last year to shake off some of the rust. Complaining about Kittredge only averaging 15 IP over the last 2 years is ridiculously out of context!
So you would rather the bullpen continue to suck? It doesn’t matter how good the backup OF options are if the 2024 team continues to blow late leads like they did last year. This is a win now move designed to help get the Cardinals back into contention, just like all the other times they’ve traded away pieces with multiple years of control for one year of a quality veteran.
Another time the Cardinals trade away a seldom used outfielder. Will they regret it again?
Us Tigers fans thought the team made a great trade for Austin Meadows but…
The Ray’s will use their magic potion and turn Palacios into Randy Arozarena part II! Same with Caballero.
If I didn’t like the Rays so much I’d hate them. Hopefully they beat out the Yankees again this year, with Palacios outhitting Soto 😉
I remember some Tiger fan was in here going on about how great the trade was, and no amount of data was going to convince him otherwise.
Not this Tiger fan, that’s for sure. At the time I was excited but still unsure. I wish Meadows good luck but what a bad trade in hindsight. I’d love for the Tigers to make a play for Arozarena but no doubt that would go sideways too. Trading with Tampa is a scary proposition. The Tigers and Cards have found out the hard way.
You’d think STL would know better than to trade outfielders to Tampa Bay by now…
My thoughts exactly. Get your popcorn ready to watch how we end up getting fleeced by this trade.
Nope, just plain stupid
Palacios has trade value?
Git er done!!!
The Tigers didn’t think Parades had much value when they “stole” Austin Meadows from the Rays.
Minor league stats don’t always predict the future, but Paredes had great minor league stats. A 47/56 K/W with 11 HRs in 253 ABs in AAA at age 22 is terrific.
Paredes had 55 FV and I think number 8 Tigers prospect. Avila screwed us trading him away. Just like his re-upping Ausmus.
Parades was a top prospect for Detroit, who was running out of options because he was rushed. Meadows was a controllable LH power bat that had just led TB in RBIs. At the time of the trade, it was looked at as a Tigers win. The Tigers had to give up value to get Value back. Don’t try to vompare it to an minor trade. It absolutely took a turn when Meadows had health problems, but that’s 20/20 hindsight.
Tampa will somehow win all these trades with their devil magic havin selves
No thank you.
this could be good for both teams. Richie showed some skills this last season and Kittredge seems like a solid bullpen piece.
Yeah I like the deal for both sides. Palacios is a quality defensive replacement type of guy but Marmol doesn’t know what that is so might as well go somewhere he will be used properly.
Why do you have to bring Marmol into this? He used defensive replacements plenty of times last season, at least during the rare times the team actually had late inning leads in tight games
Besides, Palacios would have to actually be a better defender than Edman or Carlson to be a defensive replacement for either of them.
Marmol is a bum that’s why.
How many times did Jordan “I can’t play defense” Walker get pulled late in games? Maybe a couple. And he’s awful out there.
Palacios is a similar defender to Edman and Carlson. He’s better than Walker and Burleson.
Sometimes Walker did get pulled for defense, but as I said that was only in rare situations when the Cardinals actually had a late tight lead. If they were trailing or tied, it was more important to keep Walker’s bat in the game. If they were winning big, it was more important to give Walker more experience in the field.
Is Kitteridge old enough for the Cardinals?
barely! haha
That’s awesome.
Rays get their replacement for Raley and Cardinals get bullpen depth while clearing some of the clutter from their OF situation. Win for both sides i guess
Cardinals outfield clutter is an illusion.
Sort of. I mean Edman isn’t really an outfielder. Neither are Burleson or Donovan. And don’t get me started on Walker. But there are a lot of options Palacios wasn’t going to get much of a shot.
Maybe Gomez gets a shot.
If the team needs an outfielder in May I would say Gomez or Siani. In July it will probably be Scott.
Siani looks like a solid 4th OF. I’m surprised he did not really get any playing time in Cincy.
Edman looked really good in CF and Burleson is probably about average in the corners. Walker was bad last year but he was brand new to the position. He has the speed and arm to make it work
Siani has a .699 career OPS in the minors. He’s a .244 hitter in the minors. He was hitting .228 in AAA when the Cards claimed him off waivers. I’m not sure why that would get him a legitimate shot on any MLB team. He can run, but you have to actually get on base against major league pitching to utilize that ability.
If Burleson is average, is anyone bad?
No…. not Kitt… he’s are most tenured player
If the Rays get Palacios and turn another guy that the Guardians gave away into a good everyday player, I will lose my mind lmao
Last outfielder the rays got from the cardinals….?
I wonder if the Marlins can trade Avi Garcia to the Cardinals for some pitching prospects.
Has nothing to do with this one. The end result will be St. Louis giving money for Kittredge and a few months of Palacios.
I think the Cardinals trade Kittredge for a good prospect at the trade deadline. I think the Cardinals win this trade.
The Cardinals bought the prospect from Cleveland at the end of June.
this is no number 2 pitcher for the top of the rotation.
Need a number 2 pitcher that has era under 3.50 and can pitch 180 innings.
somebody THAT’S NOT 37 YEARS OLD
Sure, that would be nice, but they also need to improve the bullpen, which they’ve done a nice job of doing here.
Nice job of getting about 15 innings of quality relief. Mo should quit, it’s obvious Spencer Money isn’t letting go of any cash.
Ugh. The guy had TJ surgery, which caused him to miss all that time between 22-23. That’s not “injury prone”. That’s a single injury.
Agreed. Still time to do other things.
So, trading a 26-year old OF for a 33-year old reliever. And for the Cardinals to do it with the Rays. Sure, why not! What can go wrong?
Rays tend to win a lot of their trades, occasionally they do miss. Snell trade with the Padres is one of the few I can think of.
Rays traded Trea Turner and Joe Ross for Steven Souza…. That was a while ago but still brutal
I thought the Padres screwed the pooch on Trea Turner? But if this is true, wow what a terrible trade. Turner alone is bad enough, but Ross was alright for a while.
On a one year contract, age is meaningless. Look at it as a trade of an excess minor league OF for added bullpen depth. Do you want a MLB bullpen piece, or a journeyman OF at AAA?
It’s uncanny the amount of outfielders the Cardinals have traded that turn into to studs. Randy, Lane Thomas, Adolis Garcia. The Cardinals would have a top 5 outfield in Major League Baseball if they would have just kept those guys. I know I’m missing more players too! It might be in the Cards best interest to hold on to this guy lol. whether it’s just bad luck or poor development I’m not sure.
Well, they did trade for some OFs, like Jason Heyward and Marcell Ozuna.
Hmmm…now who did the Marlins get for Ozuna?
Some girl named Sandy, not to sure who she is but I think she may have won an award at some point or something?
Yes, Oh Sandy Baaaaaby…Someday…when high igh school is done!
And also some other guy named Zac Gallen. I wonder whatever happened to him.
I completely forgot Gallen was part of that, Ouch.
He’s never on the field
he will be for someone else.
lol why? magic?
Sure. The magic of playing under a different manager. Or the magic of performing well going into free agency. Big union guy, good friends with Flaherty, not wanting to give it his all until he can get paid for it, and you can bet Jack was in his ear the entire time as well.
Flashes of greatness but underachieving. This changes leading up to contract time. Or perhaps I’m giving him too much credit.
Neither Garcia nor Thomas would likely still be in the organization even if they hadn’t been traded. Garcia was lost on waivers due to being near the bottom of the 40-man depth chart at the time, while Thomas took too long to establish himself in the Big Leagues and probably would’ve left either through waivers, the Rule 5 Draft, or minor league free agency. It was just bad luck that both of those guys suddenly managed to turn their careers around.
Why does the article talk about his shortened 2020 and completely ignores his AllStar 2021 where he had 70+ innings and an ERA+ of 215?
3rd paragraph is quite informative regarding his 21 AS season, stan lee.
It’s been updated since this comment was made. The first draft was strange in that it only focused on Kittredge’s negative seasons rather than his positive ones.
The handle made me laugh!
Dang gonna miss AK, been here forever and was ELITE from 2020-2022. Just another Rays like trade, get rid of an aging veteran while he still has value & get a young, controllable depth piece. I like it, it just never gets easier lol
Rays keep making the playoffs on these low payroll teams they keep assembling, it’s hard to argue with the results.
Now go sign Hector Neris. He would solidify the bullpen.
I’m fine with adding this bullpen piece. Every trade is a risk. You can’t just sit on your hands.
I love this move as a Cardinals fan. With Dylan Carlson listed already as the No. 4 behind the starting outfield of Noot, Edman and Walker — and with Victor Scott III moving up in the fast lane as the team’s future CF (replacing Edman), Palacios was expendable. And let’s be honest, Palacios had a nice 2023 filling in for injuries in the outfield but the Cardinals picked him up with cash from the Guardians, where he couldn’t even crack their starting outfield. So…there you go.
As for Kittredge, he’s the type of durable arm the Cards need in their bullpen – which was the worst in the majors last year. And it bumps Nick Robertson to Memphis where he will serve as relief depth.
They still need to go after Jordan Hicks or Nector Neris but this move that didn’t cost the Cardinals at top 30 prospect.
Cards bullpen at the moment:
RP = Ryan Fernandez (R5)
RP = Zach Thompson
RP = John King
RP = Andrew Kittredge
RP = JoJo Romero
RP = Andre Pallante
RP = Gio Gallegos
CL = Ryan Helsley
*Hector
I also like Neris, but Maton might be a better fit.
Perhaps you and I have a different interpretation of the word “durable.”
Perhaps so, as “durable” becomes a very strict qualification if you immediately discard every pitcher who has ever had Tommy John Surgery (or an even riskier operation like fixing Thoracic Outlet Syndrome or a major shoulder surgery).
I see this bullpen as a Cardinals fan. It reminds me that we have 3 crap pieces and a rule 5 guy. King was very fortunate last year. Teams hit .310 off of him I do believe. Gallegos, he just sucked the life out of most games that he entered into last year. Pallante, he just has average stuff at best. Maybe we could package all three guys into a package along with Libratore for David Bednar.
At least Gallegos has been a stud every year other than last year, and even then he wasn’t that bad, certainly not compared to many of the others who pitched for the St. Louis bullpen last year.
The Rays go to a garage sale and buy some dusty old guitar for $100. that turns out to be a D’Angelico.
I laughed way too hard at this.
it’s funny cuz it’s true. they are good at trades.
Rays winning the AL East in 2024!
Oh crap, Palacios is the dude who came off the bench and hit 2 dingers to help get Wainwright (sp?) his 199th at OPACY. The next TB Bird killer in a long line of TB Bird killers? Please, no!
Randy 2.0 lol
Lol who is this guy????
funny handle. there are some humorous peeps on here. makes MLBTR fun.
I am famous on Cardstalk. They miss me so they follow me over here. I like it here with fans of different teams.
If the Rays were giving away a really good reliever for a bench bat, why didn’t Texas take him.???
Looks good from the Rays side. Palacios was an on-base machine in the minors.
at least the Red Sox got Giolito (rolls eyes)
Signing Sonny Gray was a great move, jumping the gun on Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn doesn’t look as bad now as it did at the time with the cost of pitching exploding this winter and Kittredge is a quality arm when healthy to deepen the bullpen.
My issue is that for the 2024 season that all cost 50 million dollars and 6 years of control of a guy who has shown flashes at the highest level. Then I look at the Cardinals 40 man pitching staff and still think there’s a better chance they end up in the bottom third of MLB pitching staffs than being in the top third. That’s a lot of resources spent to still not feel good about the pitching. Then next winter they’re pretty much in the same spot as they were heading into this offseason.
If the Cards trade for Dylan Cease than that rotation is top-notch – at least in the NL Central. If the rotation stands pat than they have Gray and 3 guys who can eat 200-plus innings each, which this rotation didn’t have last year. If the rotation is set for 2024, then I would hope the Cardinals bring in 2 more high average relievers to help finish games, serving as the true firepower for this team.
To me, this is the direction MO appears to be taking – get starters who can eat innings, and bulk up the bullpen into the tip of the sword.
We’ll see if it works or not.
Spot on Jimmy!
Another trade between Cardinals and a Florida team! It seems like the Cardinals love to trade with Florida teams. It worked so well for the last few years.
Yes Susannah, Maybe we can get Jesus Luzardo and then get out of Florida for good !
While I like Kittredge and he does help the pen, I’m a little distraught that Mo’s interview after this deal made it sound like they’re done. Can’t really call that a successful offseason when trying to climb out of the cellar and return to the playoffs. Underwhelming.
Agreed.
I would hope MO would make a trade for Cease or sign Montgomery, but I don’t think that’s going to happen at this point.. I think he is happy with the rotation as is – 4 starters who can reach 200 innings each. Will those 800-plus innings be good ones? That remains to be seen. Plus, it’s clear MO does not want to trade Donovan or Gorman, so the Cease trade is more than likely dead in the water.
The strategy he’s pushing for is for a starter to average 6.5 innings per start over last years’ horrible 3.9 innings per start. That will ease the innings crunch on the bullpen and keep them fresh to finish out games, something they couldn’t consistently do last year.
Will the strategy work? I dunno.
I cling to the hope that MO brings in 2 more relievers, either free agency or trade, to muscle up the bullpen to hold on to leads, to help round out this strategy.
Machine I hope that he does just that. Sign Phil Maton, trade for David Bednar and Jason Foley, and we are set. Trade for Luzardo or Braxton Garrett. Let’s roll!
This is ‘like’ a FA pick-up…we only traded cash for RP. Mind you he came from a team with a historically bad offense and said we don’t need RP. The Cards need many arms-Good Trade!!
This only makes sense for Cards if Kitty stays healthy until the trade deadline, at which point they flip him for a decent prospect; I doubt palacios is the next Raley/ramirez but Rays are eagle-eyed when it comes to mining untapped cheap talent.
What in the wide, wide world of sports do people think Palacios was going to bring back? He’s just a guy. This is a fantasy about him being Roz or Adolis Garcia. Compare stats on those three before the trades. He has a -3 career Outs Above Average and 0 DRS, and people say he’s great defensively? No power whatsoever until his brief streak in 2023 and can’t steal a base for his life. On what planet is he worth keeping?
#1 pitcher in baseball at inducing swing and miss out of the strike zone before he got hurt. Finished last season with only one bad appearance out of I think 13? This will be an absolute steal if he’s healthy again.