photo: Ronald Acuna Jr. and Francisco Pena (Jeff Curry/Imagn)
On Thursday afternoon, the St. Louis Cardinals made this announcement via Twitter:
We have traded C Francisco Peña to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for cash considerations.
Thank you Francisco and best of luck with your new organization. pic.twitter.com/BB0ILUkQjD
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) May 2, 2019
This move will likely be better for all parties. Peña re-signed a minor league contract with the Cardinals in December after spending much of 2018 as Yadier Molina’s back up. However, the 29-year old batted just .203. Following last season, Peña was outrighted (removed from the 40-man roster) and became a free agent.
Once St. Louis signed a far more accomplished reserve in late February in Matt Wieters, Peña’s St. Louis future became blurry. He began the season in extended spring training and since joining Memphis on April 17, went 6-for-18 with a home run and four RBI.
Even at Memphis, he was redundant as the third catcher on the roster. The Redbirds’ remaining two backstops are prospect Andrew Knizner and another journeyman, Joe Hudson. Peña was not on St. Louis’ 40-man roster and that remains full.
For his new organization, Peña will report to Triple-A Sacramento.
Memphis is temporarily down one player, but that should change if St. Louis activates Luke Gregerson as expected. If a position player is sent out, likely candidates are Tyler O’Neill and Yairo Muñoz, both of whom are in St. Louis’ Thursday getaway day lineup in Washington.
The red-hot Big Bear leads the red-hot #STLCards in pursuit of a sweep of the #Nats.
Coverage begins at 2:30 with Cardinals Live pregame.
FSGO stream: https://t.co/iN69siMDI5 pic.twitter.com/EKFi2NK9Px— Bally Sports Midwest (@BallySportsMW) May 2, 2019
For more
To track the Cardinals’ 25- and 40-man rosters as well as all players in the system by position and level, check out the Roster Matrix, always free and updated here at The Cardinal Nation. Also included is every player transaction across the full organization all year long.
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