photo: Matt Carpenter (Benny Sieu/USA TODAY Sports)
The St. Louis Cardinals added a veteran bat and leader to the 2024 squad, Matt Carpenter. Our weekly history feature highlights prior team transactions and notable events that occurred during the January 15-21 period, including signing MLB’s first million-dollar shortstop.
Cardinals sign free agent Matt Carpenter
In a surprise move on Friday, the St. Louis Cardinals announced they have signed free agent Matt Carpenter to a one-year contract. The Cardinals salary commitment is the league minimum of $740,000, with the Atlanta Braves responsible for the remainder of his $5.5 million salary.
The 38-year-old Carpenter had signed a two-year contract with the San Diego Padres in 2023 and was part of a salary dump trade to Atlanta in December. The Braves released Carpenter shortly thereafter.
Carpenter came up in the Cardinals farm system and played for 11 seasons in St. Louis before leaving as a free agent at the end of the 2021 season. He was signed by the Texas Rangers in March 2022 but did not make the major league team out of Spring Training. He was released by the Rangers in May 2022 and signed with the New York Yankees a week later. He became a free agent at the end of the 2022 season and then signed with the Padres.
Carpenter struggled with the Padres in 2023, slashing a paltry .176/.322/319 in 237 plate appearances.
Carpenter has reportedly spent the offseason working out with former Cardinal Matt Holliday. Carpenter had trained before with Holliday, prior to his 2022 season in New York. The Cardinals believe the recent work has produced results that could reinvigorate his bat in 2024. Whether that is indeed the case remains to be seen. He is expected to be a bench bat who could function as a designated hitter.
The Cardinals touted the benefits of Carpenter’s veteran presence in the clubhouse as an additional reason for the signing.
The Cardinals had recently talked of adding another reliever, but Carpenter’s signing may put that into question.
Carpenter takes the 40-man spot vacated by RHP James Naile, whose rights were sold to the Kia Tigers of the Korean Baseball Organization the day before the announcement of Carpenter’s signing.
News and Notes for the Cardinals offseason
This section features offseason news items each week that do not require extensive coverage.
- Cardinals 2024 spring training begins with pitchers and catchers reporting on February 13. First workouts for pitchers and catchers will be on February 14. Position players will hold their first workout on February 19.
The Cardinals announced their list of non-roster invitees. Twenty-seven players were invited, including 14 pitchers, seven catchers, four infielders, and two outfielders.
- The Cardinals have given RHP James Naile an opportunity to pitch in the KBO for the Kia Tigers by transferring his contract. The Tigers will pay the Cardinals a $250,000 release fee.
Naile will receive a $350,000 salary with a $200,000 signing bonus from the Tigers. He also could make an additional $150,000 in incentives. The transaction opened a 40-man roster spot used for the signing of Matt Carpenter a day later.
- Former Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright is joining FOX Sports as a full time Baseball Analyst. FOX announced on Thursday that Wainwright has signed a multi-year contract that begins in 2024 and includes both regular season and postseason games. Included in this slate of games is the 2024 London Series on June 8 between the Mets and the Phillies. Wainwright had previously commentated on several FOX playoff games and was highly admired for his insight.
- Wainwright’s former batterymate and new special assistant to the president of baseball operations Yadier Molina led his winter ball team, Criollos de Caguas, to the 2023-2024 Puerto Rico (LBPRC) championship Sunday night. Next stop is the Caribbean Series in Miami from February 1-9.
Trade and Acquisition Rumors
There are no trade or acquisition rumors to report.
Transactions
- 1/18 The Cardinals sold the rights to RHP James Naile to the Kia Tigers of the KBO.
- 1/19 The Cardinals signed free agent DH Matt Carpenter.
Injury Report
- IF/OF Tommy Edman had arthroscopic surgery on his right wrist in October. The surgery was not publicly announced by the Cardinals, and its occurrence was revealed in several reports on X (formerly Twitter) on January 4. The team and Edman are hopeful that he will be ready to go for the regular season, though he may not be ready for the start of Spring Training.
- During the Winter Warm-Up, POBO John Mozeliak provided updates on Brendan Donovan and Dylan Carlson, both of whom ended the season on the injured list.
Mozeliak stated that both Donovan (elbow) and Carlson (ankle) are expected to be ready to go for Spring Training.
Looking Ahead
Spring training begins in mid-February. The Cardinals Spring Training game schedule can be found here.
The deadline for submitting arbitration figures has passed. The Cardinals and five eligible players reached agreement on salaries for the 2024 season. They are Dylan Carlson ($2.35 million), Ryan Helsley ($3.8 million), Andrew Kittredge ($2.635 million) John King ($1.005 million) and JoJo Romero ($860,000).
The Cardinals failed to reach agreement with starting center fielder Tommy Edman and will go to arbitration with him barring a last-minute agreement on a multi-year contract. The two sides are $450,000 apart on Edman’s 2024 salary, which will be at least $6.5 million. Arbitration hearings run from January 29 through February 16.
The 2024 Baseball Hall of Fame class will be announced on January 23 on MLB Network at 5:00 p.m. CT.
Blast from the Past
This week’s Blast from the Past continues a review of notable trades and/or signings that occurred during the offseason each week of December and January. We also continue to look at other notable events for the week of January 15 through January 21 in addition to player transactions.
Player transactions:
January 19, 1983 – Ozzie Smith became MLB’s first “million-dollar shortstop” when he signed a three-year, $3.6 million contract with the Cardinals. Smith had been acquired from the San Diego Padres a year earlier in exchange for Garry Templeton and Sixto Lezcano.
January 21, 2008 – The Cardinals signed catcher Yadier Molina to his first multi-year contract. The deal was for four years/$15.5 million with a $250,000 signing bonus. Molina signed two more multi-year contracts following, a five-year, $75 million contract in 2013, and a three-year, $60 million contract in 2018. He finished his Cardinals career with one-year contracts in 2021 and 2022.
Other notable events during this period:
January 15, 1981 – Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility with 84% of the possible votes.
January 16, 1970 – Cardinals center fielder Curt Flood filed a lawsuit challenging the MLB Reserve Clause. Flood had been traded to the Phillies in October 1969 but refused to report.
January 18, 1938 – Grover Cleveland Alexander is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Alexander pitched for the Cardinals for four seasons, from 1926-29.
January 19, 2013 – Cardinals icon Stan Musial passed away at the age of 92.
January 20, 1997 – Flood passed away due to throat cancer at the age of 59.
January 21, 1947 – Cardinals second baseman and manager Frankie Frisch is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
January 21, 1953 – Cardinals pitcher Dizzy Dean is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
January 21, 1969 – Cardinals OF/1B Stan Musial is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility with 93% of the vote.
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Molina’s Team Heads to Caribbean Series; Two Cardinals Receive LBPRC Honors
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