photo: Chris Duncan and Rick Ankiel (Scott Rovak/USA TODAY Sports)
Cardinals avoid arbitration with trio
As the January 11 deadline for submitting salary figures in arbitration came and went, the St. Louis Cardinals announced that they had come to agreements with the three remaining eligible players on their roster. LHP reliever Chasen Shreve had signed his contract back in December.
Outfielder Marcell Ozuna and the club settled on a one-year salary of $12.25 million. This is a raise from the $9 million he was paid in 2018. The 2019 season is Ozuna’s final arbitration year and he will become a free agent at the end of the season. The outfielder, who the Cardinals received in a trade with the Miami Marlins in the 2017-2018 off-season, slashed .280/.325/.433 in 148 games in 2018. This was down from the .312/.376/.548 he hit for the Marlins in 2017. Ozuna underwent a cleanup procedure on his shoulder during this winter and is expected to be fully healthy for the start of Spring Training.
Michael Wacha agreed to a salary of $6.35 million, up from the $5.3 million he received in 2018. Wacha was shut down in June due to an oblique strain and did not pitch for the remainder of the season. Wacha is also in his final year of arbitration and will become a free agent this coming fall.
Dominic Leone came to the Cardinals in the trade of Randal Grichuk to the Toronto Blue Jays one year ago. Leone missed a substantial amount of the season, from May 5 to August 26, due to a nerve issue in his pitching arm. Leone agreed to a one-year salary in the amount of $1.26 million, up slightly from $1.085 million in 2018. Leone is in his first of three years of arbitration eligibility.
Jaime Garcia announces retirement
Jaime Garcia announced his retirement from Major League Baseball in a press conference in Mexico last week. Garcia pitched in the Cardinals starting rotation from 2008 through 2016. Garcia made only one start in 2008 and was out the entire 2009 season with Tommy John surgery.
The left-hander was born in Mexico but went to high school in Texas, thus making him eligible for the regular June draft. He was drafted by the Cardinals in the 22nd round in 2005. Garcia made 28 starts in 2010 and was a significant contributor to the Cardinals 2011 World Championship season. He made 30 starts in the regular season, one game in the NLDS and two games in each of the NLCS and World Series.
Garcia suffered multiple injuries throughout the remainder of his Cardinals career, mostly with shoulder injuries. He had multiple surgeries, including one for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. Garcia made 20 starts in 2012 and 2015 but missed most of 2013 and 2014 with injury. Garcia last pitched for the Cardinals in 2016, making 32 starts.
Garcia was traded to the Atlanta Braves after the 2016 season for three players, including current Cardinals pitcher John Gant. The Braves dealt him to Minnesota midseason in 2017, then he was traded again a week later to the Yankees. Garcia signed as a free agent with the Toronto Blue Jays in February 2018 and was released by Toronto at the end of August. He was signed a couple of days later by the Cubs and made eight appearances for them, including one start. Garcia was a free agent again at the end of the season. He played winter ball in the Mexican League before announcing his retirement.
Garcia’s career record with the Cardinals was 62-45 with an ERA of 3.57. He finished third in the Rookie of the Year balloting in 2010.
Chris Duncan takes leave of absence from radio job
Chris Duncan, former outfielder for the Cardinals and son of former Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan, has taken a permanent leave of absence from his St. Louis radio show to fight a recurrence of his brain cancer.
Duncan, 37, played for the Cardinals from 2005 to 2009. He made 1317 plate appearances in 389 games, with a career slash line of .257/.348/.458. Duncan was a first round pick of the Cardinals in the 1999 June draft.
Duncan was diagnosed with a glioblastoma in 2012, a year after his mother’s diagnosis with the same tumor. She passed away in June 2013 at the age of 64. Duncan underwent surgery to remove the tumor shortly after his 2012 diagnosis and then returned to his radio job at WXOS (101.1 FM). He co-hosted an afternoon show called “The Turn” with Anthony Stalter, who made the announcement of the leave on the show last week.
Duncan’s tumor returned last fall and he is currently undergoing treatment in Arizona, where he relocated in the fall to be nearer to his father and brother Shelley Duncan. The tumor has affected Duncan’s speech and has caused seizures.
The Cardinals followed the announcement with a tweet of support for Duncan, as did Duncan’s former manager Tony La Russa.
Other ex-Cardinals on the move
In news regarding other ex-Cardinals, David Eckstein joined the Pirates as a special assistant and free agent outfielder Jon Jay signed with the White Sox, bumping another former Cardinal, Charlie Tilson, off Chicago’s 40-man roster.
Cardinals take part in Rookie Development Program
Three pitchers and one position player from the Cardinals system will take part in the 28th annual Rookie Career Development program in Miami this week. The four players are RHP Giovanny Gallegos, LHP Genesis Cabrera, LHP Austin Gomber, and OF Justin Williams.
The program is a joint effort between Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association which began in 1992. This is the first year the program will be held in Miami, as its previous location was in Washington, D.C.
The program is designed to help rookie players manage aspects of their future major league careers. Included are sessions on how to handle the media, how to handle issues in the clubhouse, financial planning advice, inclusion and drugs in baseball.
Players from all 30 MLB organizations are invited to participate.
Trade and Acquisition Rumors
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that at least one executive from a rival club feels the Cardinals are becoming less likely to trade Jose Martinez. Rosenthal writes the acquisition of Paul Goldschmidt allows the Cardinals more flexibility to use Martinez in multiple roles that don’t include playing at first base where his defense is below average. A summary of this item can be found at MLB Trade Rumors here.
Transactions
- 1/4/19 The Cardinals sent RHP Ryan Meisinger outright to the Memphis Redbirds
Injury Report
There is no new injury news to report.
Looking Ahead
As noted above, the Cardinals came to agreements with all of their arbitration eligible players so there will be no arbitration hearings in February.
The annual Cardinals Care Winter Warm-Up fan festival will be held on January 19-21 at the Hyatt Regency at the Arch in St. Louis. Admission tickets and autograph tickets are currently on sale.
The annual Cardinals Caravan takes place the weekend of the Winter Warm-Up. The Caravan will traverse six states from January 18-21. The schedule for the Caravan can be found here.
The annual St. Louis BBWAA dinner will be held on January 20 at the Curio Hotel, Union Station downtown. Former Cardinals broadcaster Bob Costas and former Cardinals pitcher and new Hall of Famer Lee Smith will be honored.
Pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training on February 12. The first workout for pitchers and catchers is the next day, February 13. Position players report on February 17 and their first workout is then next day, February 18. The first spring training game is February 23 against the Marlins at Roger Dean Stadium. The Spring Training Schedule can be found here.
Blast from the Past
In a week in which one former Cardinal announced his retirement and another is fighting a courageous battle with cancer, this week’s history segment discusses a former Cardinal who fought a battle of a different sort.
Rick Ankiel was drafted by the Cardinals in the second round of the 1997 June draft as a high schooler. Ankiel was seen as something of a phenom, a left handed pitcher with terrific stuff. Ankiel received a $2.5 million dollar signing bonus, the fifth highest ever given to an amateur player at that time. In 1998 he was voted the best pitching prospect in both the Midwest and Carolina Leagues, was the Carolina League’s All-Star starting pitcher and was the Cardinals Minor League Player of the Year.
Ankiel made his major league debut on August 23, 1999 in Montreal. He pitched his first full major league season at the age of 20 in 2000, posting a record of 11-7 with an ERA of 3.50. He struck out 194 batters that season.
The Cardinals were the NL Central Division winners in 2000. Manager Tony La Russa decided to start Ankiel in Game 1 of the NLDS. The game began well, Ankiel did not allow a run in the first two innings. In the third inning, however, Ankiel allowed four runs on two hits and four walks. More distressing were the five wild pitches he threw before he was removed with two outs in the inning. The Cardinals were able to win the game in the end.
Ankiel didn’t start again until Game 2 of the NLCS against the New York Mets. Ankiel threw 20 pitches in the first inning, five of which went past catcher Eli Marrero. One sailed over the head of Mets hitter Timo Perez. Ankiel was removed in the first inning. He appeared next in the seventh inning of Game 5 and threw two more wild pitches while facing four hitters. The Cardinals lost the NLCS 4-1 to the Mets.
Tony La Russa later said his decision to start Ankiel in Game 1 was a decision that haunted him more than any other decision he ever made.
Ankiel returned to the majors in 2001 but his control problems continued, and he was sent to Triple-A, then demoted all the way to the Rookie Appalachian League as the control issues worsened. Ankiel did double duty in the minors as a pitcher and a designated hitter. The left hander didn’t pitch in 2002 due to elbow issues and had Tommy John surgery in 2003. He had a brief return to the majors in 2004, making only five relief appearances. Ankiel was convinced by then-GM Walt Jocketty in March of 2005 to switch to the outfield.
Ankiel injured his left knee before the start of the 2006 season and had season ending surgery in May. In 2007 he started the season in Triple-A. Ankiel was called up to the big league club on August 9. 2007. He played right field and in the seventh inning, hit a three-run home run to right field to lead the Cardinals to victory over the San Diego Padres.
Ankiel continued to play the outfield for the Cardinals through the 2009 season. (In the main photo above, Duncan gets the ball in after Ankiel was injured a collision with the wall in June 2009.) He became a free agent in November and signed with the Kansas City Royals. He was traded mid-season to the Braves and became a free agent again at the end of the season. He signed a one-year contract with the Washington Nationals for the 2011 season. He re-signed with the Nationals for 2012 but was released in July. He then signed with the Astros for 2013 but was released in May, then signed with the Mets. He was let go again in June 2013. Ankiel announced his retirement in March 2014.
The story of Rick Ankiel, pitcher, is not yet over, however. After spending some time as a life skills coordinator for the Nationals, writing his memoirs entitled “The Phenomenon: Pressure, The Yips, and the Pitch that Changed My Life”, published in 2017, and doing some broadcasting for FOX Sports Midwest, Ankiel announced he is going to try his hand at pitching again.
His comeback has been delayed by elbow issues, and he had a ligament reattachment surgery in October 2018. The surgery is an alternative to Tommy John. The Cardinals have announced they have a minor league contract offer waiting for the 39-year old after he recovers from the surgery, which may be as soon as mid-season 2019.
Stay tuned.
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