St. Louis Blues Re-sign Robert Bortuzzo

 

The St. Louis Blues have re-signed defenseman Robert Bortuzzo to a two-year contract extension, worth $1.9 million. Bortuzzo, 32, currently has played 37 games with 1 goal, 2 assists, 3 points, and a plus 4 in 2021-2022. 

Bortuzzo had his best season in 2017-2018. That season, Bortuzzo played 72 games with 4 goals, 9 assists, 13 points, and a plus 11. The games, goals, and points were all career highs for Bortuzzo. Bortuzzo had a career high 10 assists in 2013-2014, with the Pittsburgh Penguins. In 2018-2019, Bortuzzo helped the Blues win their 1st Stanley Cup in franchise history. 

Overall, Bortuzzo is currently in his 11th NHL season. Bortuzzo has played 454 games with 18 goals, 48 assists, 66 points, and a plus 38. 

The Blues did a good job keeping Bortuzzo beyond this season. He's proven to be a solid defenseman when he plays. 

St. Louis Cardinals Sign Steven Matz

 

The St. Louis Cardinals have signed left-handed starting pitcher Steven Matz to a four-year contract, worth $44 million. The contract includes incentives, which could make the contract worth $48 million. That's if Matz reaches all of the incentives. Matz, 30, spent 2021 with the Toronto Blue Jays. Matz was 14-7 with a 3.82 ERA, 29 games, 29 starts, 150.2 innings, 144 strikeouts, and 43 walks. The wins were a career high for Matz.

Matz had career highs in both innings (160.1) and in strikeouts (153) in 2019, with the New York Mets.

Overall, Matz has played 7 seasons in the MLB. Matz is 45-48 with a 4.24 ERA, 141 games, 136 starts, 1 complete game, 1 shutout, 1 hold, 730.1 innings, 696 strikeouts, 223 walks, and a whip of 1.32.

If Matz can stay healthy, he could end up being a good addition for the Cardinals. Matz had trouble staying healthy with the Mets. At one point in time, Matz was said to be the next Clayton Kershaw. That kind of shows you the kind of talent Matz has in him, when healthy. Do the Cardinals try a six-man starting rotation? Matz was stronger when he had extra rest with the Blue Jays in 2021. That's something to maybe consider. 

St. Louis Cardinals hire Skip Schumaker as bench coach, add Turner Ward to coaching staff

 

The St. Louis Cardinals have hired Skip Schumaker as their new bench coach. Schumaker, 41, spent the last 4 seasons (2018-2021) as a coach on the San Diego Padres coaching staff. The first two seasons, Schumaker was the Padres first base coach. Then Schumaker was associate manager for the last two seasons. Schumaker retunes to the original team that drafted him. Schumaker also had his must success with the Cardinals as a player with them for 8 seasons (2005-2012). Schumaker helped the Cardinals win the World Series in 2006 and 2011. 

Ward, 56, was most recently the hitting coach for the Cincinnati Reds for 1 season in 2019. The Reds let go of Turner on October 1, 2019. Before joining the Reds, Ward was on the Arizona Diamondbacks coaching staff for 3 seasons (2013-2015). In Ward's first season, Ward was the D'Backs assistant hitting coach and then was their main hitting coach from (2014-2015). Ward then was the Los Angeles Dodgers hitting coach for 3 seasons (2016-2018). As a player, Ward won the World Series back-to-back in 1992 and 1993 with the Toronto Blue Jays. 

Ward is reunited with Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt; both know each other from their time with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Ward also managed Goldschmidt in Double-A with the Mobile BayBears in 2011. That season, Ward won Southern League Manager of the Year. 

Both Schumaker and Ward complete the Cardinals coaching staff for 2022. On paper, both should be great additions to the Cardinals coaching staff. 

St. Louis Cardinals Re-Sign T.J. McFarland

 

The St. Louis Cardinals have re-signed LHP T.J. McFarland to a one-year contract for 2022, worth $2.5 million. McFarland, 32, first signed with the Cardinals on June 30, 2021 after opting-out of his minor league contract with the Washington Nationals. The Cardinals were in need to relief pitching. McFarland felt like he would get a better chance with the Cardinals.

McFarland's stats in Triple-A Rochester weren't that great at the time he left the Nationals. McFarland was 1-2 with a 5.25 ERA, 18 games, 1 save, 24 innings, 26 strikeouts, and 5 walks. McFarland had a good strikeout rate though. McFarland ended up going to Triple-A Memphis after signing with the Cardinals. In Memphis, McFarland was 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA, 4 games, 1 save, 7 innings, 8 strikeouts, and 2 walks. McFarland was added to the Cardinals active roster on July 16, 2021.

McFarland went 4-1 with a 2.56 ERA, 38 games, 15 holds, 38.2 innings, 21 strikeouts, and 9 walks for the Cardinals. The wins tied a career high from 2013, 2014, and 2017. The holds were a career high for McFarland. McFarland also recorded 12 double plays during that time. The double plays set a new franchise record for after the All-Star break. 

McFarland had career highs in both innings (74.2) and in strikeouts (58) in 2013, with the Baltimore Orioles.

Overall, McFarland has played 9 seasons in the MLB. McFarland is 24-15 with a 3.95 ERA, 323 games, 3 starts, 42 holds, 1 save, 439.2 innings, 261 strikeouts, 142 walks, and a whip of 1.45. 

The Cardinals did a good job keeping McFarland around for 2022. McFarland reminds me of a left handed Seth Maness. Maness was right handed, but was great at getting double plays. 

St. Louis Cardinals Hire Oliver Marmol As Manager

 

The St. Louis Cardinals have hired Oliver Marmol as their new manager, replacing Mike Shildt. Marmol, 35, is the Cardinals 51st manager in franchise history. Marmol gets a three-year contract. Marmol is now currently the youngest manager in the MLB. The previously youngest manager in the MLB had been Minnesota Twins manager Roco Baldelli. 

Marmol has been a Cardinals coach on the MLB staff since 2017. The first two seasons, Marmol was the first base coach. In 2019, Marmol became the bench coach under Shildt. Marmol did well as bench coach under Shildt, including earning praise from him during the Cardinals 2019 postseason run. 

Before joining the Cardinals coaching staff, Marmol managed 5 seasons in the minor leagues. Marmol managed the Johnson City Cardinals in 2012, then managed the State College Spikes from (2013-2014). In those two seasons, the State College Spikes won their division under Marmol. After managing the State College Spikes for 2 seasons, Marmol managed the Palm Beach Cardinals for 2 seasons (2015-2016). In 2015, Marmol was 75-63. That was his best record as a minor league manager.

Overall, Marml managed 493 games and had a record of 268-225 with a .544 winning percentage. Marmol only had 1 losing season during his time as a minor league manager. 

Before going into coaching, Marmol was a minor league player for 4 seasons in the Cardinals minors. Marmol wasn't that great of a player. 

As a manager in the Cardinals minors, Marmol coached a few current players on their active roster: Jack Flaherty, Dakota Hudson, Alex Reyes, Junior Fernandez, and Edmundo Sosa. To me that could be a good thing that Marmol has managed Reyes before. That's because Reyes didn't have a good end to the season. I think a lot of that was because of fatigue and being in his first full MLB season, which tends to happen with rookies. 

Time will tell to see if Marmol can manage in the MLB. On paper, it looks like he can. If he can't, then it could end up being bad for John Mozeliak. 

St. Louis Cardinals Fire Mike Shildt

 

The St. Louis Cardinals have fired manager Mike Shildt. Shildt, 53. recently led the Cardinals to their 3rd straight playoff appearance. The Cardinals went 90-72 and lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Wild Card game. The Cardinals even won a franchise record 17 games in a row in 2021 under Shildt. 

Shildt became the Cardinals manager on July 14, 2018, after Mike Matheny was fired. Under Shildt, the Cardinals went 41-28. In Shildt's first full season 2019, the Cardinals went 91-71 and made the playoffs for their first time since 2015. The Cardinals also ended up in the NLCS for their first time since 2013 (when they made it to the World Series). 

Overall, Shildt managed the Cardinals for 4 seasons. Shildt was 252-199 with a .559 winning percentage. In the playoffs, Shildt was 4-9 with a .308 winning percentage.

The Cardinals say the reason for firing Shildt was "philosophical differences." 

It seems strange to fire Shildt when the Cardinals have had success under him. In 2021, it even looked like the Cardinals would miss the playoffs because of injuries and pitchers not preforming as well as they are capable of. The Cardinals ended up finding two relief pitchers in Luis Garcia and T.J. McFarland who helped turn things around in the bullpen. Then at the trade deadline the Cardinals added two veteran starting pitchers in J.A. Happ and Jon Lester. People even wondered what the Cardinals were doing getting both pitchers, because their record and ERA's weren't good at all. Happ and Lester ended up helping provide innings for the Cardinals starting rotation and winning a few games. There's a fifth pitcher you could count in Wade LeBlanc. LeBlanc ended up having success both in the bullpen and as a starter, before a season ending injury.

That isn't all on Shildt that the team had injures and it took time for him to get help. It also could have been nice if the Cardinals had had more depth like other teams had. 

In the end it looks like Shildt and John Mozeliak must have had a disagreement about something. No one will probably know what that was. Shildt probably becomes a manager again with a team at some point in the future, even if its in the minor leagues at first or part of a MLB coaching staff.

Who do you see as the Cardinals next manager?

St. Louis Blues Sign James Neal

 

The St. Louis Blues have signed left wing James Neal to a one-year contract, worth $750,000. Neal had been in training camp with the Blues on a professional tryout. In the preseason, Neal led the Blues with 4 goals. Neal, 34, played 29 games with 5 goals, 5 assists, 10 points, and a -2 in 2020-2021 with the Edmonton Oilers. The season was Neal's worst season of his career. Neal had his contract bought out by the Oilers on July 27, 2021. 

Neal had his best season in 2011-2012, with the Pittsburgh Penguins. That season, Neal played 80 games with 40 goals, 41 assists, 81 points, and a plus 6. The goals, assists, and points were all career highs for Neal.

Overall, Neal has played 13 seasons in the NHL. Neal has played 850 games with 294 goals, 261 assists, 555 points, and a plus 8. In the playoffs, Neal has played 110 games with 33 goals, 25 assists, 58 points, and a -13.

Neal will be looking to have a rebound season. He impressed the Blues well enough to earn a contract. With the Blues, Neal doesn't always need to be the main player. He just needs to go to the net, like he's been doing in the preseason and helping the Blues get scoring chances. The Blues head coach, Craig Berube even liked what he saw in Neal during the preseason. It will be interesting to see if Neal brings that to the regular season.