By Chris Brown – STL Baseball Today
The Cardinals and general manager John Mozeliak are once again taking a chance on an under-performing high-ceiling reliever near the trade deadline.
The team officially announced on Friday that they’ve acquired former Marlins closer Steve Cishek from Miami in exchange for minor league right-hander Kyle Barraclough. As part of the deal, the Cardinals will take on the roughly $3 million left on Cishek’s contract this season. Although he’s under control through arbitration for the next two seasons, his high salary – he’s making $6.65 million overall this year – made him a non-tender candidate for the Marlins after the season. He still could be so for the Cardinals, depending on his performance down the stretch.
Before a rough patch at the beginning of the 2015 season, the 29-year-old Cishek had established himself as one of the best closers in baseball. From 2011-2014, he posted a 2.70 ERA over 253 1/3 innings while tallying 91 saves. Cishek currently ranks third on Miami’s all-time saves list with 94.
After converting just 3 of his first 7 saves chances to start this season and posting a 6.98 ERA in his first appearances, Cishek was relegated to a setup role in mid-May before eventually being sent to the minor-leagues to work on his mechanics.
However, since returning to the big-leagues on June 12, the sidearmer has allowed just one earned run in 12 2/3 innings (0.71 ERA) with 11 strikeouts and four walks while pitching primarily in the seventh inning. Cishek has also shown better velocity and command in his return to the majors.
The trade for Cishek closely resembles trade deadline deals by GM John Mozeliak in 2012 and 2013, when the Cardinals added Edward Mujica and John Axford, respectively. As in those trades, the team is taking a relatively loss-risk shot on an underperforming reliever with a proven track record in the hopes that he can regain his previous form and provide valuable depth in the bullpen down the stretch.
Mozeliak and manager Mike Matheny stressed to Rob Rains of STL Sports Page that the deal was made to add a late-inning option to a heavily taxed bullpen.
“We’re trying to find ways to take some of the stress off those three guys,” Mozeliak told Rains. “They have pitched a lot. Giving Mike the tools out there to have that flexibility I think is important.”
The team has relied greatly on Seth Maness, Kevin Siegrist, and closer Trevor Rosenthal in the late innings, and all have showed signs off fatigue/overuse at times in the recent weeks. Headed into Friday’s game, Siegrist had made the more appearances (49) than anyone in the majors. Maness was second at 48, with Randy Choate and Rosenthal not far behind.
Cishek also drew interest from the Dodgers, Twins, and the NL Central rival Pittsburgh Pirates before the Marlins accepted the Cardinals’ offer of Barraclough, MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch reports.
Barraclough, the Cardinals seventh-round pick in the 2012 draft, was promoted from the organization’s High-A affiliate in Palm Beach to AA Springfield in May, and has posted a 3.28 ERA with 28 strikeouts over 24 2/3 innings since the jump. Although the 25-year-old has posted good strikeout rates throughout the minors (10.2 K/9 at Springfield), he’s also struggled with control, issuing 7.3 BB/9 innings this season at Double A.
In order to clear room for Cishek on the team’s 40- and 25-man rosters, reliever Matt Belisle – currently sidelined with elbow inflammation – was moved to the 60-day disabled list and starter Tim Cooney was optioned to AAA Memphis. Mozeliak said it was a “hard decision” to transfer Belisle to the 60-day DL because he will likely be ready to return before he’s elgible on August 26, but the GM said the team preferred to make that move instead of risking losing another player on waivers (as happened to Ty Kelly a few days ago).
Shortly after the deal was announced, Cishek took to Twitter to express his excitement on becoming a Cardinal:
Im beyond excited to be a Cardinal. Such a great organization with an amazing history. It's going to be an honor to wear Cardinal red!
— Steve Cishek (@srSHREK31) July 24, 2015
Feature image used under Creative Commons by user Delaywaves. No changes made. Image license.
