By Chris Brown / STL Baseball Today | @cbrown_STLBBT | Nov. 12, 2015, 9:37 am CT

Acquired from the Marlins prior to the July 31 trade deadline, former closer Steve Cishek pitched well for the redbirds down the stretch, posting a 2.31 ERA and 20/13 strikeout/walk ratio over 23 1/3 innings. Nonetheless, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reports that the Cardinals are planning on non-tendering the right-hander since “he’s been paid at a closer rate and is no longer a closer.”

Cishek served as the Marlins’ closer in both 2013 and 2014, posting a combined 2.73 ERA and 1.41 WHIP while tallying an impressive 73 saves.

However, in 2015, the 29-year-old saw his stats decline, pitching to a combined 3.58 ERA and 1.48 WHIP between Miami and St. Louis while making $6.65 million in his second year of salary arbitration. The side-armer also saw a major increase in walk rate (2.9 BB/9 in 2014 to 4.4 in ’15) and major decrease in strikeout rate (11.6 K/9 in ’14 to 7.8 in ’15).

The Cardinals could consider bringing back Cishek at a lower rate for 2016.

Follow @STLBBToday on Twitter

 

Feature image used under Creative Commons by user Delaywaves. No changes made. Image license.