By Chris Brown / STL Baseball Today | @cbrown_STLBBT | November 20, 2016, 8:39 pm CT
By Keith Allison / CC Image | Feature Photo: Allison / CC
UPDATE: November 21, 11:56 am CT:
ESPN.com’s Mark Saxon reports that the Cardinals will hold a 1 pm CT press conference today to make the signing of Cecil official.
November 20, 8:39 pm CT:
The Cardinals and general manager John Mozeliak have apparently made their first major move of the offseason, agreeing to a four-year contract with left-hander reliever Brett Cecil, as first reported by Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports.
The deal, which Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports is pending a physical, will pay the 30-year-old $30.5 million. According to Rosenthal, Cecil will also receive a full no-trade clause.
As of Sunday evening, the Cardinals had not yet confirmed the deal, although Mozeliak admitted earlier in the day on KMOX’s Sports on a Sunday Morning that there is legitimacy to the reports.
“Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire, I’ll say that,” the GM said. “But, for the most part, until the I’s are dotted and the T’s are crossed, I really can’t comment.”
Cecil, who spend the first eight years of his major league career with the Blue Jays, will help fill the void left by lefty reliever Zach Duke, who is expected to be sidelined for the entire 2017 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. The addition of a left-handed reliever also became more important for the club recently after it was revealed that lefty Tyler Lyons had offseason knee surgery and is questionable for the start of the regular season.
In four years as a full-time reliever for Toronto, Cecil posted a 2.90 ERA and 11.9 K/9 rate across 205 innings. He also logged ground ball rates of over 50 percent in three of those last four years, and made at least 60 appearances each season from 2013-2015.
Cecil posted a 3.93 ERA in a career-low 36 2/3 innings in 2016 as he worked his way back from a torn lat muscle, although the veteran reliever was nearly unhittable during the stretch run, as opponents hit just .175/.224/.317 off him in the final two months of the regular season. He also didn’t allow a run in 3 2/3 postseason innings.
An American League All-Star in 2013, Cecil’s best season came in 2015 when he posted a career-low 2.48 ERA in 54 1/3 innings, emerging as the Blue Jays’ primary setup man.
Over his career, Cecil has dominated left-handed batters, holding them to just a .226/.281/.344 slash line.
After adding Cecil to fill out the bullpen, the Cardinals will now likely turn to their most pressing need in the outfield. Mozeliak has admitted that the club is looking to add a center fielder (or a left fielder, with Randal Grichuk staying in center), and could turn to a weak free agent pool or the trade market for that addition.
