The St. Louis Cardinals signed right-handed reliever Matt Belisle to a one-year, $3.5 million contract on Tuesday, taking one of the better under-the-radar middle relief options off of the free-agent market.
Best available free agent middle relief pitchers
Andrew Miller and Luke Gregerson are among those who still remain on the market.
H. Darr Beiser-USA TODAY Sports
Belisle, 34, saw his strikeout rate dip and his walk rate rise while posting a 4.87 ERA for the Colorado Rockies in 2014. However, in his previous five seasons -- all in Denver -- Belisle posted a 3.70 ERA and 3.09 FIP while striking out almost eight batters per nine innings and walking fewer than two. The 11-year big league veteran led the NL with 80 appearances in 2012 and amassed 92 innings in relief two years earlier for the Rockies, who work their bullpen harder than just about any other team in baseball.
Now that Belisle has been snatched up by St. Louis, who else remains that can fill a middle-relief role on a contending club?
Andrew Miller is likely the best available option. The 29-year-old left-hander just wrapped up a three-year stretch in which he struck out 202 batters in 133⅓ innings while posting a 2.57 ERA. Miller's age combined with a sustained ability to basically strike hitters out on command will likely mean a large price tag -- perhaps somewhere in the neighborhood of four years and $40 million, predicts CBS Sports' Jon Heyman.
Luke Gregerson is a year older than Miller but has been successful for a longer period of time. A big-time strikeout pitcher earlier in his career, Gregerson in recent years has sacrificed some swings and misses in order to lower his walk rate, which was a career-best 1.9 per nine innings in 2014. The 30-year-old right-hander has a career 2.75 ERA and 2.99 FIP while striking out 8.8 batters per nine. He could be in line for a similar deal to the three-year, $15 million contract Zach Duke received from the Chicago White Sox earlier this month.
Pat Neshek is closer to Belisle's age but had a much better 2014 season, finishing with a 1.87 ERA and 68 strikeouts against only nine walks in 67⅓ innings for the Cardinals. Neshek signed a minor league deal with St. Louis prior to his career season, which could net him upwards of a two-year, $14 million contract, per Heyman.
The ultimate middle relief wild card could be Luke Hochevar, who missed the entire 2014 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery but rediscovered himself as a reliever during the previous campaign. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2006 draft struggled as a starter until posting a 1.92 ERA with 82 strikeouts in 70⅓ two seasons ago. His lack of sustained success combined with the post-surgery risk will likely mean that he can be had on the cheap, a development that might be intriguing to several teams given Hochevar believes he's on track to pitch early in 2015.
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