St. Louis rolls out the welcome Matz

The St. Louis Cardinals bolstered their starting rotation this off-season by acquiring Steven Matz on a 4 year deal for $44 million. The 6’2″ lefty is coming off a career year with the Toronto Blue Jays. He went 14-7 with an ERA of 3.82. In an interview at the end of last season Matz said of the Blue Jays, “I don’t know if I’ve ever been on a team this good.”

Left-hander Steven Matz and the St. Louis Cardinals are in agreement on a four-year, $44 million contract, pending physical, sources familiar with the deal tell ESPN. Matz is coming off a career-best season and has a chance to get to $48 million and will receive a signing bonus.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 24, 2021

Mets Spurned by Steven Matz

When news of Steven Matz signing with the Cardinals reached New York, it was met with anger. Mets owner Steve Cohen took his frustrations to Twitter saying that “words and promises don’t matter.” Cohen was under the impression from Rob Martin, Matz agent, that the Mets would be able to match any offer. Martin said that, despite the deep pull to the Mets franchise, Matz did what was best for his family.

To explain, the Mets drafted Matz in the 2nd round of the 2009 MLB draft and he spent his first six seasons in the MLB in the orange and blue. The lefty left the Mets when they traded him to Toronto with a 4.35 ERA in 2020. Matz posted a 3.82 ERA in his lone season with the Blue Jays as they fell short of the playoffs.

Mets are upset about the Matz situation and his last minute call to Cardinals. They had the impression he was going to come back to them for a final chance. Sources say Mets would have gone to that level ($44M, 4 years) https://t.co/IQb31i6Tvu

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 24, 2021

Life In St. Louis

Steven Matz will be joining a Cardinals staff that has the ageless wonder Adam Wainwright and young phenom Jack Flaherty. It looks like Matz will be the third starter in front of Miles Mikolas and Dakota Hudson. Matz had a 46% ground ball rate coupled with the fact he threw his sinker 52% of the time he should succeed in front of this historic level defense.

Matz proved he could stay healthy, as he went 150 innings while tallying 144 strikeouts last season. After that his old manager, Charlie Montoyo, called Matz an “unsung hero” for all the work he put in. You can read more on that interview here: https://www.mlb.com/news/steven-matz-has-been-blue-jays-unsung-hero

The Cardinals were in every awards race out there, bringing in five Gold Gloves, three Silver Slugger finalist, and two players in the MVP conversation. The iron has never been hotter for the club and it’s brand new manager, who are able to field the exact same team as no starter was eligible for free agency.

Now add in the pressure of this being Wainwright and Molina’s last year — the Cards need to win. There certainly is no tomorrow for this club and bringing in a reliable guy like Steven Matz could be just what they need.