St. Louis Cardinals: Five Free Agent Pitchers the Team Can Reboot

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Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Ian Kennedy

Now here’s a guy who could use a little St. Louis. The San Diego Padres are repordedly going to extend Kennedy a qualifying offer despite his disappointing 2015 in which he posted a 4.28 ERA in 168 1/3 innings. But Scott Boras is his agent. Kennedy’s low 90s four-seam fastball hasn’t lost anything. He pitches off the four-seamer and mixes in a changeup and curveball.

Kennedy simply didn’t pitch well last year. In 2014, maybe you could say his defense failed him (3.18 FIP vs. 3.63 ERA), but not last year. And that defense was pretty bad (San Diego’s .684 defensive efficiency ration was 10th in the National League). Petco Park is certainly a favorable place to reestablish your market value as a pitcher. But losing baseball and poor defense more than offset that.