St. Louis Cardinals: Top Ten Free Agent Signings

facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
5 of 12
Next

#4 Jason Isringhausen 

View image | gettyimages.com

Who didn’t love Izzy? He burned our hearts with heartburn inducing saves that made us all nervously fret the 9th inning, he nailed down the 9th inning like it was between him and a world series every year. He was without a doubt one of the greatest closers in Cardinals’ history.

Izzy was brought in during the 2001 offseason and was installed as the closer of Tony Larussa’s bullpen right away. In his first season as a Cardinal in 2002, Isringhausen saved 33 games in 40 save situation appearances and was credited with a 3-2 record and while earning a 2.48 ERA which could have been even lower had a little more luck went his way as he had a 1.75 FIP.

Over the course of his seven year career with the Cardinals, Isringhausen accumulated 217 saves (most in team history), a 2.98 ERA, and a FIP of 3.59. A very fine career from one of the game’s best closers. Although, unfortunately an injured hip in 2006 prevented Rosenthal (and paved the way for Adam Wainwright to etch his name in history) from participating in the Cardinals’ only World Series championship during his time in St. Louis. His lead as all time saves leader for the Cardinals will be in jeopardy soon, as Trevor Rosenthal already has 96 saves in just two full seasons as the closer and 3 saves in 2013.

Next: Reggie Sanders