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St. Louis Cardinals: Waiver arms the Cards should consider claiming

By Dr. Michael D. Miles

SEATTLE, WA - AUGUST 11: Yusmeiro Petit #36 of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim celebrates closing out the game to beat the Seattle Mariners 6-5 in the ninth inning at Safeco Field on August 11, 2017 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images)
SEATTLE, WA - AUGUST 11: Yusmeiro Petit #36 of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim celebrates closing out the game to beat the Seattle Mariners 6-5 in the ninth inning at Safeco Field on August 11, 2017 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images) /
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St. Louis Cardinals
CINCINNATI, OH – JULY 14: Drew Storen #31 of the Cincinnati Reds pitches in the eighth inning against the Washington Nationals at Great American Ball Park on July 14, 2017 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Washington shut out Cincinnati 5-0. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images) /

The St. Louis Cardinals essentially have two closers in the 2017 pen already, but adding one more might not be that bad of an idea.

The St. Louis Cardinals, having now found that Rosenthal has returned to his closer form, may not need another closer, but could benefit from having an arm that might slot in toward the end of the pen. Enter then Drew Storen.

Storen made his MLB debut in 2010 and now has 6.14 years of service under his belt. This debut came with the Washington Nationals where he served as a dominating closer/back-of-pen arm for six years.

In January of 2016, Storen was traded by the Nationals to the Blue Jays for Ben Revere and a PTBNL. He appeared in 38 games for the Jays in 2016 before being sent to Seattle for cash and Joaquin Benoit. At the end of the 2016 season, Storen was granted free agency and was picked up by Cincinnati in January of 2017.

With Cincinnati comfortably in the basement of the NL-Central, Storen was placed on waivers after the July 31st deadline and has now cleared the revocable piece. Storen, while not as shut-down as he once was, could well be an interesting arm for the St. Louis Cardinals pen.

Storen is not an innings-eater so the St. Louis Cardinals would likely use his right-handed arm for situational pitching and/or in the eighth inning. Storen is comfortable in the eighth inning this season where opposing hitters are batting only .158 with a BAbip of .190.

Just for the record, Oh- who is now in the 8th inning role- has hitters batting .273 with a BAbip of .333 for 2017. In 2016, Oh held hitters to an average of .192 with a BAbip of .298 in the 8th inning. This illustrates how Storen could bring the pen back into a great alignment and bolster the 8th inning.

True, Storen is a free agent at the end of 2017 but perhaps the St. Louis Cardinals can help him build his numbers again and decide to sign him/extend him as a solution to the likely-departing Oh. The real trick would be to get him from the Reds who could revoke his waiver should the Cards make place the claim.

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