St. Louis Cardinals: Diamond in the Rough Free Agent Targets

Last player I would like to discuss is my favorite bargain free agent on the market: Garrett Richards.  Richards spent his 2020 campaign in San Diego playing for the young and exciting Padres. You might remember Richards from pitching against the Cardinals in the Wild Card Series this past year in two of the three games. Richards has an exuberant delivery that is fun and is addicting to watch. He sports an elite fastball and curveball.  You may look at some of his stats from previous years and wonder why I am so excited about him. While coming up with the Angels, Angels fans were excited for this pitcher because of his overpowering fastball complimented by his devastating breaking ball. I think Richards can be an elite reliever/spot starter.  In the 2020 campaign, Richards did finish the year in the 99th percentile in curveball spin and in the 97th percentile in fastball spin. Once converted to a reliever late in the 2020 season, the Padres knew they had an elite threat out of the bullpen.  I think that it is just the beginning of an era for Garrett Richards, he may be 33 years old already but I believe he may be hitting a second wind in his career as a late inning reliever (see: Wade Davis). The Cardinals are in need of people who have the capability to pitch multiple innings while also having a veteran presence in the bullpen. I believe that Richards is the perfect fit.