St. Louis Cardinals News: Jose Rondon Signed to Minor League Deal

The St. Louis Cardinals made another signing on Friday with the signing of infielder Jose Rondon to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training.

There hasn’t been much action this winter so far for the St. Louis Cardinals, but on Friday fans got news of another minor-league deal, the third of the season.

It isn’t the most groundbreaking deal, but infielder Jose Rondon has been signed to a deal with an invite to spring training.

In a year where a ton of mid-level players are signing for cheap on the open market, the low level players are seemingly being forced to sign minor league deals with invites to spring training.

The Cardinals, ever the prudent shoppers, have already signed catcher Tyler Heineman and another infielder Max Moroff to minor league deals in addition to Rondon. Rondon, like Moroff, is strictly middle infield depth with a chance to make the MLB team as a backup.

After the Cardinals cut loose Kolten Wong and lost Max Schrock earlier in the offseason, middle infield depth was running a little thin behind Tommy Edman and Paul DeJong. In Rondon, that is exactly what the Cardinals got.

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Rondon does have major league experience, but not much. In parts of three seasons with the Padres, White Sox, and Baltimore, Rondon has a .201/.260/.336 slash line but makes his money as a gloveman. Capable of playing anywhere in the infield as well as left field, Rondon hasn’t really accumulated enough innings in the field to grade out very well at any position.

The Cardinals have Edmundo Sosa and even Elehuris Montero as options already on the team to compete for a utility role, but there is certainly still room to add one of the many utility bats on the market.

Rondon is just 27 and has the chance to be valuable depth for the Cardinals this year. It may not be exciting, but the gears of the offseason do appear to be beginning to turn, hopefully making for a more exciting time after the new year begins.