Cardinals: Re-ranking the worst contracts in the NL Central

7. Steven Matz

The Cardinals signed Steven Matz to a 4 year, $44 million deal to be a middle of the rotation, innings eater for the club for this season and beyond. In 7 of his 10 starts this season, he went at least 5 innings while allowing 2 or less runs. Yet, Matz still managed to have a 5.70 ERA and only appear in those 10 games due to injuries.

Matz has had two awful starts this year where he gave up 7 and 8 runs a piece, but otherwise was exactly what the Cardinals paid for in his other starts. The front office still wouldn’t like to see two horrific starts like that in just 10 games of work, but it is encouraging for the future of his contract that his other starts were up to par.

The issue facing Matz is the combination of his injuries, age, and total money left on the deal. If Matz does not put it together in future seasons, the club would have spent $44 million on age 31-34 seasons for a middle of the rotation starter who did not stay on the field or blew up in too many starts.

Matz’s deal is too early to tell for sure where he will land, but at this current moment, his deal looks to be another miss from St. Louis. He can change the narrative on that if he can return this season and/or produce in 2023 and beyond, but has not looked good to this point.