Cardinals: 5 free agent targets to improve the club before Spring Training

Matt Moore

Once a top prospect in all of baseball and one of the phenom Tampa Bay Rays pitchers, Matt Moore has reinvented himself as a reliever over the last few years, with 2022 being his breakout season from the bullpen.

In 74 innings with the Texas Rangers, Moore had a 1.94 ERA and 10.1 K/9. Moore uses a fastball/curveball combination and sprinkles in a change-up as well and has made himself into a desirable option around baseball. Like Chafin, he remains unsigned due to a gap in his asking price and what teams are willing to pay.

The lack of track record is worrisome for Moore, as in 2021, his ERA was 5.40 in his 16 innings out of the bullpen. It really seems like the Rangers unlocked something in Moore. If you look at his Baseball Savant page, he saw jumps in pretty much every category in 2022, including being in the 90 percentile or higher in xBA, xSLG, HardHit%, and Barrel%.

Moore seems like the kind of guy who Dusty Blake would work well with, taking the success he found in Texas and helping him build upon that, and grow his status as an impact reliever in today's game.