Cardinals remain linked to two former Astros relievers

In order to bolster their bullpen, the St. Louis Cardinals remain interested in finding high-leverage relievers for 2024. Both Phil Maton and Hector Neris, former relievers for the Houston Astros, are on the Cardinals' radar at the moment. Derrick Goold of the Post-Dispatch has also discussed the team's interest in both relievers in his chats. With Yuki Matsui off the board, the Cardinals must pivot elsewhere to bulk up the bullpen.

While John Mozeliak spoke bullishly about his relievers with Tom Ackerman of KMOX, the Cardinals' bullpen could use some reinforcements. Ryan Helsley seems primed to return to his role as the team's closer, and Giovanny Gallegos and lefty JoJo Romero also figure to be in the mix for some late-inning work next year. Zack Thompson, John King, Nick Robertson, and Matthew Liberatore could round out the relief corps. Many of those players have a history of performing well, but it is still a shaky collection of players.

Last season, the Cardinals' bullpen ranked 23rd in all of baseball in ERA and WHIP to go along with twenty-eight blown saves (56% save rate) and a staff strikeout rate of just 22.2%. While the trades of Chris Stratton and Jordan Hicks at the Trade Deadline hurt the bullpen for the back half of last year, those numbers are still eye-popping. Strikeouts and high-leverage experience should be qualities that John Mozeliak looks for in his bullpen for 2024.

Either Hector Neris or Phil Maton would be a great final piece to the puzzle that is the St. Louis Cardinals' 2023 bullpen situation. These two relievers are familiar with Major League Baseball, and the fact that the Cardinals didn't sign Yuki Matsui could speak to the team's desire to find players with a track record in MLB.

Let's take a look at how these two relievers might fit into the St. Louis Cardinals' bullpen for 2024.

Phil Maton

Phil Maton is another name that has been tossed around in signing with the Cardinals. Maton, thirty, was also most recently a member of the Houston Astros. One thing that makes both Maton and Neris attractive is their playoff pedigrees. Both players have won a World Series and played major roles in the Astros' victory in 2022.

Phil Maton is a name to watch. He's a free agent. He's from Illinois. I'm always hesitant to point out the hometown link unless there's really something to it. Look at what he's done for the Astros' bullpen, and it's easy to see the role he'd have with the Cardinals -- and his October pedigree, too.

Clearly, the Cardinals are interested in Phil Maton. He is local, he's talented, and he's experienced. Maton has a career 4.25 ERA, 3.95 FIP, 1.326 WHIP, and he has struck out batters at a 26.4% clip for his career. In 2023, he pitched sixty-six innings with a 3.00 ERA, 3.74 FIP, 1.121 WHIP, and struck out 27% of the batters he faced. Maton's career walk rate (9.2%) is significantly better than Neris's, but Neris strikes out batters more frequently.

Maton hasn't been used as a closer in his career, as he only has two saves to his name; however, he is still familiar with high-leverage situations. Most of his usage last year was in low-leverage situations according to Fangraphs, but he still saw 61 batters in high-leverage situations.

In those at-bats, Maton struggled. Batters slashed .342/.533/.390 and he walked two times as many batters as he struck out (fifteen vs. seven). Should Maton be signed this offseason by the Cardinals, he likely won't be used as a closer. I could see him being used as a bridge to Gallegos, Romero, or Helsley.

While both Hector Neris and Phil Maton would be improvements for the Cardinals' bullpen, I would prefer Hector Neris. He has serious strikeout numbers, and he has plenty of strong experience late in games. While Maton would be a good signing, he doesn't have the resume that the team needs late in games.