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While Spring Training is just a few weeks away, the St. Louis Cardinals are rounding up their roster and continuing to make additions to their bullpen mix, with the latest move being a minor-league deal for former Astros reliever Josh James.
We have signed RHP Josh James to a minor league contract for the 2024 season.
— Cardinals Player Development (@CardsPlayerDev) January 26, 2024
James, 30, appeared in 87 games with Houston (including 14 postseason games) from 2018-21 and has struck out 13.3 batters per 9 IP over his MLB career. pic.twitter.com/GRfGE9S30C
James is a high-velocity reliever who produces a lot of swing-and-miss, but has not appeared in an MLB game since 2021 and did not pitch in 2023 after flexor tendon surgery in October of 2022. He found a role in the Astros bullpen from 2018-2021 and appeared in 18 postseason games during that timeframe. With this being a minor league deal, the Cardinals are bringing James into the organization to see if he recaptures his old form and if not, he does not get in the way of them adding more arms or using other arms they've acquired this offseason.
Cardinals say they’ve signed RHP Josh James to a minor league deal. High velo reliever who had some success with Houston but was non-tendered after having flexor tendon surgery after the 2022 season. Didn’t pitch last year. Hasn’t been in MLB since 2021. Is 30.
— Jeff Jones (@jmjones) January 26, 2024
It remains to be seen if this ends the Cardinals' search for bullpen help this offseason, but assuming they want to go out and add one more arm on a Major League contract, this seems like a low-risk, potentially nice reward move for the bullpen. Fields joins Andrew Kittredge, Nick Robertson, Ryan Fernandez, and Riley O'Brien as arms they've acquired this offseason to strengthen their reliever depth.
One of the common themes you'll see with these pitchers is a lot more swing and miss than what the Cardinals have had in their bullpen in recent years, as well as a lot of "low-risk" contracts to go with it. They've run into trouble in the past signing bigger name relievers like Andrew Miller, Brett Cecil, and Greg Holland, and so have opted for targeting a wider variety of arms to see how many pan out. They really should still pursue one more established bullpen arm to solidify that mix, but it's encouraging to see how many options they have going into 2024.
Bullpen depth is needed for the 162-game season, and 15 or so arms that they can realistically see competing for a bullpen spot gives the Cardinals more "shots" and finding a great mix that can help them compete during the season and in the playoffs as well.