Cards Notebook: The Cardinals finally signed a major-league free agent, plus thoughts on the battle for starting catcher

Phil. Maton.

Here’s what I’m thinking about lately as we find ourselves less than two weeks from the opening day …

Phil Maton breaks the drought

Not until the middle of March did the Cardinals sign a free agent to a major-league contract this offseason. So come on down, veteran right-handed setup man and right-wise Son of Illinois Phil Maton. Maton will reportedly be paid a modest $2 million for the upcoming season. Is it a coincidence that the Maton signing came down soon after union head Tony Clark all but called out the Cardinals for their complete lack of free-agent spending this winter? Probably. The Maton pairing has been the subject of reporting and speculation since last offseason, and John Mozeliak has for some time this winter indicated he wanted to add a veteran bullpen presence to the roster. As well, a one-year, $2 million pact isn’t the kind of thing that will throw the MLBPA off the foul scent.

As for the nut-and-bolt considerations, Maton probably slides in behind Ryan Fernandez within the right-handed setup corps, which means middle bridge-to-the-bridge innings. In other words, Maton probably isn’t going to be the direct setup man in front of closer Ryan Helsley but rather see time in, say, the sixth and seventh innings before handing it over to Fernandez or JoJo Romero, who would then turn it over the Helsey when a save-situation lead is in place.

Maton for his career has a 100 ERA+ and a 4.00 FIP across parts of eight MLB seasons. More recently, Maton over the last three seasons has pitched to a 115 ERA+ with an FIP of 4.11 FIP and an xFIP of 4.07. Not surprisingly, he’s been far more effective versus same-side batters, and Oli Marmol would do well to limit Maton’s exposure to lefty batters, especially at leverage.

On that front, some Maton numbers over the last three seasons:

• vs. LHBs: 5.21 FIP, 4.82 xFIP, 20.7 K%, 10.5 BB%, .329 wOBA, .340 xwOBA

• vs. RHPs: 3.12 FIP, 3.44 xFIP, 29.8 K%, 7.4 BB%, .268 wOBA, .287 xwOBA

This is of course the era of the three-batter minimum, and teams in general prioritize staggering lefties and righties in the lineup. That means Maton is going to have to face lefties more often than is optimal. In 2024, Maton faced a left-handed batter 43% of the time, and that’s way too high a percentage. I get that Marmol is tactically limited by the rules when it comes to “hiding” Maton, but his spots need to be chosen carefully.

There may be an opportunity to lean even more into curveball usage against the opposite side, as the pitch has pretty strong underlying indicators. “Throwing your best pitch even more” is a pretty simple adjustment for pitchers, and that could help him better survive lefties this season. Let’s note that solid to improved performance by Maton could turn him into a reasonable trade piece leading up to the deadline should the Cardinals drift from contention before that juncture.

Finally, this does eat up an active spot that might have gone to a younger arm as part of the “reset,” whatever that really is at this point. Gordon Graceffo around the same time was dispatched to minor-league camp. Given his strikeout numbers in camp and the fact that he’s already on the 40-player roster, he might have been in line to be a part of that right-handed setup corps. Now, though, he may have an opportunity to get back to starting detail in Memphis. I have my doubts about whether he can ever be a part of a major-league rotation, but why not find out?

No disrespect to Mr. Maton, but at this point I’ve probably spent too many words on him.

The catcher battle

Not far behind the center-field situation when it comes to compelling spring subplots is the duel for the starting catcher job. In one way, there’s less at stake, as both Iván Herrera and Pedro Pagés are going to make the active roster, whereas there’s no way that Victor Scott II and Michael Siani both end up rostered. At stake, instead, is who is the regular behind the plate and who is the backup.