The Cardinals signed a two-year free agent contract. Drew VerHagen, tweets Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. VerHagen, who has spent the last two seasons in Japan, will receive a guaranteed $2.5 million in 2022 and $3 million in 2023.
While the 31-year-old Verhagen was probably not predicted by many as the first domino to fall after the lockout, he will return to the big leagues not only on a guaranteed contract, but on a multi-year deal. The 6-foot-6 right-hander struggled for most of his six seasons with the Tigers, posting a 5.11 ERA in 199 major league frames. However, his two-year stay abroad changed his fortunes as VerHagen became a key member of the Nippon-Ham Fighters’ bullpen.
In two seasons with the Fighters, VerHagen amassed a 3.51 ERA, beating a quarter of his opponents on a strong 7.2% walking rate. He’s had decent speed (averaging 94 mph) on his sinker for a long time, and he has a track record of attracting grounders with high speed (53.9% in the majors), which fits in well with the Cardinals’ otherworldly infield defense.
Generally speaking, the Cardinals have a track record of signing players from Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball and the Korea Baseball Organization—both in terms of former major league players who have returned, as well as established NPB/KBO stars making their first move to MLB. Signing by the Cardinals in 2017 Miles Mykolas (two years, $15.5 million) proved to be one of the best pickups in recent memory, and the KBO is left-handed kwang hyun kim spent the last two seasons as a key member of the St. Louis pitching after signing a two-year, $8 million contract. VerHagen is the latest to take this path in the big leagues, though the Cards’ January signing of the right-hander Aaron Brooks a minor league contract could end up in that group.
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