Now that David Price, Zack Greinke, Johnny Cueto, Jordan Zimmermann and Jeff Samardzija have been accommodated in long-term contracts, the free-agent pitching market has shifted to a tier including the likes of Mike Leake, Scott Kazmir, Yovani Gallardo, Ian Kennedy and Wei-Yin Chen.
The Cardinals, who still are seeking pitching help — both in the rotation and in the bullpen — likely would be in on the first two pitchers and not the last three. The final three, all tendered qualifying offers by their teams but who declined them, would cost another team a first-round draft pick if it signed any of the three. And general manager John Mozeliak, like most of his contemporaries, has indicated he is not as much apt to go after pitchers requiring draft compensation as he would those who don’t.
Righthander Leake and lefthander Kazmir, who were traded in-season during 2015, don’t require draft-pick compensation. Of the two, Leake probably would draw the most interest by the Cardinals because he is younger, has been an effective National League pitcher and, incidentally, been one of the top half-dozen hitting pitchers in the league.
There was a report that Leake, 28, and the Arizona Diamondbacks were close to a five-year, $70 million deal but that deal wasn’t consummated. Arizona now has acquired former Cardinal Shelby Miller to go with Greinke, whom they gave $206 million for six years as a free agent.
The Cardinals may not be interested in giving a free-agent pitcher a five-year contract although they entered into a five-year deal with staff ace Adam Wainwright nearly two years ago. If they could get Leake — or Kazmir — on a three- or perhaps four-year deal at something between $12 million and $14 million a year, they might consider that option, giving them one more veteran pitcher to go with Wainwright, Jaime Garcia, Michael Wacha and Carlos Martinez.
Having spent most of his six seasons with Cincinnati, Leake, one of the quickest workers in the sport, has pitched well against the Cardinals, going 1-1 with a 2.42 earned-run average in three starts this year, and he’s 2-2 with a 3.19 ERA for his career in Busch Stadium, As a batsman, the 5-foot-10, 190-pound Arizona State product has a .212 lifetime average and six homers to go with a 64-52 lifetime pitching mark.
An Arizona native, he was said to have been looking to sign with an Arizona-based team for spring training but the Giants went elsewhere in signing Samardzija and then Leake didn’t sign with Arizona. The Los Angeles Dodgers would seem to be in play still for Leake, especially with the Dodgers having lost Greinke and then having a deal with Seattle righthander Hisashi Iwakuma fall through before the latter returned to the Mariners.
Kazmir, who will be 32 next month, finished the 2015 season with Houston after starting it with Oakland and wound up 7-11 with a 3.10 ERA. For his career, Kazmir, a three-time All-Star originally signed by the New York Mets, is 98-90, pitching only in the American League for Tampa Bay, Toronto, the Angels, Cleveland, Oakland and Houston. Plagued by various injuries, his effectiveness dwindled after a half-dozen seasons and he found himself in the minors in 2011 and then with the independent Sugar Land Skeeters in his native Texas in 2012.
Kazmir rebounded with double-figure victory campaigns (10 and 15, respectively) with Cleveland and Oakland the next two seasons.
Besides the Cardinals, such clubs as Baltimore, Washington, Houston, Oakland and Kansas City are said to be among the suitors for Kazmir, according to various media reports.
Pending the expected addition of another starter, the Cardinals’ fifth rotation spot so far is a contest among young lefthanders Tim Cooney, Tyler Lyons and Marco Gonzales, all of whom also could wind up in the bullpen. That trio won a collective four games for the club in 2015, covering 15 starts.