The St. Louis Cardinals have been looking for a left handed relief pitcher this off season. Today, they got their man.
Cards sign Choate to 3 years, $75 million contract
Randy Choate is a 37-year old left handed relief pitcher that has pitched for five teams in his twelve year major league career, spanning back to his rookie season in 2000 with the New York Yankees.
Choate is a true LOOGY (Left-handed One Out GuY) and exactly what the Cardinals were looking for. He has lead the league in appearances two of the last three seasons with 85 in 2010 and 80 in 2012. As the term suggests, however, many appearances do not lead to a ton of innings. Choate threw just 38.2 innings last season.
Tough against lefties, he has held them to a .201 batting average over his career while compiling a 3.52 strikeout to walk ratio as well.
He split time last year between Florida and the Dodgers, having been part of the Hanley Ramirez trade.
Here’s a quick look at his career statistics, as well as his 2012 splits, courtesy of Baseball Reference:
| Year | Tm | W | L | G | GF | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | IBB | SO | HBP | BF | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | NYY | 0 | 1 | 4.76 | 22 | 6 | 0 | 17.0 | 14 | 10 | 9 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 75 | 103 | 1.294 | 7.4 | 4.2 | 6.4 | 1.50 |
| 2001 | NYY | 3 | 1 | 3.35 | 37 | 13 | 0 | 48.1 | 34 | 21 | 18 | 0 | 27 | 2 | 35 | 9 | 207 | 135 | 1.262 | 6.3 | 5.0 | 6.5 | 1.30 |
| 2002 | NYY | 0 | 0 | 6.04 | 18 | 11 | 0 | 22.1 | 18 | 18 | 15 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 17 | 3 | 101 | 74 | 1.478 | 7.3 | 6.0 | 6.9 | 1.13 |
| 2003 | NYY | 0 | 0 | 7.36 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3.2 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 65 | 2.182 | 17.2 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 0.00 |
| 2004 | ARI | 2 | 4 | 4.62 | 74 | 17 | 0 | 50.2 | 52 | 26 | 26 | 1 | 28 | 11 | 49 | 5 | 232 | 100 | 1.579 | 9.2 | 5.0 | 8.7 | 1.75 |
| 2005 | ARI | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 7.0 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 35 | 51 | 1.857 | 10.3 | 6.4 | 5.1 | 0.80 |
| 2006 | ARI | 0 | 1 | 3.94 | 30 | 3 | 0 | 16.0 | 21 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 75 | 122 | 1.500 | 11.8 | 1.7 | 6.8 | 4.00 |
| 2007 | ARI | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |||||||
| 2009 | TBR | 1 | 0 | 3.47 | 61 | 13 | 5 | 36.1 | 28 | 15 | 14 | 4 | 11 | 3 | 28 | 0 | 142 | 126 | 1.073 | 6.9 | 2.7 | 6.9 | 2.55 |
| 2010 | TBR | 4 | 3 | 4.23 | 85 | 8 | 0 | 44.2 | 41 | 23 | 21 | 3 | 17 | 5 | 40 | 3 | 187 | 93 | 1.299 | 8.3 | 3.4 | 8.1 | 2.35 |
| 2011 | FLA | 1 | 1 | 1.82 | 54 | 6 | 0 | 24.2 | 13 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 13 | 5 | 31 | 2 | 103 | 217 | 1.054 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 11.3 | 2.38 |
| 2012 | TOT | 0 | 0 | 3.03 | 80 | 4 | 1 | 38.2 | 29 | 18 | 13 | 1 | 18 | 3 | 38 | 5 | 168 | 131 | 1.216 | 6.8 | 4.2 | 8.8 | 2.11 |
| 2012 | MIA | 0 | 0 | 2.49 | 44 | 4 | 1 | 25.1 | 16 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 27 | 3 | 104 | 161 | 0.987 | 5.7 | 3.2 | 9.6 | 3.00 |
| 2012 | LAD | 0 | 0 | 4.05 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 13.1 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 11 | 2 | 64 | 96 | 1.650 | 8.8 | 6.1 | 7.4 | 1.22 |
| 12 Yrs | 11 | 11 | 4.02 | 476 | 83 | 6 | 309.1 | 268 | 157 | 138 | 16 | 146 | 30 | 266 | 32 | 1344 | 109 | 1.338 | 7.8 | 4.2 | 7.7 | 1.82 | |
Career Splits:
| I | Split | G | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | SO | GDP | HBP | IBB | tOPS+ | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs RHB as LHP | 272 | 74 | 134 | 30 | 1 | 9 | 88 | 62 | 0.70 | .279 | .404 | .401 | .806 | 22 | 15 | 25 | .303 | 141 | |
| vs LHB as LHP | 446 | 85 | 134 | 33 | 1 | 7 | 58 | 204 | 3.52 | .201 | .278 | .284 | .563 | 13 | 17 | 5 | .273 | 68 |
2012 Splits:
| Split | G | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | SO | TB | GDP | HBP | IBB | tOPS+ | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs RHB as LHP | 38 | 3 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 8 | 0.89 | .325 | .471 | .350 | .821 | 14 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .406 | 188 |
| vs LHB as LHP | 72 | 13 | 16 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 30 | 3.33 | .158 | .243 | .218 | .461 | 22 | 2 | 3 | 2 | .208 | 63 |
The Cardinals will turn their focus to the middle infield now, where there appear to be shopping for an upgrade at second base or a long term answer at shortstop.
