Toronto Blue Jays in talks with St Louis Cardinals for right-handed reliever
Photo credit: https://www.mlb.com/cardinals/video/angel-martinez-strikes-out-swinging-mqwblw
The Toronto Blue Jays are looking to bolster their bullpen and the St Louis Cardinals have arms available and Phil Maton is their latest target.
The Blue Jays were previously connected to Ryan Helsley, though he has now been traded to the Mets.
The Jays and Cards have also discussed right-hander Maton, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Maton, 32, is often underrated by fans and the baseball industry.
Dating back to the start of the 2020 season, Maton has tossed 322 1/3 big league innings with a 3.69 earned run average.
He has struck out 27.1% of batters faced, given out walks at a 9.2% clip and induced grounders on 42.8% of balls in play.
He generally does very well in terms of limiting damage, as seen on his Statcast page.
His average exit velocity, barrel rate and hard hit rate are regularly near the top of the league leaderboards. He also has a 2.57 ERA in 28 postseason innings.
Phil Maton is a quality reliever that would be an under the radar acquisition at a reasonable price for the Blue Jays
The Blue Jays are clear buyers, currently sitting atop the American League East, four games ahead of the Yankees.
Their relievers have a collective 3.94 ERA this year, which puts them near the middle of the MLB pack.
They already added one new arm, acquiring Seranthony Dominguez from the Orioles, but are still on the hunt for more.
The Cardinals, meanwhile, hovered in contention for a decent chunk of the season but have clearly moved into sell mode.
In the past few days, they have flipped Helsley to the Mets as well as sending Erick Fedde to Atlanta and Steven Matz to Boston.
Since Maton is an impending free agent, he should be on the move today as well.
Maton's modest salary is surely appealing to the Blue Jays. RosterResource estimates that they have a competitive balance tax number of $280.6MM.
The Orioles reportedly sent the Blue Jays an undisclosed amount of cash in the Dominguez deal.
Maton only has about $650K left to be paid out on his deal, so he wouldn't be a huge hit.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 31 | 173 ANSWERS Toronto Blue Jays in talks with St Louis Cardinals for right-handed reliever Do you think Cardinals reliever Phil Maton would be a good fit in the Toronto Blue Jays bullpen? | ||
| Yes | 123 | 71.1 % |
| No | 50 | 28.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
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