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MLB St Louis Cardinals

St. Louis Cardinals Should Pursue Free Agent Catcher Nick Hundley

By @DrewJenkins77

Nick Hundley

Tommy Gilligan- USA TODAY Sports

One of the St. Louis Cardinals‘ worst nightmares came to life in 2014 when star catcher Yadier Molina went down with an injury both during the regular season and the playoffs. Losing Molina was bad enough; after all he has been one of, if not the best catcher in baseball for the past few years, and he has been an All-Star each of the last six seasons.

Compounding his loss, however, was the fact that the Cardinals’ backup catcher was Tony Cruz, who has been a below replacement level player in his career, as his minus-0.4 career fWAR indicates. This was poor planning by the Cardinals, and it came back to haunt them. Thus, the Cardinals need to add insurance at catcher this offseason, and adding free agent Nick Hundley is a way they could do that.

Hundley is nothing spectacular, but he would be an upgrade over Cruz and passable as a starter if Molina were to get hurt again. Over his career, Hundley has hit .238/.294/.386 with an 88 wRC+, a significant improvement over Cruz’s .225/.271/.310 line and 59 wRC+. Hundley’s 75 wRC+ in 2014 was also significantly better than Cruz’s 51 mark. The Cardinals were tied for just 23rd in runs scored in 2014, and while Hundley would not be the savior of the offense, every little bit helps.

Defensively, Hundley has a slight edge over Cruz. His 27 percent career caught stealing rate is worse than Cruz’s 31 percent career rate, but overall, Hundley is the better catcher. Over the past three years, Hundley has been worth 8.9, 12.5 and 3.2 respective runs above-average on defense according to Fangraph’s Def stat whereas Cruz has been worth 2.5, 1.9 and 0.5. Hundley is no pitch-framing wizard, but in 2014 he was worth 1.9 runs above-average whereas Cruz was 7.4 runs below average.

Hundley also brings more experience than Cruz, which is an underrated intangible for catchers. Over his big league career, Hundley has appeared in 516 games at catcher while Cruz has seen just 158 games of action. That is a significant difference, and as a former starter, Hundley has more experience in handling a big league pitching staff than Cruz.

Hundley would also not be a significant cost for the Cardinals. Last season he made $4 million, but after the Baltimore Orioles declined his $5 million team option for 2015, he seems likely likely make less than the $4 million mark. Given the value of catchers, he might be in line for a short multi-year deal if he so chooses. Something along the lines of a one-year, $2.5 million or a two-year, $4.5 million deal seems reasonable. Cruz is still under control as a pre-arbitration player, meaning his 2015 salary would be in the ballpark of $500,000. Still, the approximately $2 million difference in Hundley and Cruz’s potential 2015 salary would be a more than reasonable cost for the Cardinals.

The Cardinals do not have a dire need at catcher, but signing Hundley is a way they can get an upgrade at the position, both offensively and defensively. Molina showed signs of wear and tear in 2014, and thus the Cardinals need to bring in a better insurance option. While Hundley certainly is not the hottest name on the catching market, he would be a cheap upgrade, and the Cardinals need to take advantage of that.

Drew Jenkins is an MLB writer and Sabermetrics Columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @DrewJenkins77, “Like” him on Facebook, add him to your network on Google, or contact him at [email protected].

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