With March right around the corner, the St. Louis Cardinals are making moves — both for the short- and long-term.
The Cubs' division rivals are reportedly adding catcher Matt Wieters on a minor-league contract and they also extended starting pitcher Miles Mikolas through the 2023 season:
Wieters turns 33 in May and has never really made good on his uber-prospect status. He's had a few nice years with the Orioles, including 4 trips to the All-Star Game (2011, 2012, 2014, 2016), but he's mostly fallen on hard times the last few years.
The switch-hitting veteran catcher has only averaged 85 games a season since 2013 and slashed .246/.308/.393 (.702 OPS) in that span. He's still widely regarded as a good defensive catcher and he does have pop (135 career homers), but he has a 0.0 WAR (Baseball Reference) over the last two years with the Washington Nationals.
Wieters probably won't be counted on to catch much even if he makes the big-league club, as Yadier Molina is a workhorse — having caught at least 110 games each season since 2004. Still, Wieters provides some nice depth if Molina goes down to injury or starts slowing down in his age-36 season.
As for Mikolas, that's bad news for the Cubs.
The 30-year-old right-hander is set to make $68 million over the extra 4 years, on top of the 2-year, $15.5 million deal he signed with the Cardinals prior to 2018:
Mikolas was originally drafted in the 7th round of 2009 by the San Diego Padres and saw some time in the big leagues from 2012-14 with the Padres and Texas Rangers. He went to Japan for the 2015 season and spent three years there, coming back to the United States a changed pitcher with impeccable control.
Last year, Mikolas led the National League in walks per 9 innings (1.3), hits allowed (186), wins (18 - tied with Jon Lester) and winning percentage (.818) while finishing 6th in Cy Young voting and sporting a 2.83 ERA and 1.07 WHIP.
MLB
He was fantastic in his 4 starts against the Cubs, going 3-0 with a 1.38 ERA and 1.04 WHIP across 26 innings.
Everything about Mikolas' 2018 breakout screams "legit" and he's still in the midst of his prime, so the Cubs better learn how to figure him out quick — because he's not going anywhere for a long time.
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