It’s not the “re-signing a free agent” news Cardinals fans have been waiting for, but St. Louis is bringing back veteran reliever Jonathan Broxton on a two-year contract.
Acquired from the Brewers in a midseason trade, Broxton posted a 2.66 ERA with 26 strikeouts in 24 innings for the Cardinals. He’s not the dominant late-inning force he was with the Dodgers once upon a time, but Broxton has a combined 3.61 ERA and 137/53 K/BB ratio in 150 innings during the past three seasons and still throws plenty hard.
He’ll work a setup role for the Cardinals, who now have the massive right-hander under contract for his age 32 and 33 seasons. St. Louis made Broxton a free agent by declining his $9 million option for 2016 earlier in the offseason and Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com says the new two-year deal is worth $7.5 million total.