NEW YORK — By dealing the righthander who just a few years ago was the organization’s top prospect, the Cardinals finally found the change of scenery that Anthony Reyes has been looking for.
The Cardinals traded Reyes from their Triple-A rotation to Cleveland for a minor-league reliever on Saturday. In the deal, the Cardinals received reliever Luis Perdomo, a 24-year-old righthander, and cash.
“Obviously, we were getting to a point where we had to make a decision with Anthony and what his future with us is,” general manager John Mozeliak said after finalizing the deal. “We were looking to add some depth to the minor-league system (in the bullpen) and wanted to do something that would have some implication for next year. We wanted to add depth.”
Reyes, 26, peaked as a Cardinal by winning Game 1 of the 2006 World Series, but never really found traction as a major-league starter. A 15th-round pick out of Southern Cal in 2003, Reyes was a determined fireballer, an approach that served him well at Triple-A but didn’t translate to the major leagues despite his attempts. The Cardinals worked with him on expanding his array of pitches and getting him to embrace a two-seam fastball, though he did so with vary degrees — and velocities — of success.
Reyes went 10-24 in the majors, including a 2-14 turn through the rotation last year.
The righthander began this season in the Cardinals’ bullpen, experiencing some success as a middle reliever. He got his first win of the season and the first save of his career in consecutive appearances in April. The Cardinals returned him to Triple-A in May to rejoin the rotation there and either enhance outside interest in him or pitch his way back to the majors.
In the meantime, the Cardinals elected to have three rookies make spot starts at the major-league level rather than recall Reyes.
The indications were Reyes was a change-of-scenery candidate.
“We were looking at a lot of different things (with Reyes), and as it got closer to (the nonwaiver trade deadline) July 31st, we didn’t think the market was going to shift all that much after it,” Mozeliak said. “We could have gotten into the offseason and looked at what was available, but to maximize his value we thought it was better to do something sooner rather than later.”
Perdomo was 5-1 with a 1.66 ERA in 40 appearances this season, split between the Class A and Class AA levels. Overall, he’s struck out 60 and walked 24 in 54 1/3 innings. He was a Carolina League All-Star as a closer for the Indians’ High-A affiliate. Perdomo was most recently with Cleveland’s Double-A affiliate, where he was 2-0 with a 3.52. Signed in 2003 as an undrafted free agent, Perdomo spent three years at the Cleveland’s academy in the Dominican Republic before making his minor-league debut in 2006.
He throws a fastball in the 90-mph to 94-mph range and has an effective slider. He projects as a setup reliever.
Perdomo has been assigned to Double-A Springfield.
Here are a couple Web sites to check out his statistics and vitals:
More on the trade, the possibility of Chris Carpenter starting next week in Atlanta and other news later tonight on StlToday.com or in Sunday’s Post-Dispatch.
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