Cards claim lefty reliever Manning (w/ video)
Looking to address an organization-wide lack of depth, the Cardinals claimed lefthanded reliever Charlie Manning off outright waivers Wednesday. Manning, 29, was immediately added to the 40-man roster, and he’ll come to spring training with a chance to compete for a spot in the Cardinals’ bullpen.
To make room for the lefty the Cardinals designated slugger Josh Phelps for assignment.
Manning made his major-league debut with the Washington Nationals this past season, pitching 42 innings over 57 appearances. He went 1-3 with a 5.14 ERA and struck out 37. More specific to his role, Manning held lefties to a .203 average with a .281 on-base percentage. He walked nine lefties this season, and he struck out 23 in 79 at-bats. His minor-league splits from this past season show a more profound difference between how he does against lefthanded hitters and righthanded hitters. In the minors for Washington, he held lefties to a .149 batting average and struck out 18 of 51 batters faced.
LHP Charles Nelson Manning
The lefty has bounced around since being a ninth-round selection in the 2001 draft, twice toiling in the New York Yankees’ system and once being traded to Cincinnati before signing a minor-league deal with the Nationals before the most recent spring training.
This offseason, the Cardinals have two returning major-league lefthanded relievers whose rights they control — Randy Flores, coming off a two-year deal, and Tyler Johnson, coming off shoulder surgery. Veteran Ron Villone is a free agent. Even during the June amateur draft the Cardinals mentioned a need to beef-up their depth on the left side of the bullpen, as there wasn’t an obvious and rising option in the system. (Samuel Freeman has caught eyes, though, with his performance this past season at short-season Johnson City, and a strong showing in the instructs.) That need hasn’t changed in the months since the draft, as prospect Jaime Garcia had Tommy John surgery, Flores had season-ending surgery after an inconsistent year, and Johnson continued his rehab.
Manning, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound pitcher, began his minor-league career as a starter but quickly moved into a relief role. He had 277 appearances in the eight seasons in the minors before making his big-league debut.
He had his struggles in that first week with the Nationals, allowing homers in back-to-back appearances against San Diego, and five of the eight home runs hit off him this past season were either by Padres in that series or by Mets later in the summer. He made his debut in the ninth inning against Milwaukee, striking out two batters and keeping the ball he used to K Jason Kendall.
“It just kind of hit me. It was awesome,” Manning told reporters after that game. “After I first came out, I just had to take it all in. Not so much when I was coming in from the bullpen, but when my name was first called to get up, the adrenaline started kicking in for me. … It’s unbelievable. It’s been a long road six years with the Yankees. It’s just so special to come up. Finally, after everything I’ve worked for, I got the chance to throw (in a major league game).”
Here is an OK video of him throwing in the bullpen for the Trenton Thunder, a Yankee affiliate:
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
Good deal Cardinals. Hopefully manning can help cure the sickly lefty relievers.