11.30.2009 10:03 am
Jason LaRue signs one-year deal
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The Cardinals have signed backup catcher Jason LaRue to a one-year contract, Joe Strauss of the Post-Dispatch reports.
No details yet on the financial part of the deal.
The team had indicated it might try to find a way to look at other options to back up Yadier Molina to help ease his load but with this signing, it appears they are sticking with the status quo, at least for now.
LaRue batted .240 in 104 at-bats and appeared in 51 games last season.
(7 votes, average: 3.71 out of 5)
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Nothing wrong with LaRue at all as a backup. He is also a nice tough guy person who plays hard. If it is not broke don’t fix it. Good move Cards.
Backup catcher is no place to get risky. If we are putting the kind of team in place that we NEED Yadier Molina’s bat in the lineup to win, I do not want anything to do with the 2010 Cardinals.
LaRue is a great clubhouse guy, calls a decent game, has a nice arm and can occasionally come up with a nice hit. Oh, and he is a cowboy and rocks a mean fu manchu. All of the necessary ingredients to being a solid backup catcher.
If it means keeping Molina a little more spry than he was in 2009, I would not mind LaRue getting 1 out of every 4 starts…which would roughly translate into 180 AB’s or so. If we were talking about Joe Mauer’s bat, this would be a different story. But missing Molina’s bat once or twice a week should not have THAT big of an impact. Nice, no-brainer re-signing.
Um…yuck. We need a back-up who could play a few games in a row and actually have some pop…not liking this. Seems the “safe and cheaper” way out to me…
Dan and Bob nailed it — this is a bench guy who knows his role. A likeable fellow and a known quantity for a Cy Young winner, a shoulda-been Cy Young winner and the rest of the staff. Good signing.
Very glad to see LaRue back again. Perfect back-up catcher. Nothing wrong with safe and “cheap”–it’s not your money.
good to see him back…just wished he played a lil more just so yadi can get a lil break now and then
Signing LaRue is a good deal but I hope the Cardinals are going to do more, lots more in the way of signings.
About time, he’s a good backup and with a 1 yr deal this will allow the Cards to evaluate Lil Pags next year. LaRue is a good teammate and I personally am glad to see him returning.
its not a bad move.. its a low cost move that brings in LaRue for one more year while they see what they have with the young talent in the minors. All this means is they have one more person to compete for the backup job in spring training. Pagnozzi, Anderson, etc could still have a shot at being a backup to Molina, but right now they need someone who is a proven backup. If he can catch 25 to 30 games next year thats all you look for in a backup.
Good initial move. Why sweat this position when, as others have pointed out, it’s working just fine. Young Pags will have his day and rushing it won’t help. Now let’s wrap up Holliday, DeRosa and Pinero and go ahead and win the big one next season. Go Cards!