Cardinals re-sign LaRue, bring in Ruben Gotay
ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Cardinals have re-upped with catcher Jason LaRue, bringing back the veteran for a third season as Yadier Molina’s backup, and they have signed six-year free agent Ruben Gotay to a minor-league deal that comes with an invitation to major-league spring training.
Both players were signed to one-year deals, the club announced this afternoon.
The return of LaRue was reported earlier here at Cardinal Beat and also this morning on the club’s official Twitter feed (@MLBSTLCardinals). The Cardinals had expressed an interest in exploring options at backup catcher, possibly looking for an offensive upgrade or a catcher that could handle more innings. Molina led the National League in starts at catcher this past season, and he finished second in the NL in innings caught to Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Russell Martin.
Financial terms of the deals were not immediately known. LaRue is coming off a deal that paid him $950,000.
Gotay, 26, spent last season with Class AAA Reno, where he played both second base and third base. Gotay has nearly years of major-league experience, including stints with the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets. In 2009, he hit .272 in Triple-A with a compelling .429 on-base percentage and a .450 slugging. He had 11 home runs and 29 doubles for Reno, but he also had more walks (102) than hits (101). He struck out 69 times. As a switch-hitter who can play multiple positions in the field he fits the mold of players who have made the major-league roster out of spring training before, from Abe Nunez and Aaron Miles to lefthanded-hitting Joe Thurston.
Gotay has a career average of .255 with a career .315 on-base percentage in 316 big-league games.
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(3 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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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. 
Gotay it on the mountain, the Cards have signed another useless utility man.
Yippidy dooo we signed larue…
Gotay can you see, what a crappy signing.
Sorry, but this signing really get’s my Gotay.
We should sign Jose’s younger brother, Ozzie, so we can have a 1-2 punch of
Gotay-Canseco.
Or, we should also sign Armando Rios, for the 1-2 punch of
Gotay Rios.
Give me one good reason the Gotay signing is bad. They didn’t sign him to be a starter, he is a AAA player that we could use as a 25th man when we have injuries. The $ amount is most likely under $1 million. Or would you suggest we pay someone like Miles more than $2 Million. If you would want that, you might as well be a Cubs fan.
No, I don’t suggest we sign Miles. How about this idea, we bring up one of the 12 utility infielders we drafted over the past three seasons and let them play and give them a shot instead of always signing useless, far less than average lifetime AAA players.
Oh, you don’t know why, it’s LaRussa. He can’t coach young talent, so we have to find him a middle-aged bum who can’t cut it anywhere else.
Oh, and the one good reason - - he is Ruben Gotay. That’s why you don’t sign him.
Some of these seemingly insignificant signings can turn into gold mines; ya just never know. Hey K N-M, open mic nite is Wednesday at The Funny Bone though I doubt they will appreciate your attempts at witty banter either.
KNM….wake up. Gotay is actually a pretty decent player who will probably do much better than Thurston for sure. Do some research, read the article, look at his stats…or you could just spout off with some more of your senseless, not well thought out genius rhetoric.