No the Kool Aid Man pitcher isn’t coming to be the Number 3 starter. And no, the Cardinals didn’t sign Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw, Kevin Gausman, or even Robbie Ray. But T.J. McFarland is back in the fold! McFarland, who was a free agent, pitched superbly for St. Louis down the stretch. The Cardinals, who only had two left handed pitchers on their 40 man roster (Genesis Cabrera, and little used Brandon Waddell) figured they could continue to use the ground ball machine T.J. McFarland in 2022. The 32 year old McFarland pitched in 38 games for St. Louis last season after being signed in late June, but made his debut in mid July for the Cardinals. He pitched to a 2.56 ERA over 38 ⅔ innings with a WHIP of 1.060, and a ground ball rate right around 62%. Contract details aren’t available yet. McFarland’s best Cardinals moment might be from the pitch he threw that led to the infamous 325-4286 double play at Wrigley Field in late September. It will be hard to top last year’s numbers, but if T.J. comes anywhere close to those, he’ll be a steal out of the Cardinals bullpen.

It’s a good signing. Now we need to bring back Garcia…..no not Jaime. 🙂