St. Louis Cardinals Sign Former Astros Flamethrower to Deal…

Former hard-throwing reliever for the Houston Astros has found a new home.

It seems like everything was up for grabs for the Houston Astros to strengthen their bullpen this offseason, since they were without four of their options from the previous year.

They may have contacted those well-known faces even though they were purportedly not interested in getting back together with Hector Neris, Phil Maton, or Ryne Stanek, even if they had a legitimate need.

Rather, owner Jim Crane accomplished something unique in his tenure by letting the front office push a free agent over the luxury tax for just the second time with a megadeal.

Now that Josh Hader is a member of the team, confidence that the group is making every effort to win a third World Series has returned.

One of the Astros’ former relievers has now found a new home as free agency continues to rage.

The St. Louis Cardinals have reportedly signed Josh James to a minor league contract, per MLB Trade Rumors.

After being selected by Houston in the 34th round of the 2014 MLB Draft, James worked his way up through the organization’s pipeline to make his Major League debut in 2018. James was a hard-throwing reliever with a 4.64 ERA who struggled with command throughout his 106 2/3 innings pitched, striking out 158 batters with a K/9 ratio of 13.3. James appeared in 73 games during his four seasons with the Astros.

After undergoing surgery in 2020 to repair a labral tear in his left hip, James was sidelined for a considerable amount of time and only played in 18 games in 2020 and 2021 combined. James was declared free agent following the 2022 season and will now have another chance to pitch for the Cardinals. At thirty-nine, James could potentially return to Major League Baseball if he can maintain his high strikeout rate and resolve his command issues.