JUPITER, Fla., March 13, 2025 – The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they have signed free-agent right-handed pitcher Phil Maton to a one-year contract for the 2025 season.
Maton (pronounced MAY-tahn) closed out the 2024 season as a member of the New York Mets after coming over in a trade from Tampa Bay on July 9. He went 3-3 with a 3.66 ERA in a combined 71 games with the Mets and Rays last season and appeared in six postseason games during New York’s advance to the National League Championship Series.
The 6-2, 206-pound Maton registered a career-high 18 Holds last season and combined for a 1.11 WHIP, including a 0.84 mark over his 31 games during the Mets stretch run to the postseason.
Maton was unscored upon in 25 of his 31 games pitched for the Mets last season and recorded a 1.99 ERA over his final 42 games pitched dating back to June 12.
Maton, who turns 32 on March 25, will be entering his 9th season in the majors, having debuted in 2017 with the San Diego Padres. He owns a career mark of 19-15 with 5 saves and a 4.16 ERA in 415 career games with San Diego (2017-19), Cleveland (2019-21), Houston (2021-23), Tampa Bay (2024) and the New York Mets (2024). He was drafted by San Diego in 2015 out of Louisiana Tech University.
A native of Chatham, IL, Maton has appeared in 26 postseason games, including the 2021 World Series with Houston.
The Cardinals have designated LHP Bailey Horn for assignment to make room for Maton on the team’s 40-player Major League roster which currently stands at 40 with today’s announcement.
Maton will be issued uniform no. 88 when he reports to the Cardinals Spring Training camp.
— STL —
The Cardinals finally signed an MLB free agent, the last team to do so. No word yet on salary, but I’ll update this post and the Salary Matrix once it’s announced. That said, I like this signing.
Maton should fill that Andrew Kittredge role from last season and solidifies one of the weak points of this roster (or at least the weakest part). He’ll see the occasional save when Ryan Helsley isn’t available and is most likely slated into the main setup role. He’ll also take some of the pressure off the young pitchers in the bullpen in high leverage situations.
Horn will probably be claimed by a team that needs some bullpen depth; if not, he’ll go to Memphis and might be a mid-season callup pending a bullpen injuury. Horn was already optioned to Memphis in the first round of camp cuts.
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