Randy Choate excited as he joins the St. Louis Cardinals - MLB News
Adding a lefty reliever to bullpen was required. As to who would eventually make it there was probably largely unknown – since there were no words about it initially. It turned out that Randy Choate was fated to fill that role as the St. Louis Cardinals
introduced the veteran reliever on Friday, Dec. 07.
The official announcement was made after he passed a physical, winning the contract of $7.5 million for the three years. This is the longest contract of his career, along with the amount of money that he is getting.
The 37-year-old Choate comes with plans to execute here; one of which is to have at least 45 innings in the 90 appearances. Previously associated with the Los Angeles Dodgers, among other teams, Choate got offers from other teams as well: which included
both the Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds other than the Cardinals.
In 2012, leading the Majors, the reliever tossed a total of 38 2/3 innings in 80 appearances. For Choate, all this is part of the learning process.
Being with the New York Yankees, Arizona Diamondbacks, Tampa Bay Rays, Miami Marlins and Los Angeles Dodgers in 12 years of his career, Choate brings with himself experience.
"I think it was more a learning process for me at an early age," Choate said. "I didn't really grasp everything until 2009, when [Tampa Bay manager] Joe Maddon put me in a role to be successful. Joe really knew how to best use me, and I have been able to
build on it from there. It took quite a learning curve for me to get here."
Quite coincidently, Randy Choate will have his former teammate Edward Mujica here in the St. Loyis Cardinals. "I'm thrilled to be his teammate again," Choate said. "He's one of the favorite guys I have ever played with."
The Cardinals came with a modest list in the Winter Meetings. When the meetings concluded on Thursday, they had a reliever added to the roster; a move that will not only lend strength to the bullpen but also uniquely place them in the National League Central.
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