Add Batista to the long list of midseason cuts
Another Dave Duncan reclamation project ended Wednesday when the Cardinals released veteran Miguel Batista. The 40-year-old formerly notorious in St. Louis for scrapping with Tino Martinez played a perhaps greater-than-expected role in the team’s bullpen until his release, getting the most work of any Cardinal reliever (137 batters faced).
The Cardinals’ past is littered with pitchers that they have discarded mid-season. Yet Batista, who was third-worst on the club with a 5.59 xFIP, ranks best in the obscure measure of usage per day under contract. Cardinals pitchers released in mid-season by Games/Day under contract:
| Pitcher | T | Acquired | Released | Days | Games | Games/Day |
| Miguel Batista | R | 1/14/11 | 6/22/11 | 159 | 26 | 0.16 |
| Gabe White | L | 4/26/05 | 6/12/05 | 47 | 6 | 0.13 |
| Sidney Ponson | R | 12/21/05 | 7/7/06 | 198 | 14 | 0.07 |
| Bill Pulsipher | L | 2/21/05 | 9/6/05 | 197 | 5 | 0.03 |
| Kevin Jarvis | R | 2/19/05 | 9/2/05 | 195 | 4 | 0.02 |
| Nerio Rodriguez | R | 1/18/05 | 5/6/05 | 108 | 2 | 0.02 |
| Shawn Sedlacek | R | 4/17/05 | 5/18/05 | 31 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Toby Borland | R | 11/16/04 | 5/29/05 | 194 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Vladimir Nunez | R | 5/23/05 | 7/2/05 | 40 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Anthony Ferrari | L | 5/6/05 | 7/20/05 | 75 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Chris Mears | R | 7/1/05 | 7/24/05 | 23 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Armando Almanza | L | 8/4/05 | 9/6/05 | 33 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Brad Voyles | R | 11/23/05 | 5/25/06 | 183 | 0 | 0.00 |
| John Riedling | R | 12/21/05 | 6/23/06 | 184 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Will Cunnane | R | 5/10/06 | 6/26/06 | 47 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Tomo Ohka | R | 6/19/07 | 7/4/07 | 15 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Matt Ginter | R | 2/12/07 | 8/17/07 | 186 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Matt Clement | R | 1/3/08 | 8/2/08 | 212 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Rich Hill | L | 1/26/10 | 6/30/10 | 155 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Renyel Pinto | L | 7/2/10 | 8/21/10 | 50 | 0 | 0.00 |
| NatE. Robertson | L | 8/2/10 | 8/23/10 | 21 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Ian Snell | R | 1/14/11 | 4/11/11 | 87 | 0 | 0.00 |
Whatever his shortcomings this season — and to be clear, he had a few — let it not be said that Batista didn’t answer the bell when it rang.
In contrast, the ash heap of Cardinal history sadly includes many ill-fated signings of pitchers who never even made it to the Mound City’s mound. In fact, eight of the last 21 midseason releasees have ended their careers with the Cardinals. That is, they never signed another contract after the Cardinals released them. It’s still too early to tell for Batista, of course, but given that he’s at least healthy, the smart money is on him returning to a major-league bullpen. Who knows, maybe we’ll even see him pitch against the Cardinals again. Let’s just hope he doesn’t plunk any of our players this time.