The St. Louis Cardinals have reached an agreement with 31 year old pitcher Brad Penny. It will be a one year deal with a base of seven million and incentives built in that could make it as high as nine million. Last year he spent time between Boston and San Francisco. His best years were 06 and 07 with the Dodgers where he went 16-9 and 16-4. Last season he was 11-9 with a 4.88 ERA, but was 4-1 with a 2.59 ERA with the Giants who were also bidding for Penny.
GM John Mozeliak hopes to make the official announcement today or Wednesday. Penny still needs to pass a physical. While talks for free agent outfielder Matt Holliday have been slow, Mozeliak was not ready to say that the Cardinals pursuit of Holliday is done. The Cardinals are also interested in Mark DeRosa coming back and they have their eyes on a couple of other free agents. Mozeliak said he’s got his eye on another outfielder, second basemen and third basemen.