The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Joe Strauss reports the St. Louis Cardinals have signed free-agent 2B Felipe Lopez (Brewers) to a one-year contract. The deal has a base salary of less than $2 million and includes incentives.
Our Instinct: This is a great move by both sides. As hard as it is to believe, Lopez was actually the fall back plan the Cardinals couldn’t resign Matt Holiday. However, the market bottom out on Lopez, who recently fired agent Scott Boras, hoping to get more attention. Lopez can play any position outside of pitcher and catcher, and with Brendan Ryan recovering from a wrist injury, he makes a great insurance policy. Lopez can trigger incentives at 350 ab’s and then every 50 ab’s after that. Expect him to get enough ab’s to trigger most, if not all of his incentives. He should have decent value in fantasy leagues.
