Cardinals bringing Wainwright back for 2020
The St. Louis Cardinals announced Tuesday that they have agreed to terms with pitcher Adam Wainwright on a one-year contract for the 2020 season.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed by the team.
Wainwright, 38, will be entering his 16th season with the Cardinals in 2020, the third-most seasons as a pitcher in a Redbirds uniform. Jesse Haines (18 years, 1920-37) and Bob Gibson (17 years, 1959-75) are the only pitchers ahead of him.
“We are excited to have Adam returning for 2020 and look forward to watching him continue to add to his tremendous career legacy with the Cardinals,” stated Cardinals’ President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak.
Wainwright went 14-10 last season with a 4.19 ERA in 31 starts, leading the National League with his five wins in September. He finished tied for sixth in the N.L. in wins, his highest season win total since 2014 when he won 20, as he became the lone active National League pitcher with 10 career double-digit win seasons.
Wainwright will enter the 2020 season ranked fourth all-time among Cardinals in wins (162), second in strikeouts (1,776) and sixth in innings pitched (2,103.2).
Brought to the Cardinals from his hometown team in a trade that send outfielder JD Drew to the Atlanta Braves, Wainwright has been part of World Series championships in 2006 and 2011 and earned All-Star selections in 2010, 2013 and 2014
Among active pitchers, he ranks eighth in wins, 14th in strikeouts and 9th in ERA (3.39), despite missing significant time due to injury in 2011, 2015 and 2018.
Wainwright was the first Cardinals pitcher since Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1928 to post 14-plus wins at age 38 or older, and the first in the majors to have done so since the Mets’ Bartolo Colon, who won 15 games in 2016.
A two-time Rawlings Gold Glove and National League Silver Slugger, Wainwright owns a career mark of 162-95 with a 3.39 ERA in 383 games covering 2,203.2 innings pitched. He is the Cardinals all-time leader in postseason games pitched (27) and strikeouts (115) and was on the mound for the Cardinals World Series and National League Championship Series clinching wins in 2006.