Future Redbirds

Not to interrupt the great discussion going on today, but

Per Rosenthal—

The Cardinals, adding a right-handed hitter to their bench, have signed Josh Phelps to a minor-league contract.

Phelps, who turns 30 on May 12, will serve mainly in a pinch-hitting role if he makes the club while also serving as a backup to first baseman Albert Pujols and third catcher.

His contract includes a major-league salary of $750,000 and $250,000 in performance bonuses, according to a major-league source.

Whatever. I don’t really see him making the big league roster out of camp; he was a terrible catcher in the minors and is primarily a DH. He’s just isn’t versatile enough for a TLR ballclub. I dub Josh Phelps Tagg Bozied Part Two, Alaskan Nightmare Edition. The real tragedy of all this is that Mike Ferris won’t be the starting 1B for Memphis this season. NOOOOOOO!!!

His Baseball Reference wiki entry lays out a sad tale of a busted prospect. Phelps was an interesting player because of his bat, but when you get into his peripherals he only had one season in the minors with a really good BB/K rate. Power guys with .25 or so BB/K rates can tantalize you if they are squeezing out high BA’s due to some fluky BABIPs. Considering those rates, plus his severe defensive limitations, it should’ve been a little more evident that Phelps was relatively overrated for some time.

I don’t think it’s a bad move, as there have been some concerns about Pujols’s elbow for a little while now. As much as I really don’t want to think about that, Phelps is sort of nice to have handy if the worst happens.