Cardinals Sign Craig to 5-year Deal

Relatively speaking, the Cardinals have had it made at first base for most of the last past 15 years or so. Beginning with some Hulk named Mark McGwire, the team has been somewhat stacked at first. Even in the two years between McGwire’s retirement and Albert Pujols switching to first permanently, the team at least had some stability in the form of Tino Martinez.

When Pujols bolted last year for the greener pastures of higher property taxes and increased smog, the Cardinals turned to Allen Craig, who at the time had a grand total of seven major league games at the position (to be fair, Craig did have some experience at first in the minors). And all he did was slash .307/.354/.522 with 22 HR and 92 RBI. Had Craig not missed the first month, it’s likely he would have had closer to 25-27 HR and easily cleared the century mark in RBI. Craig has also played extensively in the corner spots in the outfield (remember, he caught the final out in Game 7 of the 2011 World Series).