Cardinals & Descalso avoid arbitration

The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they have agreed to terms with infielder Daniel Descalso on a one-year contract for the upcoming 2014 season, thus avoiding salary arbitration. Financial terms were not disclosed. Descalso was the last of three Cardinals arbitration-eligible players to sign. Outfielders Peter Bourjos and Jon Jay agreed to terms earlier this month.

"We are pleased to have reached an agreeable resolution with Daniel and we are looking forward to the start of Spring Training," stated Cardinals Senior Vice President/General Manager John Mozeliak.

Descalso, 27, appeared in 123 games last season, setting personal single-season highs for home runs (5), RBI (42), doubles (25) and runs scored (43). The left-handed hitting Descalso owns a career batting mark of .243 with 10 home runs and 101 RBI in 425 games since debuting with the Cardinals in 2010.

The versatile Descalso and infielder Jamey Carroll are the lone players in the majors to have made more than 90 appearances at third base, second base and shortstop over the past three (2011-13) seasons. Descalso has played 177 games at third, 153 at second and 94 at shortstop in that span while also playing five games at first base.