ST. LOUIS -- The Cardinals continued adding veteran presence to their bullpen -- long a mission of new president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom this winter -- when they agreed to terms on a contract with free-agent reliever Ryne Stanek on Friday, a source told MLB’s Mark Feinsand.
The team has not announced the signing. Stanek’s contract is contingent on him passing a physical, the source told Feinsand.
Stanek, 34, was born in St. Louis before graduating from high school in Stillwell, Kan., and starring collegiately at the University of Arkansas. In his nine-year MLB career, the 6-foot-4, 226-pound right-hander has pitched for the Rays, Marlins, Astros, Mariners and Mets, winning a World Series with Houston in 2022.
Bloom has worked this winter to rebuild a bullpen that traded standout closer Ryan Helsley, setup man Phil Maton and swingman Steven Matz last July. The Cardinals acquired veteran left-hander Justin Bruihl earlier in the week to replace lefty John King, who was not tendered a contract following the 2025 season.
Stanek brings some much-needed swing-and-miss stuff to the Cardinals bullpen. His four-seam fastball ranked in MLB’s 96th percentile in average velocity (98.5 mph) last season, per Baseball Savant. That pitch allowed him to register a 27.8% whiff rate (71st percentile) and a 30% chase rate (72nd percentile) in 2025.
Stanek leaned heavily on his hard stuff, throwing his fastball 57 percent of the time last season. He recorded 32 of his 58 strikeouts on at-bats that ended with his fastball. Foes hit .268 off that pitch as opposed to .184 against his slider, .333 vs. his splitter and .250 against his sweeper.
Used primarily as a middle reliever by the Mets in 2025, Stanek was 4-6 with a 5.30 ERA in 56 innings over 65 games. He finished 17 games and allowed seven home runs and 32 walks.
It was a second straight year of struggles for the veteran right-hander, who battled arm injuries in 2024 and appeared in just 17 games. He had a 6.06 ERA in 16 1/3 innings of work that year.
Stanek’s best season came in 2022, when he helped the Astros win their second World Series crown. That season, he posted a 1.15 ERA over 59 appearances and struck out 62 hitters in 54 1/3 innings worked. He also did not allow a run in four playoff games.
In his MLB career -- parts of three seasons with the Rays, parts of two seasons with the Marlins, three seasons with the Astros, part of one season with the Mariners and parts of two seasons with the Mets -- Stanek is 21-23 with a 3.85 ERA over 466 games. He has 531 strikeouts in 458 1/3 innings pitched and has averaged 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings of work. He has posted double-digit strikeout-per-nine ratios six times in nine seasons.