The Cardinals have signed 33-year old switch-hitting infielder Nick Punto to a 1-year deal. Punto played in 88 games for the Twins last season and he was 60 of 252 (.238 avg, .615 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 1 homer, 20 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. He has now played in 824 games in his first 10 years in the majors and he is 610 of 2,468 (.247 avg, .644 OPS) with 325 runs scored, 13 homers, 198 RBIs and 91 stolen bases. Punto will give the Cardinals speed and versatility to the bench for 2011 and for those reasons I like this signing for them.

UPDATE: (2/23/2011) - Nick Punto has had surgery to repair a sports hernia. He will miss the next 8-12 weeks meaning that he won’t be ready to play until late April at the earliest.

The Cardinals have signed 30-year old lefty swinging infielder Freddie Bynum to a minor league deal. He didn’t play anywhere last season. Bynum last played in the majors in 2008 with the Orioles. He has played in 188 games in his first four years in the majors and he is 82 of 351 (.234 avg, .654 OPS) with 54 runs scored, 6 homers, 32 RBIs and 18 stolen bases. Bynum will likely start the season in AAA and get a call if the Cardinals need him at some point in 2011.

The Cardinals have signed 34-year old lefty swinging SS/2B/3B Ramon Vazquez to a minor league contract. Vazquez has played in 51 games in AAA-ball last season and he was 46 of 179 (.257 avg, .693 OPS) with 19 runs scored, 1 homer and 17 RBIs. Vazquez last played in the majors in 2009 with the Pirates. He has played in 696 games in his first 9 years in the majors and he is 496 of 1,951 (.254 avg, .678 OPS) with 244 runs scored, 22 homers, 176 RBIs and 20 stolen bases. Vazquez will get a shot to make the Cardinals’ bench this spring.

The St. Louis Cardinals have signed 29-year old righty starting pitcher Ian Snell to a minor league deal. Snell pitched in 12 games (8 starts) for the Mariners last season and he was 0-5 with a 6.41 ERA and a 1.84 WHIP. Snell has now pitched in 152 games (136 starts) in his first seven years in the majors and he is 38-53 with a 4.80 ERA and a 1.55 WHIP. This is the exact kind of pitcher that Dave Duncan usually fixes as his career to now reminds me a lot of Kyle Lohse’s. I think this is a good low risk/high reward gamble for the Cardinals.

The Cardinals have signed 39-year old righty reliever Miguel Batista to a minor league deal. Batista pitched in 58 games (1 start) for the Nationals last season and he was 1-2 with 2 saves, a 3.70 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. He has now pitched in 588 games (238 starts) in his first 16 years in the majors and he is 96-110 with 41 saves, a 4.51 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP. The Cardinals will give Batista a shot to make the bullpen in spring training and I think he will make it. Batista always has had good stuff so maybe Dave Duncan will get him to step up in 2011 for the Cardinals.