Cardinals Sign Franklin

I missed this the other day when talking about the Cardinals’ signing of Mark Mulder, but St. Louis has inked right-hander Ryan Franklin to a 1-year, $1 million deal. Franklin came out of nowhere in 2003 to have a real nice season in the Seattle Mariners rotation. His low strikeout totals suggested that he’d have a tough time repeating, and sure enough, Franklin’s performance dipped in each of the next two years.

In 2006, Franklin benefited from two changes of scenery. First, he left the Mariners organization; second, he moved to the bullpen. Spending most of the season with Philadelphia before being traded to the Reds in August, Franklin pitched reasonably well as a reliever for both clubs. He gives up a lot of homers and doesn’t have great control, so his margin for error is extremely small. A couple months shy of age 34, Franklin is the kind of guy who all of a sudden could have a couple of bad outings and be done.

That said, Franklin was able to handle the workload — he appeared in 66 games — and he’s already shown that he can start if needed. He’s a versatile, durable, experienced pitcher who probably will give about league-average production. There’s absolutely nothing sexy about Franklin’s game, but a team could do a lot worse for $1 million.