Sunday, June 22

ST. LOUIS -- The story of Phil Maton’s offseason is one of both frustrating heartburn and a heartwarming conclusion … at least, for now.

First: the offseason’s ending, which evolved into being a feel-good positive for Maton, 32. A native of Chatham, Ill., Maton grew up a diehard Cardinals fan. He and his family saw dozens of games at Busch Stadium II and III. So, when the Cards came calling midway through Spring Training and offering a contract to fill the setup role to All-Star closer Ryan Helsley, Maton was struck by the surreal full-circle nature of calling Busch Stadium -- the place where he cheered on Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright -- his place of work.

Earlier in his career, Maton had pitched for the Padres, Guardians, Astros, Rays and Mets, and now he was, in essence, “coming home” to pitch for his boyhood team. Asked what 10-year-old Phil would have thought about pulling on the birds-on-a-bat Cardinals jersey, he chuckled and launched into story time.

“He would have thought that was super cool,” Maton said. “We had all the Cardinals gear at the house, especially Mark McGwire stuff. I remember having a little red plastic Cardinals locker in my bedroom. It’s really cool wearing this jersey every day, and it almost feels like something I would pull out of my closet as a kid, wearing Cards gear every day. But, no, being with the Cardinals has really been a cool experience so far.”

Maton dropped the “so far” qualifier at the end because he knows there’s likely no future for him with the Cardinals even though he has been one of the club’s top performers. Through his first 12 appearances, he compiled four holds and one save and didn’t allow an earned run -- with three of those outings coming against former teams in the Astros and the Mets (more on that later).

Maton made his Major League-leading 15th appearance and tallied his sixth hold in Saturday's 6-5 win, but he did blink a bit earlier in the week against the Braves. He walked his first batters of the season and surrendered his first earned runs on Monday, when he admittedly couldn’t find the grip on a curveball that is widely regarded as one of the best breaking balls in the sport. How good is his curveball? His nickname is “Spin Rate” because of the incredible amount of torque he can put on his arm to snap off tightly wound breaking balls.

Maton handled the poor outing much like he did the solid ones early on, refusing to get too high or too low. Online, fan memes mock Maton’s stoic expressions and show how his happy face is like the one he shows when outings don’t go well.

“He’s got a steady heartbeat, and he just doesn’t get sped up by much of anything,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “He’s almost like a coach who can still play. With the type of conversations you can have with him and the way he carries himself, he’s a good addition. He brings a steadiness.”

Maton thought attributes like that -- not to mention the career-best 71 appearances he made in 2024 -- would be valuable when he hit free agency last winter. Sure, he struggled in the playoffs with the Mets, but he had proven himself over the years as a steady hand in 26 postseason games with Cleveland, Houston and New York.

Much to his surprise, Maton remained unsigned throughout the winter. The Mets, a team hoping to go deep in the playoffs again, showed little interest in bringing him back even though he pitched to a 2.51 ERA over 31 regular-season games for them last season.

The Astros, the team he pitched with from 2021-23 and won a World Series with in ‘22, made him a couple of offers, but none to his liking for a proven pitcher of eight MLB seasons. Basically, the process left Maton bitter and wondering what teams consider valuable. They also supplied the massive chip he’s carrying on his shoulder this season.

“Pretty much every team we play against, it's personal, especially the teams we negotiated with this winter,” said Maton, pointing to the Astros and Mets. “It was a very frustrating offseason, and that's something that's going to fuel me throughout the year with every team we play.”

Will there come a time later this season when Maton is playing against the Cards? He is one of their most valuable veterans, and he could likely fetch a couple of prospects in return at the Trade Deadline. So, as happy as he is now about being with the “hometown” team, he knows time here could be fleeting.

“It's a constant reminder that this is baseball and it’s a business,” he said wistfully.

During his time as GM of the Cardinals from 1994-2007 -- a stint during which St. Louis won six division titles, two National League pennants and the ‘06 World Series -- Walt Jocketty was known as the consummate team builder.

Jocketty, whose death at the age of 74 was announced by the Cardinals on Saturday morning, oversaw trades for Cardinals greats Scott Rolen, Larry Walker, McGwire, Chris Carpenter, Jim Edmonds, Jason Isringhausen and Wainwright, lured Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa to St. Louis and engineered the drafting of Pujols and Molina.

Brad Thompson, a reliever on the 2006 title team, relayed a story on Saturday that spoke to the talents of Jocketty as a team builder. Not only did he have a keen eye for talent, Jocketty also went out of his way to bond with all players, Thompson recalled.

“I was never a top prospect in baseball, but I did have that [57-inning scoreless] streak going on [in the Minors in 2004], and I remember the clubhouse guy saying, ‘Hey, you’ve got a phone call,” which was odd because nobody is calling a Minor League clubhouse for anybody,” recalled Thompson, now a TV analyst for FanDuel Sports Network. “It was Walt Jocketty, who said, ‘We just wanted to congratulate you on setting a record. We’re very proud of you, and I can’t wait to see you sometime soon.’

“To me, that meant the world. When you are not a prospect, you don’t feel like you are anywhere close to the big leagues. For me, it was a realization that he’s watching and this dream could become a reality. So, it meant the world to me for him to reach out to me when he did.”

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