The Cardinals have signed Pena to a minor-league deal for 2019 with an understanding that he will arrive at spring training with a chance to compete for the backup job, general manager Michael Girsch confirmed to the Post-Dispatch on Thursday.
Pena, 29, also signed a minor-league contract with the Cardinals last season, then went on to play in a career-high 58 games. He started 30 games at catcher, appeared in 56 total games there (327.2 innings) and appeared at first base twice. Opponents successfully stole 14 of 15 times when they ran against Pena. At the plate, he averaged .