Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak has already had at least one conversation with former Cardinals pitcher and outfielder Rick Ankiel about his plans to come out of retirement and pursue a job as a reliever. In the coming weeks, Mozeliak intends to “touch base” and determine if common interest exists for a reunion.
Ankiel, 39, has not pitched since retiring on a stormy morning during spring training 2005 and, a few days later, returning to camp reinvented as a slugging outfielder.
A phenom as a Cardinals draft pick, the lefthander was a regular in the Cardinals’ outfield for 2008 and 2009, swatting 36 home runs for those teams before continuing on as an outfielder for Kansas City, Washington, and lastly, in 2013, the Mets.