The St. Louis Cardinals have reached an agreement with Jhonny Peralta. The four-year deal is worth slightly more than $52 million. The deal is pending a physical.
Peralta, 31, hit .303/.358/.457 with 30 doubles, 11 homers and 55 RBI in just 107 games last year, as he served a 50-game suspension due to his ties to the Biogenesis clinic in Florida that MLB concluded had been supplying players with performance-enhancing drugs.
Peralta would take over at shortstop replacing Pete Kozma and be paird with youngster Kolten Wong who has been ticketed to be the regular second baseman for the team in 2014. Kozma committed several misplays in the playoffs and was supplanted by utilityman Daniel Descalso in two World Series games
Peralta owns a career .268 average with a .755 OPS and 156 home runs.
