The St. Louis Cardinals inked a potential solution to the lack of offensive production problem at shortstop.  Free agent Jhonny Peralta and the Cardinals reached an agreement Monday morning that will keep him in St. Louis for four years and will pay out around $53 million.  Peralta will provide another solid bat in the middle of the lineup around Allen Craig, Yadier Molina, and Matt Holliday.  His range at shortstop is mediocre at best, so a third baseman with good quickness and above average range would perfectly complement him. 

Peralta’s contract is generating buzz and turning heads not because people are exciting to see him play in St. Louis, but because of the logistics behind it.  Peralta was found in violation of the Joint Drug Agreement last year as a result of the BioGenesis incident.  He served his 50 game suspension without incident and returned to action much like fellow big leaguers Melky Cabrera and Marlon Byrd.  Cabrera and Byrd both signed contracts for $16 million over two years, while Peralta is guaranteed more than triple that. 

With Peralta’s lucrative contract (for a position player coming off of a PED suspension), FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal believes this could be the tipping point for changes regarding punishment for PED use.  Rosenthal says, “A system is in place.  The system isn’t working.  The system needs to be changed.”  The ‘system’ as it is now seems to now be rewarding players for cheating.  Peralta’s contract could only be the tip of the iceberg, as free agent outfielder Nelson Cruz could receive a more valuable contract later this winter. 

Brad Ziegler is the Arizona Diamondbacks’ player representative to the players’ union and had quite an adverse reaction to Peralta’s contract.  He tweeted that it “pays to cheat”, while coming down on owners who make these kinds of deals for “encouraging PED use”.  I can’t say I disagree with him.  Ziegler also had these thoughts to offer about punishment for PED use in general:

"People really don't understand how this works. We thought 50 games would be a deterrent. Obviously it's not. So we are working on it again... Just trying to make our game better when I leave it than it was when I got into it. Don't have all the answers, but trying, MLBPA knows."

Politics aside, Peralta’s signing makes sense for the Cardinals, who jumped on one of the best available shortstops in a relatively thin shortstop market this offseason.  He hit .303 in a suspension shortened 2013 season, while adding 11 home runs and 55 runs batted in.  Compare those numbers to Kozma’s .217 batting average, one home run, and 35 RBIs, and it’s no secret why the Cardinals signed Peralta.  The Cardinals are expected to move Matt Carpenter from second base to third base to make room at second for rookie Kolten Wong.