At the end of the day, Major League Baseball is all about business.
That’s the point that St. Louis Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak emphasized after the team inked infielder Jhonny Peralta to a four-year, $52 million contract, according to CBS Sports. The Cardinals drew the ire of a number of players in the league for offering such a rich contract to Peralta, who served a 50-game suspension in 2013 for his ties to performance-enhancing drugs and the Biogenesis scandal.
Diamondbacks pitcher Brad Ziegler took to Twitter to blast teams for “encouraging” PED use.
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Mozeliak responded to the criticism Monday morning.
“I don’t think it’s the Cardinals’ responsibility necessarily to be the moral police on potentially future employment,” he said.
The team’s needs played a large role in the decision to pursue Peralta on the free-agent market, and at the end of the day, he was just what the Cards needed on their roster.
“The shortstop market was one that was not deep in free agents,” Mozeliak said. “For us it was really focusing on someone who could hit from the right side, someone who was a steady defensive player, someone who had experience and could fit right in.”
Peralta hit .303/.358/.457 with 11 home runs and 55 RBIs in 107 games last season.
