The Cardinals as an organization generally avoid signing free agents of any kind (at all costs) so the title of this slideshow is a little misleading, admittedly.
However, the club does like to work in the realm of the familiar—the known quantity—and like some middle-aged group of buddies in a garage band, sometimes they bring old friends back into the fold for one last gig.
Even if they can’t play a note.
At age 35, Jeff Suppan returned in 2010 after taking his free-agent lumps in Milwaukee for three years, but only went 3-6 for the Cards.
Ray Lankford came home in his final season in 2004 and somehow accumulated 200 at-bats. He only batted .255 and struck out 55 times, which was always one of his specialties.
And our favorite example: Ken Hill.
The plus-armed 25-year-old was included in a trade with Montreal to bring Andres Galarraga to St. Louis to fill their first-base vacancy.
Galarraga was a bust while Hill won 16 games in two of three seasons for the Expos, even finishing second in the 1994 NL Cy Young vote.
The Cardinals saw the chance to bring Hill back to anchor their pitching staff for the 1995 season. So of course he flopped again as he went 6-7 in 18 starts with a 5.06 ERA before being shipped off to Cleveland.
To add insult to injury, he won 16 games for a third time the very next season with the Rangers.
So while the team has very few holes to plug this offseason, the Cards always seem vaguely tempted to bring an old familiar face back into the fold.
While there is little chance any of the following former Cardinals will be signed by John Mozeliak, in case he has a momentary lack of reason, here are the reasons why the team should pass.