Report: Cardinals decline option on P Mulder

ST. LOUIS (TICKER) —The St. Louis Cardinals evidently have cut ties with injury-prone pitcher Mark Mulder.

The Cardinals have declined to exercise their 2009 option on Mulder’s contract, according to a report posted Tuesday morning on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s web site.

Mulder, who would have received $11 million next year, was given a $1.5 million buyout by the Cardinals, according to the report.

Mulder, 31, has appeared in a total of just 23 games while battling through chronic shoulder problems and undergoing a pair of surgeries over the last three seasons.

The lefthander signed a two-year, $13 million contract with St. Louis after the 2006 campaign despite making just 17 starts due to his balky shoulder, which required season-ending surgery.

Acquired from the Oakland Athletics in a four-player trade that also included All-Star Dan Haren, Mulder went 16-8 in his first season with the Cardinals.

But the two-time All-Star never was healthy enough to repeat that success over his final three years in St. Louis, posting a 7.73 ERA over that stretch.

“We had very high expectations that Mark would come back and throw to the capabilities he had when we acquired him from Oakland,” Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak told the Post-Dispatch. “That didn’t happen.”

The No. 2 overall draft selection in 1998, Mulder owns a career record of 103-60 with a 4.18 ERA in parts of nine seasons with St. Louis and Oakland. The Illinois native led the American League in wins in 2001, when he went 21-8 with a 3.45 ERA.