Corey Dickerson signs 1-year deal with Cardinals

The Cardinals signed free-agent outfielder Corey Dickerson to a one-year deal on Friday. Terms were not announced, but the deal is for $5 million, a source told MLB.com's Mark Feinsand.

Dickerson was roughly a league-average hitter in 2021, slashing .271/.326/.408 (99 OPS+) in 365 plate appearances. The 32-year-old went on the injured list with a left foot contusion on June 15, was traded to the Blue Jays on June 29 and didn’t return to action until Aug. 3. His production picked up in 46 games for Toronto, where he slashed .282/.329/.450 with four homers and 15 RBIs.

From 2014-19, Dickerson established himself as a consistent force at the plate, posting a 121 OPS+ over that six-season span. He averaged 18 home runs a season, going deep as many as 27 times for Tampa Bay in 2017, when he nabbed his only All-Star selection. But Dickerson’s power has waned since, resulting in a .406 slugging percentage since 2020.

One theme for Dickerson has been his platoon splits. As a left-handed batter, he has consistently fared far better against right-handed pitchers (.845 career OPS) than lefties (.708), with 112 of his 128 homers coming off the former.

Defensively, Dickerson has spent the bulk of his career in left field, although he made nine starts in center for Toronto last season. He won an NL Gold Glove Award with the 2018 Pirates, after producing plus-10 Outs Above Average (OAA) that season, per Statcast. But over the three seasons since then, Dickerson has posted a more modest plus-2 OAA.

Dickerson was selected by the Rockies in the eighth round of the 2010 Draft out of Meridian (Miss.) Community College, and he first made it up to Colorado in June ‘13. He has since been traded four times, bouncing to Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Miami and Toronto.