A familiar face is heading back to the AL East.

Per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, the Rays are in agreement with southpaw Steven Matz on a two-year deal pending a physical. Financial terms of the deal were not available at the time of writing.

An 11-year veteran, Matz lands a multi-year deal with Tampa after spending the past four years with the St. Louis Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox. Signing a four-year deal with the Cards following the 2021 season, Matz made just 10 starts (15 appearances) in his first campaign in the NL Central, authoring a 5.25 ERA and a 3.78 FIP across 48 innings, as injuries saw him make fewer starts and position him more into a bullpen role during the length of his contract.

Last season, Matz made just two starts while appearing in 53 games for the Cardinals and Red Sox, producing a 3.05 ERA across 76 2/3 innings. With St. Louis, Matz appeared in 32 games and pitched to a 2.92 FIP and a 1.182 WHIP before being moved to the AL East at the trade deadline. With Boston, Matz continued to pitch well in terms of his ERA (2.08) and WHIP (0.877), but saw his FIP climb to 4.84 across the 21 2/3 innings, mainly because of the increased home run rate, where four of his five earned runs down the stretch came via the long ball. Across both squads, Matz was dialled in with his command, posting a 1.3 BB/9 and ranking in the 99th percentile with his 3.6% mark.

The left-hander also appeared in two games of the AL Wild Card against the Yankees, allowing three hits through two clean innings while striking out two batters.

Matz played more of a swing role with the Cardinals this past season and there is a possibility that he could move back into the rotation with the Rays, who were looking for veteran depth this winter. The Rays’ current depth chart includes Drew Rasmussen, Ryan Pepiot, Shane McClanahan, Shane Baz, Joe Boyle, and Ian Seymour, but it’s a group that has seen their fair share of injuries over the past few years.

This will be Matz’s fifth big league team after he spent the first six years of his career with the New York Mets before being traded at the 2020/2021 trade deadline to the Toronto Blue Jays, where he pitched to a 3.82 ERA across 29 starts.

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