Cardinals get their closer

ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Cardinals finally got their man.

After spending the past several winters chasing after free agents who ended up elsewhere, almost always for more money than St. Louis was offering, the Cardinals Monday signed reliever Jason Isringhausen -- the player club officials said was at the top of their off-season shopping list.

"It seems like the last couple years we've been a little bit short," said Bill DeWitt, the team's managing partner. "When we started talking with Jason, he made it clear that while there was a certain question of compensation that was important to him, beyond that it was dependent on a lot of other factors."

Isringhausen, 29, had 67 saves for the Oakland Athletics in the past two seasons. He signed a four-year deal with St. Louis, with a team option for 2006. Financial terms were not disclosed.

After missing out in the auctions for Mike Hampton, Kevin Brown and others, DeWitt said the Cardinals again were not the club offering the best contract, financially. But family close to St. Louis, just a half-hour away in Brighton, Ill., was enough to lure the team's newly designated closer, a childhood fan of the team, to St. Louis.

"Down at the end it was between the Cardinals and the Rangers," Isringhausen said. "I have family down in Texas, too.

"I want to thank the Rangers for the way they handled themselves very professionally," Isringhausen said. "But my final choice was being with the Cardinals. My main goal is to win, and I think they have the right group of guys here to win for a very long time."

The Rangers had offered Isringhausen, a right-hander, nearly $30 million over four years.

Isringhausen was 4-3 with 34 saves in 43 chances and 2.65 earned run average last season. He closed out both of Oakland's wins in the playoffs against the New York Yankees, though the Yankees rallied to win the series.

Isringhausen also pitched three-plus seasons with the New York Mets and has a lifetime record of 28-29.

"We looked hard during the winter at the alternatives," said manager Tony La Russa. "The guy just jumped out at us."

Dave Veres has been the St. Louis closer for the past two seasons. But he was hurt part of last season and often ineffective. The Cardinals essentially went to a closer-by-committee format, using mostly Steve Kline, Mike Timlin and Veres.

St. Louis had also expressed interest in John Smoltz, who re-signed with Atlanta, and Jeff Shaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

La Russa, General Manager Walt Jocketty and other club officials planned to catch a Monday night flight to baseball's winter meetings in Boston, where Jocketty said landing a hitter to replace the retired Mark McGwire would be his next priority.

Isringhausen said he had talked with Jason Giambi about joining him in St. Louis, but didn't know what the first basemen planned to do. Jocketty, however, put a strong damper on the slim remaining hopes that Giambi could yet end up in St. Louis.

"I'm not sure Giambi ever was (in the picture)," Jocketty said. "We tried to figure out a way to make it work, but its just going to be too expensive for us to get involved in."

Jocketty said the club might not have the resources to sign another free agent, and would end up trading for a hitter.

"Along the way, we might have to move some payroll to make it work," Jocketty said. "But we're going to try and find a hitter."