Andy Benes and the Cardinals were separated, not estranged, and when the opportunity came to rekindle the relationship they made it happen.
On Jan. 7, 2000, Benes, a free agent, returned for a second stint with the Cardinals. He signed for three years and $18 million.
A right-hander, Benes, 32, joined Darryl Kile, Garrett Stephenson, Pat Hentgen and Rick Ankiel in a revamped starting rotation and helped the Cardinals return to the postseason in 2000 for the first time since he initially joined them in 1996.
Splitting up
After pitching for the Padres and Mariners, Benes became a free agent and signed with the Cardinals in December 1995.
He led the 1996 Cardinals in wins (18), starts (34) and innings pitched (230.1) and the club reached the postseason for the first time in nine years.
After earning 10 wins and leading the staff in strikeouts (175) in 1997, Benes again became a free agent. He reached an agreement to stay with the Cardinals, but the deal was voided because it came together after expiration of a deadline mandated by the baseball owners’ Player Relations Committee.
Instead of getting the Cardinals’ offer of a five-year contract worth $32.5 million, Benes settled for a three-year deal worth $18 million with the Diamondbacks, an expansion franchise.
The contract with the Diamondbacks gave Benes the option to depart after two seasons. Benes posted records of 14-13 and 13-12 with the Diamondbacks and exercised his option to leave after the 1999 season.
Benes and his agent, Scott Boras, talked with the Tigers, who showed the most interest, but the team Benes wanted to go to was the Cardinals.
After acquiring Kile and Hentgen in trades, the Cardinals were open to signing another veteran starter, but had budget limitations.
Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty was considering two other free-agent pitchers: Darren Oliver, who was 9-9 for the 1999 Cardinals, and Juan Guzman, a former Blue Jays ace who was a combined 11-12 for the Orioles and Reds in 1999.
Jocketty strongly considered Guzman, who had seasons of 16-5 and 14-3 for the Blue Jays in 1992 and 1993 and started three World Series games for them. “We were serious,” Jocketty told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “We could have done it. He was intriguing.”
Jocketty spoke to Boras about Benes but said no offer was made and it was unlikely the Cardinals would bring him back.
Problem solvers
The situation changed around Christmas time. Benes expressed a willingness to work with the Cardinals on structuring a contract putting more money on the back end than on the front.
“We had to be very creative as to how we put this deal together because where we were as far as our payroll was concerned for this year,” Jocketty said.
The Cardinals were approaching a franchise-high $60 million in player salaries for 2000, according to the Post-Dispatch.
Before Benes agreed to defer money in the first year of the contract, Jocketty said, “A month ago, I didn’t think this was going to happen.”
A grateful Benes said of his return to the Cardinals, “This is where my heart was. I really wanted this opportunity to see if it could happen back here again.”
Benes was 12-9 as part of a durable Cardinals rotation in 2000. Six pitchers made starts during the 162-game regular season: Kile (34 starts), Hentgen (33), Stephenson (31), Ankiel (30), Benes (27) and Britt Reames (seven).
In five seasons with St. Louis, Benes was 52-37. The Cardinals reached the postseason in four of those years.
RetroSimba 
Loved Andy Bene!
Benes!
When I was a novice sportswriter in Evansville, Ind., covering prep sports, Andy Benes was a heck of a basketball player there then at Central High School. Baseball wasn’t his only sport. It was amazing to see him develop into a successful major-league pitcher.
Enjoyed this story!! Andy was a delightful guy to be around; came in to my store a couple times a week, and was never too busy to chat for awhile. Often had brothers Alan and/or Adam in tow. Sure was glad to see him re-sign with Cardinals in 2000! His sayonara 2002 season would make a neat follow-up to this article!
Thanks for sharing your insights, Dave. Good to know Andy and his brothers continued to be nice to people after their successes in pro sports. Good idea on a 2002 follow-up.
As a Cardinal, he lost 4 of the first 5 games that he pitched at Busch Stadium. But once he got the hang of it, he was money in the bank. 30 wins and 13 losses. He still has the second most strikeouts all time among Padres pitchers.
Thanks for the bonus data, Phillip.
At his best, Andy seemed like a solid #3 on a good staff. He wasn’t an ace, but he could win 15 games and eat up a lot of innings. It would’ve been interesting to see what he would have done with Detroit in 2000. That was the year Comerica opened and with the staff the Tigers had that year, Rainman probably would have been their ace. He had a lot of innings on his arm at that point and he wasn’t as good his second time around with the Cards. He was mostly getting by on guts and his knowledge of NL hitters. It might have been a long summer for Benes in Motor City that season. A lot of NL pitchers struggle when they change leagues, and Andy has giving up a lot of hits and home runs by then. I think it was wise he returned to St. Louis.
I always wondered how his brother Alan would have turned out without all the injuries. I think he had better stuff than Andy, he just wasn’t going to be the big, durable innings-eater.
Thanks for the thoughtful comments, Rob.