Cardinals Release Brad Thompson

The Cardinals released righty Brad Thompson today, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  The arbitration-eligible Thompson would've been a likely non-tender in mid-December anyway. Thompson, 28 in January, posted a 4.84 ERA in 80 innings this year (eight starts, 24 relief appearances).  He's typically shown strong control and home run prevention but a weak strikeout rate.  His best asset is his ability to get groundballs - 52.7% of the time this year.  If Thompson has a successful '10 season for his new club, that team could elect to retain him for '11 as an arbitration-eligible player.