Cards Pass on Mark Mulder's Option

In what has to be the last surprising news you'll hear this month, the St. Louis Cardinals have decided not to exercise their $11 million option on Mark Mulder, who's pitched all of 12 2/3 innings since signing a two-year, $13 million contract prior to the 2007 season. From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Mulder, 31, continues to rehab his left shoulder at his offseason home in Arizona, where he has worked with an assortment of specialists -– including a Yoga instructor -– but has gone months without throwing a baseball.

His agent, Gregg Clifton, confirmed to the Post-Dispatch on Monday that he recently received a letter from the Cardinals saying they would pay the $1.5-million buyout on the option.

He has not had any discussions with the team since.

A letter to his agent and not a single phone call? I know the Cards must be bitter about paying the guy just over a million dollars for each inning pitched the last two years, but that's just cold. Obviously giving up Dan Haren and Daric Barton for Mulder was a bad move, but let's not forget that for at least one year he was the ace the Cardinals needed.

His body eventually gave out midway through in 2006, but the Cards knew they were getting damaged goods when they re-signed him the following winter. Considering his career seems to be in jeopardy (or at the very least, seriously derailed), the least the team could have done is give him a courtesy call, even if everyone saw this decision coming a mile away.