Current Contract:
Signed a three-year, $13.5 million contract on December 15, 2005.

2006: $3,500,000
2007: $4,500,000
2008: $5,500,000

*Looper can earn $1 million annually in performance bonuses, some of them based on games finished in case he becomes the closer.

Agent: Randy and Alan Hendricks, Hendricks Sports Management

Became a Cardinal:
Signed as a free agent on December 15, 2005.

2006 Season:
Looper won a career-high nine games pitching out of the Cardinals bullpen in 2006. In 69 appearances, he posted a 3.56 ERA, allowing 76 hits, striking out 41 and walking 20 in 73.1 innings.

Career Notes:
The Cardinals gave Looper a $1,675,000 signing bonus as the third overall pick in the 1996 draft. He appeared in four games with the Cardinals in 1998, but was traded after the season along with Armando Almanza and Pablo Ozuna to the Florida Marlins for Edgar Renteria. He became a free agent after winning a World Championship with the Marlins in 2003 and signed with the New York Mets. Looper recorded a career-high 29 saves with the Mets in 2004.

Pitching with a sore shoulder in 2005, Looper appeared in a career-low 60 games for the Mets. Following the season, he underwent arthroscopic surgery to clean out the AC joint in his right shoulder.

Photo: MLB Photos