The Trades of Walt Jocketty
A report card by Mike Gunn
JOCKETTY'S TRADES In his column last week, Cardinals at the Quarter Pole, St. Louis sports reporter John Hadley of Hadley-On-Sports.com wrote that, "In time, [Brett] Tomko will go down as one of Jocketty's best deals... ever." It got me thinking, What are Jocketty's best deals? Is the Tomko deal really one of his best ever? Walt hasn't ever really struck gold in terms of free agent signings, and our minor league system is pretty woeful.
What about trades? I thought it would be cool to look at all the Rednut trades since Jocketty arrived in 96 (I've left off some small trades, such as the second Hermanson trade and the Christensen trades, as they bore me). I added some analysis and grades, just to make the geek in me giddy.
96 Cards get Todd Stottlemyre from the A's for pitchers Bret Wagner, Jay Witasick, Carl Dale, and OF Allen Battle Witasick was a prospect who went on to have some kinda-maybe-decent years as a reliever, but hasn't really amounted to much. The other dudes are out of baseball. Stotty won 14 games in 96 and 12 in 97, with an ERA under 4 both seasons. Then he entered his chronically injured period, and has subsequently left baseball. B+
96 Cards get Dennis Eckersley from the A's for Steve Montgomery Who is Steve Montgomery? B+
96 Cards get Eric Ludwick, Erik Hiljus, and OF Yudith Ozurio from the Mets for Bernard Gilkey U. City grad makes good. Gilkey had a terrific season for the Mets in 96, then tailed off into oblivion. Sources say he is now working at Vintage Vinyl in the Delmar Loop. Hiljus had a decent 2001 as a reliever with the A's, but didn't do jack for us. C-
97 Cards get Jeff Brantley from the Reds for Dimitri Young. Brantley never turned into the closer everyone hoped, but then again, Young never became the hitter everyone had predicted. Still, the Cards wouldn't mind having Young's bat and glove around today, and Brantley has dopey hair. C
97 Cards get Mark McGwire from the A's for TJ Mathews, Eric Ludwick, and Blake Stein. Yep. A+
98 Cards get Edgar Renteria from the Marlins for Pablo Ozuna, Armando Almanza, and Braden Looper. Looper has had a fine career in the Marlins' pen, Almanza is a middling middle reliever, Ozuna hasn't done much and is hurt. Edgar was a terrific player when we got him and keeps getting better. And, best of all, his best years should still be ahead of him. A
99 Cards get Ricky Bottalico and Garrett Stephenson from the Phillies for Ron Gant, Jeff Brantley, and Cliff Politte. Bottalico for Brantley would've been exactly even, as both guys sucked. But G. Steve has stuck around, and Gant was a cancer in the clubhouse. Or so LaRussa would have us believe. Whatever the truth, Gant became an overpriced utility player. But at the time, he was hitting with some pop -- 26 HRs in 98. Walt should've gotten more. C
99 Cards get Pat Hentgen and Paul Spoljaric from the Blue Jays for Lance Painter, catcher Alberto Castillo and OF Matt Dewitt Aah, sweet Lance Painter -- if only we had him today. B
99 Cards get Darryl Kile, Dave Veres, and Luther Hackman from the Rockies for Jose Jimenez, Manny Aybar, Rick Croushore, and Brent Butler. A blockbuster, in retrospect. Jimenez was the jewel the Rockies sought, and after his no-no in 98, many Birdnals fans were loathe to see him go. He's become Colorado's everyday closer, thriving in that role at pitcher-eating Coors. Butler's seen a lot of playing time for the Rocks but never amounted to much, and Aybar has bounced around, landing most recently with the DBacks, where he is disappearing. Croushore is out of baseball. While neither of them are with the Cards anymore, Veres and Hackman were valuable tools in our post-season runs the last few years. And Kile, well, what can you say? I can still see his parabolic curve ball, buckling the knees of Jeff Bagwell for strike three. Damn. Damn. A-
99 Cards get Craig Paquette from the Mets for Shawon Dunston We got Dunston back as a free agent a few months later anyway. Not that it did us any good. B
2000 Cards get Fernando Vina from the Brewers for Juan Acevedo Acevedo has posted some decent numbers, both as a set-up man and as a closer (he's now setting up Mariano Rivera with the Yankees). And Vina has disappointed the last two seasons -- despite his Gold Gloves. Overall, though, Freddie's been a blessing to the Rednut. B+
2000 Cards get Jim Edmonds from the Angels for Adam Kennedy and Kent Bottenfield Let's be honest, it would be nice to have Adam Kennedy as our everyday 2B. But Edmonds has given us MVP performances for 3 seasons now, and he's not letting up. This deal continues a Jocketty trademark -- trade players while they're overachieving. Bottenfield was coming off a career season with the Birdnals, and Jocketty gambled that he didn't have another season like it in him. He was right. A-
2000 Cards get Will Clark and cash from the Orioles for 3B Jose Leon My all-too-brief love affair with Will Clark was a humdinger. The Thrill provided me and my beloved Cardbirds with a gritty enthusiasm and a masculine panache that I'll never forget. What about Jose Leon, you ask? He's hitting .236 for the Ottawa Lynx. A-
2000 Cards get Mike Timlin from the Orioles for Chris Richard and Mark Nussbeck Richard was a 26-year-old prospect when Jocketty traded him, today he's a 29-year-old bum. Nussbeck never did anything. Timlin had a decent year after coming over in 2000, but never earned his big salary and was dumped on the Phillies last year in the Rolen deal. B
2001 Cards get Woody Williams from the Padres for Ray Lankford Amazingly, this trade was a post-deadline deal, which means both players passed unclaimed through waivers. Thank God for small miracles. Woody has become the heart and soul of our pitching staff, as Jeff Gordon writes about today. Lankford got a lot of crap during his last couple years in red, mostly for striking out so much, but his overall numbers never justified it. Nonetheless, once you're in LaRussa's dog house, by definition you become a dog. Lankford's days as a Bird were done. And Woody was never anything special before coming to The Lou. But Dave Duncan made a man of him. And what a glorious, beautiful man he is. A-
2001 Cards get Steve Kline and Dustin Hermanson from the Expos for Fernando Tatis and Britt Reames The once spectacular Tatis fizzled; the Duncan-less Reames sank (another recurring theme -- good pitchers going bad when they leave STL, bad pitchers becoming good with they arrive in STL). Kline had a terrifc 2001 and 2002, although now he's sinking too. Hermanson is one of those players whose name you remember but you can't quite recall if he sucks or not. He sucks. B
2002 Cards get Chuck Finley from the Indians for Luis Garcia and a player to be named As long as the player to be named isn't Pujols, this was a steal. Let's hope Chuck gives us another crackerjack half a season. B+ [NOTE: Mike at The Daily Redbird points out today that the player to be named was Coco Crisp, who is tearing it up with the Indians' AAA Buffalo club. He's getting on base and stealing bases by the boatload. He'll most likely be the Indians' lead-off hitter next season. As Mike says, "that takes a little bit of luster off the deal." I'll say. I'm revising my grade: B-]
2002 Cards get Scott Rolen, Doug Nickle and cash from the Phillies for Placido Polanco, Bud Smith, and Mike Timlin Obviously the key to this trade was Doug Nickle. I mean, who is Scott Rolen? What can he do for a team? No, seriously -- this was a great deal for both teams. The Phillies had to unload Rolen before he became a free agent at the end of the season, and the Cards needed to thicken the middle of the lineup. Bud Smith may still turn out to be a nice major league pitcher, but I doubt it. And, anyway, he'll never be half as valuable as Scott Rolen. Polanco should go to bed every night thanking God for letting him kiss .300. Timlin was a salary dump. A
2003 Cards get Brett Tomko from the Padres for Luther Hackman Tomko was a career underachiever with the Padres with a 4.50 career ERA and, reportedly, a bad attitude. So far with the Rednut, he's got a record of 2-3 with a 4.35 ERA. Nothing stellar. Yet. Hadley thinks Tomko will turn it around and dominate. I'm not so sure. He's got good stuff on occasion, but he is 30 years old. And he costs us $3.3 million a year; Hackman costs the Padres $245,000. The difference is the equivalent of one Chuck Finley. That being said, I don't think much of a case can be made for Hackman over a starter with Tomko's raw ability. My judgement is a little premature, but luckily no one's career is riding on it. B
Jocketty has almost single-handedly kept the Cardbirds awash in talent the last 8 years. With little to nothing to deal, he's improved our lot almost every season. We're lucky to have him. [more]
