At Thursday midnight’s non-tender deadline, no shortstops of note were cut loose. That doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of shortstops on the market, however.

For weeks, J.J. Hardy of Minnesota and Jason Bartlett of Tampa Bay have been in the rumor mill news as available. Those clubs know they have a valuable asset and needed to tender them a contract to maintain their rights, and ability to pull off a trade.

Of course, the St. Louis Cardinals did the same thing with their 2010 shortstop, Brendan Ryan, as the first-time arbitration-eligible player remains under team control. Much has been written about the defensive standout’s fun-loving, but maddening behavior as well as his struggles with the bat this past season.

Recent actions by the club in acquiring Ryan Theriot in trade from the Dodgers and labeling him as their starter at shortstop seemed to move Ryan’s days as a Cardinal near its end. In all fairness, his departure is not a sure thing, as a “super utility” role in 2011 was also mentioned as a possibility.

The events of the past few days to put Ryan out of his starting job, on top of a less-than-positive evaluation from manager Tony La Russa following the season, seemed to further devalue Ryan in an already-crowded shortstop market. Further, questions remain about Ryan’s two-way viability no matter where he plays.

Given all that and considering the state of the position across baseball, I wondered how easily Ryan might be able to find a home. Of course, he could be given away, but I mean in a trade that would net the Cardinals roughly equivalent value.

In addition to Hardy and Bartlett who currently have jobs, the top free agent shortstop, Derek Jeter, technically remains a free agent. Even when he returns to New York, which he surely will, several veteran shortstops will continue to be looking for work.

They include Orlando Cabrera, Cristian Guzman, Cesar Izturis and Edgar Renteria. The latter two are former Cardinals. Other well-known reserve-types at the position looking for a 2011 home include Craig Counsell, Bobby Crosby, Adam Everett, Julio Lugo, Jerry Hairston Jr. and Nick Punto.

In other words, even clubs that may be in the market for a back up shortstop have a number of options that might be more palatable and perhaps even come cheaper than Ryan.

Through the Cardinals’ actions in the upcoming days, including the Winter Meetings, we will see how anxious they may be to unload Ryan. If they deal him, will they be able get a fair return? Should they trade him at all?

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30-year-old Dan Uggla and the Florida Marlins are preparing for a divorce. The All-Star second baseman is one season away from free agency and wants more than the reported four-year, $48 million contract the Fish offered.

The St. Louis Cardinals don’t appear to be a fit. They say they aren’t in the market for a second baseman, apparently content with keeping converted outfielder Skip Schumaker there. Indications are that the club’s major expenditure this winter will be on a starting pitcher, Jake Westbrook or his replacement, along with a less-splashy upgrade at shortstop.

Perhaps the Cardinals should reconsider how they allocate their available cash.

The team has a history of acquiring impact offensive players who were looking for a change, only to later convince then to re-sign with the club. Some arrived via trades during the season, such as Mark McGwire, Scott Rolen and Matt Holliday. Others were dealt to St. Louis in the off-season, including Edgar Renteria and Jim Edmonds.

Another notable winter addition was made on December 20, 1999 when the Cardinals acquired then-30-year-old second baseman Fernando Vina from the Milwaukee Brewers.

In return, St. Louis yielded one established major leaguer and two prospects – pitchers Juan Acevedo and Matt Parker and catcher Eliezer Alfonzo. Acevedo had started and closed for St. Louis. Alfonzo eventually reached the majors as a reserve while Parker never panned out.

Acquiring Vina not only gave the Cardinals an All-Star second baseman and leadoff hitter, it also allowed them to displace scrappy, fan-favorite Joe McEwing, better as a utility man. “Super Joe” had been miscast as the regular second sacker in 1999 prior to Vina’s arrival. The trade also freed up second base prospect Adam Kennedy, a key component in the subsequent acquisition of Edmonds from the Angels.

As an aside, albeit an interesting one, note the similarities between McEwing’s 1999 season while starting at second base and Schumaker’s 2010. Super Joe actually showed more pop with the bat and had better basic defensive metrics, yet was still replaced by a superior player the next season.

As Vina and the Cardinals mutually enjoyed the relationship, they cemented the marriage, keeping the second baseman off the free agent market. Vina signed a $15 million deal in 2000 covering the next three seasons.

Vina batted .300 his first two years, topped the league in fielding percentage and won a pair of Gold Gloves in his four seasons with St. Louis. The club averaged 95 wins in his first three campaigns, reaching the playoffs each year including the NLCS twice, territory the Cardinals haven’t seen since 2006. Vina departed as a free agent following an injury-plagued 2003 season during which he later admitted having used HGH.

To put Vina’s $5 million average annual value deal into perspective, it represented approximately 6.4 percent of the Cardinals’ payroll in the 2001-03 seasons.

It was clearly a different time, but the contract was noteworthy because before and since, the club used second base as a low-salaried, transient spot. Vina demonstrated that spending more on the position could be a good decision.

Back to the here and now, Uggla is a different kind of player than Vina and is a considerably more expensive option, too. He might fetch $10 million in his final year of arbitration eligibility, which if so, would work out to nine or ten percent of the Cardinals’ projected 2011 player budget.

It would also mean the Cardinals would have to get comfortable with an in-house fifth starting pitcher for 2011, perhaps Kyle McClellan. They could bring in several make-good, bounceback types as insurance but would be forced to give up on signing Westbrook or comparable.

It all gets down to belief or lack of belief in the organization’s current strategy, first illustrated this past summer with the Ryan Ludwick-Westbrook trade. Looking back at how to best improve upon the 2010 Cardinals, does the club need to add more offense or more starting pitching?

Having averaged 31 home runs per season over his five-year Marlins career, Uggla would bring a proven power bat to the Cardinals lineup. With Florida, he produced while batting second and fifth. In St. Louis, Colby Rasmus could be placed in the other spot with Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday in between.

This is certainly not a no-brainer. There are plenty of reasons to write off the idea without even exploring it first. The uncertainty of Pujols’ long-term contract situation alone could make the front office uncomfortable over the prospect of taking on another high-salaried player.

There would be an immediate acquisition cost for Uggla in terms of players lost that may be steep, but there could also be some recovery down the line. If he didn’t work out, the Cardinals could either deal him again next summer or if he later chose not to re-sign, take a pair of compensatory picks in the 2012 draft.

Making such a bold move would require substantial risk-taking, but there is also considerable upside. The current core of Cardinals will not be in their prime years that much longer. This would be a “win-now” type of action.

The formula has worked before. Why not consider it again?

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“The Toronto Blue Jays claimed minor league infielder Mike McCoy off waivers from the Colorado Rockies.”

St. Louis Cardinals fans probably remember McCoy, 28. During spring training 2008, he was traded by the Cardinals to the Baltimore Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate in return for future considerations.

McCoy was originally taken by the Cardinals in the 34th round of the 2002 draft. Primarily a second baseman and shortstop, the versatile right-hander is the consummate utilityman, having also played at third base as well as in the outfield and even pitched in a pinch.

In his sixth season in the Cardinals system, 2007, McCoy reached Triple-A Memphis for the first time, where he batted .247 in 239 at-bats. Overall in his Cardinals career, McCoy posted a .256/.360/.339 line in 2070 minor league ABs.

McCoy moved to Colorado in a trade in June, 2008 and re-signed with the Rockies organization this January. He hit .307 with two home runs, 52 RBIs, 102 runs and 40 steals at Triple-A Colorado Springs in 2009 and was rewarded with his first-ever promotion to the Majors on September 8.

He played winter ball in Mexico each of the last two winters, including this one. We are tracking McCoy’s results in the subscriber-only Winter Leagues Notebook on the main TheCardinalNation.com site.

But this post isn’t about McCoy as much as what he represents – another example of the high value the Toronto Blue Jays seem to place on Cardinals farmhands.

The actions began under former Toronto Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi, and are continuing under his home-grown successor, Alex Antopoulos. The new GM was quoted in Canada’s National Post as saying his team needs to rebuild again, saying they “have to be open-minded to anything.”

Apparently, that includes stocking up on former Cardinals infielders, as they grabbed second baseman Jarrett Hoffpauir off the waiver wire just last week.

Going back further, former Cardinals prospect Cody Haerther was claimed by Toronto from St. Louis two different times. The first was off waivers two years ago, only to have the Cardinals take him back when Toronto tried to clear him the next week.

Last winter, Haerther was left exposed to the Rule 5 draft on the Springfield roster, where he was again claimed by the Jays. At that point, he was not required to be placed onto the 40-man roster and remained in Toronto’s system.

It happened again one year ago when the Cardinals lost reliever Kelvin Jimenez to Toronto on another waiver claim. That time, the Jays waited two weeks to try to slip Jimenez through waivers, but the Chicago White Sox nabbed him.

The focus of the National Post article from where I extracted the Antopoulos quote above was not waiver claims, but instead the future of Jays’ ace Roy Halladay. Perhaps Ricciardi’s final failure was to dangle his 2003 Cy Young Award-winning pitcher in the trade market this summer only to pull him back.

The Canadian paper thinks Toronto is still trying to deal Halladay, who is under contract through the 2010 season at $15.75 million. Four clubs are identified as being the favorites, the Red Sox, Mets, Dodgers and Angels. St. Louis appears as the first name in the second tier, called “Possibilities”.

The writer notes the Cardinals have the financial resources to assume Halladay’s contract and he is a former teammate of Chris Carpenter. He does not mention the money tied up in the Cardinals’ top three starters, their dwindling stash of minor league trade chips nor the fact that most of the excess payroll will probably be applied to the offense, however.

While anything is possible, the idea of the Cardinals taking on Halladay seem far-fetched to me – unless the Jays would like to assume the final three years of Kyle Lohse’s contract, that is.

There is a slight precedence. The Cards saved a year in the Scott Rolen-Troy Glaus trade between the two clubs during the 2007-2008 off-season. Rolen had three years remaining at the time while Glaus had just two in his then-current deal.

The clubs are not common trade partners though. Their last deal prior to the third baseman swap was the Pat Hentgen trade in late 1999. Hentgen, like Halladay a former American League Cy Young Award winner (1996), became a Tony La Russa favorite despite playing in St. Louis just one season, 2000.

Could Halladay be next?

The deep pockets of Sox principal owner John Henry and his partners enable them to eat massive contracts like Big Papi consumes… t-bones. It amazes me that while his growing number of mistakes get run out of town, Boston GM Theo Epstein continues to be issued free passes.

A lower-revenue team like St. Louis cannot afford nearly as many missteps. It seems for every Tino Martinez or Adam Kennedy contract the Cardinals have to swallow, the Sox quietly dispose of a handful of Edgar Renterias. The former St. Louis shortstop was sent away from Boston after one year of a four-year deal with $11 million cash pinned to the front of his uniform.

In just the last two years alone, the Cardinals have picked up three Beantown busts. Oddly, the first name of each of the three begin with the letter “J”.

At the 2007 deadline, the Sox were happy to send Joel Pineiro to St. Louis in return for a minor leaguer, Sean Danielson. The former Seattle starter had been signed to a $4 million base deal loaded with closer-type incentives that previous winter.

After failing in Boston, Pineiro had been optioned to the minors at the time of the trade. Less than 90 days after joining St. Louis, he signed a two-year deal for $13 million that looked like a mistake in the first year but is a bargain today.

Shortstop Julio Lugo, like Renteria before him, wore out his welcome with the tough Red Sox crowd. After having designated him for assignment, the Sox ate the remaining $13.5 million on Lugo’s four-year, $36 million deal signed before the 2007 season.

In return for slumping outfielder Chris Duncan, who has since been removed from Boston’s 40-man roster, the Cardinals picked up a year and a half of Lugo’s services with no salary obligation attached. So far, Lugo has posted a line of .343/.392/.567 in spot duty for the Cardinals.

Desperate for shortstop help since dumping Lugo, the Sox unsuccessfully tried journeyman Chris Woodward and now have acquired veteran Alex Gonzalez from Cincinnati. Both are lesser players than the one they already had – Lugo.

Then of course we have Wednesday’s addition of right-hander John Smoltz. The 42-year-old, coming off June 2008 shoulder surgery, signed with the Sox this past winter. He struggled as a starter and did not want to go to the minor leagues to return to relieving, a role in which he excelled previously.

When the Sox released Smoltz, they remained responsible for the remainder of his contract. It has a $5.5 million base, with the Cardinals only liable for a prorated portion of the $400,000 per year minimum salary, about $100,000.

I am conveniently forgetting about a fourth Red Sox reject, pitcher Matt Clement, a name I thought I would never write about again. After having rehabbed him for the better part of two years, the Sox made no effort to re-sign Clement following the 2007 season. The Cards snapped up the former Cubs starter in January, 2008 for $1.5 million. Clement never reached St. Louis and was released from Triple-A Memphis that August after underwhelming results on the mound.

The right-hander had an audition with Toronto this spring, but is now retired from baseball. Clement has become the coach of the men’s basketball team at Butler (PA) High School, his alma mater.

Still, three of four successes wouldn’t be bad, would it? Getting another shot at the Sox with a chance to atone for the 2004 World Series disappointment would be the icing on the cake. No doubt the three jilted “J’s” would receive special satisfaction from participating in an October beatdown of the Beantowners.

Yesterday, I received a note from a long-time reader suggesting that someone needs to step up and give credit to the Cardinals “front office and management for giving the team a chance to win. They truly stood up.”

I have dissected the Matt Holliday trade, trying to define how the success of the deal could be quantified. At the time of the Mark DeRosa acquisition, I gave ownership kudos for backing up their infamous “dry powder” comments from the off-season.

Yet I haven’t really said much about the events of the last week in a comprehensive manner.

Let’s start with the Chris Duncan for Julio Lugo trade. It was unfortunate that the behind-the-scenes unhappiness of Duncan’s father became public. While pitching coach Dave Duncan usually gets praise from this corner for being a straight shooter, his comments critical of the front office would have been better left unsaid.

If Chris Duncan is truly healthy, his poor results on the field dictated something needed to be done. A fresh start with an American League club where he can both compete for time at first base and designated hitter may be best for him over the long haul. Instead, had Duncan remained around following the arrival of Matt Holliday, his opportunity for at-bats would have evaporated, anyway.

The acquisition of Lugo with little to no salary commitment for the next two months plus the entire 2010 season was a nice return for Duncan in my opinion, despite what Papa had to say. In the upcoming days, I am hoping to see more of the Lugo at second, Brendan Ryan at shortstop combo.

Jess Todd being selected by Cleveland as the player to be named later in the DeRosa trade was a tough pill to swallow, coming on top of losing Chris Perez in the same deal.

Stepping back however, the Cardinals believed that Todd, their Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2008, was better suited to a relief role than starting. Given their obvious need at the back end of the big league rotation, they would not have made the change with Todd had they not believed it was best.

Of all the commodities that make up a baseball team, arguably right-handed relievers may be the most plentiful. That is not to say that Perez and Todd may not be fine major leaguers for a long time, but they are more replaceable than most.

That brings me to the Holliday trade. My initial reaction was negative, as losing six years of Brett Wallace for two guaranteed months of Holliday alone seemed imbalanced – even before adding Clayton Mortensen and Shane Peterson to the Oakland A’s take.

Again looking at the bigger picture, the Cardinals did what they felt they needed to do to win this year. That could be expanded to include future years if DeRosa and Holliday can be re-signed.

At this point, anyone questioning the commitment of Cardinals ownership would seem to be on very shaky ground.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Joe Strauss has consistently bashed those who follow the Cardinals minor league system, coining the derogative term “Hyperventilating Prospect Geek Fraternity” to describe them.

For awhile, that bothered me until I reminded myself that Strauss isn’t making this stuff up. He may very well be reflecting a strong line of feeling emanating from those with whom he deals regularly.

Real tension remains in the organization, but how much is too much? By definition, when one faction is missioned with “winning now” while another is to build for the future, tradeoffs have to be made.

Perhaps one such “HPGF” member is Erik Manning, well-known from his past work at Future Redbirds. Blogging for FanGraphs, Manning expresses disappointment over the recent trades, saying they “gutted” and “razed” St. Louis’ farm system.

I can understand where he is coming from, though as noted above, I am going to let the season play out before second-guessing such an aggressive set of moves clearly intended to win now.

What bothered me, and apparently Rob Neyer of ESPN, too, is Manning’s use of the trades to attack Tony La Russa.

Manning asserts the deals were made to “assuage” the manager. Apparently, he feels that because La Russa made public comments about liking Holliday as a player, it translates into ownership rolling over for him.

The reason Manning states is to convince La Russa into staying in St. Louis beyond this season. Never once was it noted that the Cardinals are a better team right now as a result. Never once was it suggested that a more competitive team is what Albert Pujols has said will be his biggest factor in deciding whether to re-sign with the Cardinals.

I just don’t buy Erik’s line of thinking.

Commitments to win come at a cost. We all understand that. If Manning sees the price to have been too high from his vantage point as a prospect-watcher, I can accept that, too.

But dredging up La Russa’s past squabbles with Scott Rolen and Adam Kennedy seem to be a huge stretch. Does anyone really believe that the trades this July would have been unnecessary if Rolen and Kennedy were still Cardinals?

Further, blaming La Russa for Rolen’s issues with the Cardinals organization is a gross oversimplification. The genesis of Rolen’s problems was with the medical advice and treatment prescribed by the club’s physicians. The other issues were a by-product of Rolen’s unhappiness.

Who knows all the details behind Kennedy’s problems? Not being in the clubhouse every day or in many cases never, means we may be tempted to try to draw firm conclusions from snippets of data. Team chemistry cannot be measured by WAR or UZR.

But anyway, what does it matter? Rolen and Kennedy are irrelevant to Holliday and DeRosa, irrelevant to here and now.

As Neyer concludes, “What I’m saying is that La Russa, after 2,516 wins, may have earned the benefit of the doubt on personnel matters.”

Manning closes with a stern warning: “I can only fear what will happen to the Cardinals if they keep him (La Russa) around longer.”

Who knows? They might even win another World Series.

In my opinion, it will take some time to be able to answer with any certainty – unless the Cardinals win the 2009 World Series, that is.

The factors include:

- Will the Cardinals reach the playoffs or win the World Series? (I view the latter as the only important factor while the Post-Dispatch‘s Derrick Goold favors the former in recognition that it is all about getting to the postseason and acknowledging the difficulty once there of winning it all.)

- Will Holliday sign an extension before reaching free agency? (I think if Holliday signs at all, it will be between the end of the regular season and the start of free agency -15 days following the completion of the World Series. Derrick thinks it could happen ala Kyle Lohse before the season is done. There is also a case that he could sign after reaching free agency but in terms of evaluating the value of the trade, that timing is not important.)

- If he signs, at what price? Is it below, at or above market value? Unless it is below market, one would think the Cards could have waited and bought him this winter without having given up the three players. It also has potential Pujols contract implications. (We agreed that it would have to be less than Albert’s $16 million. A more thorough analysis is work for another day.)

- If Holliday declares free agency, will the Cardinals offer arbitration, assuring themselves of two 2010 compensatory draft picks if Holliday declines? (Derrick thinks there is a chance Holliday might accept an arbitration offer, but I just can’t even give that a 1 percent chance.)

- Will either of these compensatory picks eventually yield a Major League star?

- Will one or more of Wallace, Mortensen and Peterson become a Major League star?

Below, I attempted to put all these conditions together to grade each combination of possibilities in order to assess whether the trade will be good, bad or in between.

In every case but the second, I used winning/not winning the World Series as the first criteria. Another version would be to put Derrick’s “making the playoffs” measure everywhere instead. I didn’t do it because I didn’t fully agree.

As always, I am interested in your view(s).

	Good trade	Bad trade	Neutral trade
Cards win 2009 World Series	yes
Cards reach postseason			yes
Cards do not win 2009 World Series and
Holliday resigns below market value and
One or more of three prospects traded becomes MLB star			yes
Cards do not win 2009 World Series and
Holliday resigns below market value and
None of prospects traded becomes MLB star	yes
Cards do not win 2009 World Series and
Holliday resigns at or above market value and
One or more of three prospects traded becomes MLB star		yes
Cards do not win 2009 World Series and
Holliday resigns at or above market value and
None of prospects traded becomes MLB star			yes
Cards do not win 2009 World Series and
Holliday walks via free agency and
Cards do not offer arbitration		yes
Cards do not win 2009 World Series and
Holliday walks via free agency and
Cards offer arb and one or both comp picks become MLB star	yes but later
Cards do not win 2009 World Series and
Holliday walks via free agency and
Cards offer arb and neither comp picks become MLB star		yes
Cards do not win 2009 World Series and
Cards offer arb and Holliday accepts			yes*
* won’t happen

July 26, 2008 Traded Anthony Reyes to the Cleveland Indians. Received Luis Perdomo (minors).

July 31, 2007 Traded a player to be named later to the Boston Red Sox. Received Joel Pineiro. The St. Louis Cardinals sent Sean Danielson (minors) (November 2, 2007) to the Boston Red Sox to complete the trade.

July 5, 2006 Traded Terry Evans to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Received Jeff Weaver and cash.

July 30, 2006 Traded Hector Luna to the Cleveland Indians. Received Ron Belliard.

August 6, 2004 Traded players to be named later and Jason Burch (minors) to the Colorado Rockies. Received Larry Walker. The St. Louis Cardinals sent Luis Martinez (August 11, 2004) and Chris Narveson (August 11, 2004) to the Colorado Rockies to complete the trade.

August 22, 2003 Traded Ben Julianel (minors) and Justin Pope (minors) to the New York Yankees. Received Sterling Hitchcock.

August 27, 2003 Traded players to be named later to the Milwaukee Brewers. Received Mike DeJean. The St. Louis Cardinals sent Mike Crudale (September 10, 2003) and John Novinsky (minors) (September 10, 2003) to the Milwaukee Brewers to complete the trade.

July 19, 2002 Traded a player to be named later and Luis Alfonso Garcia (minors) to the Cleveland Indians. Received Chuck Finley. The St. Louis Cardinals sent Coco Crisp (August 7, 2002) to the Cleveland Indians to complete the trade.

July 29, 2002 Traded Placido Polanco, Bud Smith and Mike Timlin to the Philadelphia Phillies. Received Doug Nickle, Scott Rolen and cash.

August 25, 2002 Traded players to be named later to the Chicago Cubs. Received Jeff Fassero. The St. Louis Cardinals sent Jared Blasdell (minors) (September 24, 2002) and Jason Karnuth (September 24, 2002) to the Chicago Cubs to complete the trade.

August 29, 2002 Traded a player to be named later and Chris Morris (minors) to the Milwaukee Brewers. Received Jamey Wright and cash. The St. Louis Cardinals sent Mike Matthews (September 11, 2002) to the Milwaukee Brewers to complete the trade.

July 31, 2001 Traded Jason Christiansen to the San Francisco Giants. Received Kevin Joseph and cash.

August 2, 2001 Traded Ray Lankford and cash to the San Diego Padres. Received Woody Williams.

July 29, 2000 Traded Mark Nussbeck (minors) and Chris Richard to the Baltimore Orioles. Received Mike Timlin and cash.

Traded Jack Wilson to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Received Jason Christiansen.

July 31, 2000 Traded Jose Leon to the Baltimore Orioles. Received Will Clark and cash. Traded Ben Johnson and Heathcliff Slocumb to the San Diego Padres. Received Nate Tebbs (minors) and Carlos Hernandez.

July 31, 1999 Traded Shawon Dunston to the New York Mets. Received Craig Paquette.

August 24, 1999 Traded Kent Mercker to the Boston Red Sox. Received David Benham (minors) and Mike Matthews.

July 31, 1998 Traded Royce Clayton and Todd Stottlemyre to the Texas Rangers. Received a player to be named later, Darren Oliver and Fernando Tatis. The Texas Rangers sent Mark Little (August 9, 1998) to the St. Louis Cardinals to complete the trade.

June 13, 1997 Traded Rich Batchelor, Danny Jackson and Mark Sweeney to the San Diego Padres. Received Scott Livingstone, Phil Plantier and Fernando Valenzuela.

July 31, 1997 Traded Eric Ludwick, T.J. Mathews and Blake Stein to the Oakland Athletics. Received Mark McGwire.

April 5, 1995 Traded Kirk Bullinger, Bryan Eversgerd and Da Rond Stovall to the Montreal Expos. Received Ken Hill.

April 9, 1995 Traded Rheal Cormier and Mark Whiten to the Boston Red Sox. Received Cory Bailey and Scott Cooper.

June 16, 1995 Traded Todd Zeile and cash to the Chicago Cubs. Received Francisco Morales (minors), Paul Torres (minors) and Mike Morgan.

July 9, 1995 Traded John Habyan to the California Angels. Received Mark Sweeney.

July 27, 1995 Traded Ken Hill to the Cleveland Indians. Received Pepe McNeal (minors), David Bell and Rick Heiserman.

August 31, 1993 Traded Lee Smith to the New York Yankees. Received Rich Batchelor.

April 23, 1990 Traded John Costello to the Montreal Expos. Received Rex Hudler.

May 4, 1990 Traded Tom Brunansky to the Boston Red Sox. Received Lee Smith.

August 29, 1990 Traded Willie McGee to the Oakland Athletics. Received Daryl Green (minors), Felix Jose and Stan Royer.

April 22, 1988 Traded Tom Herr to the Minnesota Twins. Received Tom Brunansky.

August 16, 1988 Traded John Tudor to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Received Pedro Guerrero.

August 31, 1988 Traded Bob Forsch to the Houston Astros. Received Denny Walling.

April 1, 1987 Traded Mike Dunne, Mike LaValliere and Andy Van Slyke to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Received Tony Pena.

July 30, 1987 Traded Dave LaPoint to the Chicago White Sox. Received Bryce Hulstrom (minors).

August 31, 1987 Traded Pat Perry to the Cincinnati Reds. Received a player to be named later. The Cincinnati Reds sent Scott Terry (September 3, 1987) to the St. Louis Cardinals to complete the trade.

August 10, 1986 Traded Mike Heath to the Detroit Tigers. Received a player to be named later and Ken Hill. The Detroit Tigers sent Mike Laga (September 2, 1986) to the St. Louis Cardinals to complete the trade.

April 2, 1985 Traded John Young (minors) and Angel Salazar to the New York Mets. Received Mark J. Davis (minors) and Jose Oquendo.

April 6, 1985 Traded Dave Rucker to the Philadelphia Phillies. Received Bill Campbell and Ivan DeJesus.

May 17, 1985 Traded Lonnie Smith to the Kansas City Royals. Received John Morris.

August 29, 1985 Traded Mark Jackson (minors) to the Cincinnati Reds. Received Cesar Cedeno.

June 15, 1984 Traded Ken Oberkfell to the Atlanta Braves. Received Ken Dayley and Mike Jorgensen.

July 1, 1984 Traded Mike Ramsey to the Montreal Expos. Received Chris Speier and cash.

August 19, 1984 Traded Chris Speier to the Minnesota Twins. Received a player to be named later and cash. The Minnesota Twins sent Jay Pettibone (October 2, 1984) to the St. Louis Cardinals to complete the trade.

September 9, 1984 Traded John Stuper to the Cincinnati Reds. Received Paul Householder.

June 14, 1983 Traded a player to be named later to the Baltimore Orioles. Received Floyd Rayford. The St. Louis Cardinals sent Tito Landrum (August 31, 1983) to the Baltimore Orioles to complete the trade.

June 15, 1983 Traded Keith Hernandez to the New York Mets. Received Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey.

June 22, 1983 Traded Doug Bair to the Detroit Tigers. Received a player to be named later. The Detroit Tigers sent Dave Rucker (July 5, 1983) to the St. Louis Cardinals to complete the trade.

April 1, 1982 Traded Bob Shirley to the Cincinnati Reds. Received Jose Brito (minors) and Jeff Lahti.

June 7, 1981 Traded Tony Scott to the Houston Astros. Received Joaquin Andujar.

September 10, 1981 Traded Joe Edelen and Neil Fiala to the Cincinnati Reds. Received Doug Bair.

May 26, 1978 Traded Eric Rasmussen to the San Diego Padres. Received George Hendrick.

May 17, 1977 Traded John D’Acquisto and Pat Scanlon to the San Diego Padres. Received Butch Metzger.

June 15, 1977 Traded Doug Capilla to the Cincinnati Reds. Received Rawly Eastwick.

Traded Bake McBride and Steve Waterbury to the Philadelphia Phillies. Received Rick Bosetti, Dane Iorg and Tom Underwood.

Traded Joel Youngblood to the New York Mets. Received Mike Phillips.

August 31, 1977 Traded Clay Carroll to the Chicago White Sox. Received players to be named later. The Chicago White Sox sent Nyls Nyman (September 2, 1977), Dave Hamilton (November 28, 1977) and Silvio Martinez (November 28, 1977) to the St. Louis Cardinals to complete the trade.

May 19, 1976 Traded Luis Melendez to the San Diego Padres. Received Bill Greif.

June 15, 1976 Traded Reggie Smith to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Received Fred Tisdale (minors), Bob Detherage and Joe Ferguson.

September 3, 1976 Traded Mike Easler to the California Angels. Received a player to be named later. The California Angels sent Ron Farkas (minors) (September 7, 1976) to the St. Louis Cardinals to complete the trade.

May 9, 1975 Traded Luis Gonzalez (minors) and Larry Herndon to the San Francisco Giants. Received Ron Bryant.

May 28, 1975 Traded Ray Sadecki and Elias Sosa to the Atlanta Braves. Received a player to be named later and Ron Reed. The Atlanta Braves sent Wayne Nordhagen (June 2, 1975) to the St. Louis Cardinals to complete the trade.

June 4, 1975 Traded Ed Brinkman and Tommy Moore to the Texas Rangers. Received Willie Davis.

July 25, 1975 Traded Jim Dwyer to the Montreal Expos. Received Larry Lintz.

August 15, 1974 Traded a player to be named later and Ron Selak (minors) to the Houston Astros. Received Claude Osteen. The St. Louis Cardinals sent Dan Larson (October 14, 1974) to the Houston Astros to complete the trade.

June 6, 1973 Traded Jim Bibby to the Texas Rangers. Received Mike Nagy and John Wockenfuss.

June 7, 1973 Traded Dwain Anderson to the San Diego Padres. Received Dave Campbell.

June 8, 1973 Traded Ray Busse to the Houston Astros. Received Stan Papi.

July 27, 1973 Traded Gene Dusen (minors) and Ed Crosby to the Cincinnati Reds. Received a player to be named later and Ed Sprague. The Cincinnati Reds sent Roe Skidmore (September 30, 1973) to the St. Louis Cardinals to complete the trade.

August 7, 1973 Traded Wayne Granger to the New York Yankees. Received a player to be named later and cash. The New York Yankees sent Ken Crosby (September 12, 1973) to the St. Louis Cardinals to complete the trade.

August 18, 1973 Traded Dave Campbell and cash to the Houston Astros. Received Tommie Agee.

April 15, 1972 Traded Jerry Reuss to the Houston Astros. Received Lance Clemons and Scipio Spinks.

May 19, 1972 Traded Joe Hague to the Cincinnati Reds. Received Bernie Carbo.

August 27, 1972 Traded Matty Alou to the Oakland Athletics. Received Steve Easton (minors) and Bill Voss.

August 30, 1972 Traded Dal Maxvill to the Oakland Athletics. Received a player to be named later and Joe Lindsey (minors). The Oakland Athletics sent Gene Dusen (minors) (October 27, 1972) to the St. Louis Cardinals to complete the trade.

June 11, 1971 Traded Leron Lee and Fred Norman to the San Diego Padres. Received Al Santorini.

June 15, 1971 Traded Mike Torrez to the Montreal Expos. Received Bob Reynolds.

July 29, 1971 Traded Jose Cardenal, Bob Reynolds and Dick Schofield to the Milwaukee Brewers. Received Charlie Loseth (minors) and Ted Kubiak.

April 2, 1970 Traded Steve Huntz to the San Diego Padres. Received Billy McCool.

May 19, 1970 Traded Jerry Johnson to the San Francisco Giants. Received Frank Linzy.

May 29, 1970 Traded Phil Gagliano to the Chicago Cubs. Received Ted Abernathy.

June 13, 1970 Traded George Culver to the Houston Astros. Received Jim Beauchamp and Leon McFadden.

Traded Cookie Rojas to the Kansas City Royals. Received Fred Rico.

July 1, 1970 Traded Ted Abernathy to the Kansas City Royals. Received Chris Zachary.

May 22, 1969 Traded Sonny Ruberto and John Sipin to the San Diego Padres. Received Jerry Davanon and Bill Davis.

May 30, 1969 Traded Jim Hicks to the California Angels. Received Vic Davalillo.

June 3, 1969 Traded Gary Waslewski to the Montreal Expos. Received Mudcat Grant.

April 22, 1968 Traded Jack Lamabe and Ron Piche to the Chicago Cubs. Received Dave Dowling and Pete Mikkelsen.

June 15, 1968 Traded Hal Gilson and Dick Simpson to the Houston Astros. Received Ron Davis.

July 16, 1967 Traded a player to be named later to the New York Mets. Received Jack Lamabe. The St. Louis Cardinals sent Al Jackson (October 13, 1967) to the New York Mets to complete the trade.

May 8, 1966 Traded Ray Sadecki to the San Francisco Giants. Received Orlando Cepeda.

June 15, 1965 Traded Mike Cuellar and Ron Taylor to the Houston Astros. Received Chuck Taylor and Hal Woodeshick.

April 9, 1964 Traded Jimmie Coker and Gary Kolb to the Milwaukee Braves. Received Bob Uecker.

June 2, 1964 Traded Lew Burdette to the Chicago Cubs. Received Glen Hobbie.

June 13, 1964 Traded Jim Saul (minors) and cash to the Cincinnati Reds. Received Bob Skinner.

June 15, 1964 Traded Ernie Broglio, Doug Clemens and Bobby Shantz to the Chicago Cubs. Received Lou Brock, Jack Spring and Paul Toth.