photo: John Mozeliak via Zoom (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
The St. Louis Cardinals have acquired two left-handed starting pictures with considerable MLB experience – J.A. Happ and Jon Lester.
St. Louis Cardinals press releases
The St. Louis Cardinals announced this afternoon (Friday, July 20) that they have acquired veteran left-handed pitcher J.A. Happ and cash considerations from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for right-handed pitcher John Gant and minor league left-handed pitcher Evan Sisk.
Happ, 38, is a veteran of 15 big league seasons since debuting with the Phillies in 2007. Happ has compiled a career mark of 128-98 with a 4.13 ERA in 343 career games (317 starts), including a career-high 20 wins in 2016 with Toronto.
The 6-5, 205-pound Happ has had career stops in Toronto, Philadelphia, New York Yankees, Houston, Minnesota, Pittsburgh and Seattle. He finished 2nd in N.L. Rookie of the Year voting in 2009 after winning 12 games for the Phillies and was an American League All-Star in 2018.
Happ has appeared in 15 postseason games during his career, including the 2009 World Series with Philadelphia. He is 5-6 with a 6.77 ERA in 19 starts for the Twins this season.
The St. Louis Cardinals have announced their second trade of the afternoon, acquiring veteran left-handed pitcher Jon Lester from the Washington Nationals in exchange for outfielder Lane Thomas.
Lester, 37, was 3-5 with a 5.02 ERA in 16 starts for the Nationals this season.
The 6-4, 250-pound Lester owns a career mark of 196-116 with a 3.64 is a veteran of 16 big league seasons with Boston (2006-14), Oakland (2014), Chicago Cubs (2015-20) and Washington (2021).
Lester is a four-time Cy Young Award Top-10 finalist (2010, 2014, 2016, 2018) and a five-time All-Star. He led the National League in wins (18) in 2018 as a member of the Cubs and had a league-best .792 winning pct. (19-5) in 2016 while helping the Cubs to the World Series.
Lester is a three-time World Series Champion, winning titles in 2007 and 2013 with Boston and 2016 with the Cubs.
Brian Walton’s take
The Cardinals add the pair of lefties, looking for “stability and experience” “without giving up a lot of future talent,” St. Louis’ president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said on Friday afternoon.
Though the Cardinals were chasing other pitchers, the number of clubs looking as well made the price higher than the Cardinals were willing to pay. Mozeliak specifically referenced the organization’s top five prospects are ones the Cardinals want to keep.
The PBO noted both new Cardinals will be given a chance to start, with Monday’s day off giving the club a chance to “hit the reset button” on the rotation.
Neither’s recent results offer too much confidence they can help lead the rotation into the post-season. Mozeliak acknowledged the Cardinals tried to acquire other pitchers and cited an example that they lost out on one who he thought the team would be acquiring when he came in Friday morning. But it fell though. Veterans Jack Flaherty and Miles Mikolas are early in rehab outings with the hope they can return by mid-August.
The two youthful starters to be displaced are Jake Woodford and Johan Oviedo. Mozeliak specifically noted the latter will be able “to grow at a more natural pace” with Triple-A Memphis. He was unclear about how Woodford, who has far more Triple-A experience, will be impacted.
As noted in the release, the Cardinals received cash from the Twins to offset some of Happ’s remaining salary of $2.6 million. Lester is owed about three-quarter of a million dollars for the remainder of 2021.
Thomas and Gant have certain similarities in their standing. While Gant has been a consistent bullpenner in recent years, he was removed from the 2021 starting rotation in large part due to excessive walks issued.
Thomas had a strong 2019 debut but struggled in 2020 and 2021. In the meantime, the starting outfield of Tyler O’Neill, Harrison Bader and Dylan Carlson has solidified, leaving Thomas to come off the St. Louis bench when not sent back down to Memphis.
The transactions are roster-neutral, with Thomas and Gant coming off the 40-man and Happ and Lester going on.
Sisk, 24, was taken by the Cardinals in the 16th round of the 2018 draft. The left-hander advanced to Peoria to open the season and after 10 relief appearances (with a 2.84 ERA), he was promoted to Springfield. In Double-A Sisk’s ERA was 3.60 in 16 outings. His season ERA is 3.31 with his career mark 2.90.
Footnote
Down one offensive player with Thomas gone and with Lester not reporting until Sunday, the Cardinals also recalled outfielder Lars Nootbaar from Memphis on Friday.
Expect a move of a pitcher off St. Louis’ roster ahead when Lester officially reports.
Update no. 2
After Saturday night’s poor start, Jake Woodford was optioned to Memphis to accommodate the arrival of Lester.
For more
To track the status of the Cardinals’ 40-man roster as well as all players in the system by position and level, check out the Roster Matrix, always free and updated here at The Cardinal Nation. Also included is every player transaction across the full organization all year long.
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