Cardinals land Heyward, in blockbuster move

After the death of future star Oscar Taveras, the Cardinals were in search of a new need for their 2015 team. A starting right-fielder, which last season combined the Cardinals at that position hit .237.  They found one on Monday when they traded starting pitcher Shelby Miller and pitching prospect Tyrell Jenkins to the Atlanta Braves for right-fielder Jason Heyward and relief pitcher Jordan Walden. Heyward is the best right-fielder not named Giancarlo Stanton.

The Braves brought him up when he was 20-years-old, back in 2010. That season he ended up an All-Star in his first MLB season, and hit 18 home runs with 72 rbi's. After 2010, he pretty much has battled injuries. In 2012, he re-found his power though and hit 28 home runs with 82 rbi's. Last season, he seemed to show some flashes of being healthy again playing in 149 games (his most since 2012, when he play 158). His power may not have been there much last season, but he did show signs of speed stealing twenty bases, and hitting again .271. He hit only 11 home runs, which was a career low. He ended up getting 155 hits, his second most in his career.

Heyward right now is 25-years-old and will be a free agent after the 2015 season. Is Heyward starting to re-find his power slowly? I think time will tell, the Braves weren't going to be able to re-sign him. He's won two Gold Glove awards 2012, and 2014. He still is capable of power, and is still young. With Heyward in place the Cardinals should have one of the best defensive outfields again in the MLB.

His career stats in five seasons are: 681 games played, .262 batting average, 367 runs, 644 hits, 84 home runs, 292 rbi's, and 63 stolen bases.

What does Walden add? He looks like he will replace current free agent Pat Neshek. Walden has two more years of team control, and is 27-years-old. He's a former closer for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, back in 2011, when he saved 32 games. He was an All-Star that season. He's been known to be a shutdown guy in late innings. Last season, he had an era of 2.88, with 3 saves and 20 holds.

His career stats in five seasons are: 231 games, 12 wins, 13 losses, 211.2 innings pitched, 38 saves, 254 strikeouts, 3.10 era, and a whip of 1.23.

To me it looks like a good move for both teams. The Braves needed pitching, and the Cardinals needed a starting right-fielder. Will there be a winner in this trade? To me time will tell, if Heyward isn't kept then the Braves are clear winners. I think the Cardinals wouldn't trade for Heyward if they didn't think that they could re-sign him beyond 2015.  And in Walden the Cardinals have someone who can close, if closer Trevor Rosenthal needs a day off.

Orioles and Hardy agree to contract extension

The Baltimore Orioles and shortstop J.J. Hardy agreed to a three-year contract extension, which includes an option for the 2018 season. The contract is worth $40 million. Hardy, 32, was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the second round of the 2001 MLB draft, he was picked 56th overall. He would play five season for the Brewers, from 2005-2009.

In the offseason heading into the 2010 season, the Brewers traded Hardy to the Minnesota Twins for outfielder Carlos Gomez. He would only spend one season playing for the Twins, before being traded to the Orioles for minor league pitchers Jim Hoey and Brett Jacobson. It's safe to say that Hardy ended up finding a home in Baltimore after being traded by the Twins.

2011 was his fist full season with the Orioles, and he ended up hitting .269, with 30 home runs and 80 rbi's. He's won two gold gloves with the Orioles, in 2012 and last season 2013. He's also been an All-Star two times in his career 2007, and 2013.

This season, Hardy's power has dropped. It's the first time in three seasons, he didn't hit 20 or home runs. Instead, he hit .268, with 9 home runs, and 52 rbi's. His defense has still been there though, he led all American League shortstops in defensive value (20.4) and defensive runs saved (10).

He's a great player for the Orioles to make sure they have kept, he's proven to be one of their leaders on defense and at times with his offense.

Overall Hardy has played ten seasons in the MLB. His career stats are: 1,259 games played, .261 batting average, 1,234 hits, 606 runs scored, 167 home runs, and 579 rbi's.

If he had it free agency this
December, Hardy could have been one of the most target free agents.

Cardinals land John Lackey from Boston

On Thursday the Cardinals were busy on trade deadline day. They picked up starting pitcher John Lackey from the Boston Red Sox, along with prospect LHP Corey Littrell for right fielder Allen Craig and starting pitcher Joe Kelly. I'll get to Lackey and the others soon. As for Littrell he seems like a good pitcher for depth, he's young and right now in 19 games and 18 starts he's 5-5 with an era of 3.60, he's pitched 100 innings in his seconds minor league season. He has 91 strikeouts and 38 walks. In his future he could be best as a middle reliever or a back end of the rotation type of guy. That's if he reaches the MLB, his stats seem like he has a chance.

Littrell can reach 89-92 on the radar gun, besides his fastball; he throws a curveball, cutter, and a change up. He was ranked the the Red Sox 36th best prospect at the time of the trade.

As for John Lackey, the Cardinals get a starter who has been a big game pitcher in his career, he's not scared to speak his mind. He'll battle on the mound. In 2013, Lackey became the only starter to win to clinching World Series games for two different teams (the Los Angeles Angels in 2002, and Boston Red Sox 2013). The Red Sox signed Lackey as a free agent in December, 2009. The contract was a five-year deal worth $82.5 million. In the contract the Red Sox put a clause in his deal that said if he missed any season due to an injury, they'd have a club option for $500,000 in 2015.

He would later end up having Tommy John surgery and ended up missing the 2012 season. He was able to pitch his way back after having Tommy John surgery. So, he's strikeouts always have been about the same in his career, except for the 2011 season. He also gets lots of credit from people for the Red Sox success in 2013.

Now for Allen Craig and Joe Kelly. It's sad to see both leave. We all need to know that in sports it's always a business. So fan favorites who mean a lot to a team do get traded. Just because they get traded doesn't mean it's the end of the world. Craig was one of the best RBI' machines over the last couple of years. For whatever reason his power seems to be on the decline. And the Cardinals have someone named Oscar Taveras who has been waiting to play full-time.

Taveras mastered triple-A, so why send him to back to Memphis, when there's pretty much nothing left for him to learn? If you had been in a GM shoes what would you all have done if you had to find playing time for Taveras in the MLB? The Cardinals weren't going to trade him, even though there were rumors about him being traded. There's always rumors, teams even wanted Matt Adams? Would you have traded Adams, who's the Cardinals best hitter? I wouldn't have.

I hope Craig does well in Boston, I wish him luck. It's time for Oscar Taveras to play full-time, he has it in him to be a good player. Any GM would have been in a hard situation deciding what to do with both Taveras and Craig. In the end both are starting, so that should be good for both players.

Joe Kelly he's young, but still learning and can improve. Why did the Cardinals trade him you might ask? Easy, they wanted to upgrade their rotation. They need pitchers who can eat innings if they want to make the playoffs. Ever since Michael Wacha got injured and landed on DL, pitchers not named Adam Wainwright and Lance Lynn haven't been going deep into innings. That has made the bullpen become overworked. You don't need a bullpen overworked, when trying to get a playoff spot.

Kelly can help the Red Sox, it was kind of like spring training again for him though. And that's because he's just getting off the DL, and refinding his pitches. He was getting killed in his last four starts, with an era of 7.32 combined for those starts. So, does it make sense to let Kelly stay starting or find pitching who can help make the playoffs or decide to tank it and miss the playoffs?

In Lackey, they get a proven starter who can eat innings and at this point is better than Kelly. Would I have liked to see Kelly stay? Yes I would have. But the Cardinals goal is to always make the playoffs isn't that the goal every season? After all no one knows what will happen in the playoffs once a team gets in. This team have the offense to scoring runs, and can hit. I think the team needed a wake up call somehow and someway. Teams need wake up calls at times, even if it means shaking up the roster.
Allen Craig had been struggling. And didn't seem to be helping the team much, when given chances to see if he could bounce back. Maybe it's because he needs a new team to refind his power. If that's the case, Craig should do well in Boston.

In the end we can be glad the Cardinals are trying to do their best to make the playoffs. And trying to fix one of their main problems which has been starting pitching, ever since Wacha landed on the DL. Keep in mind the rest of the teams like the Pirates and Brewers didn't do much to try to improve, even though the Brewers got a nice player in Gerardo Parra. Other than that the other teams didn't improve. I think those teams sent a message that the trade market is too high.

And if the Cardinals need to add a little offense they still can make a trade in offense, which I could see happening. That's if teams prices drop on players. A lot of the reason to why prices are so high on players is because there are two wild cards now, so there are lots of teams who think they can make a playoff push. So teams now days tend to want to play it out and see if they can make a playoff push.

Just to name a few August trades from the past who ended up helping the team are: John Axford, Larry Walker, and Woody Williams. At least the Cardinals didn't panic and trade the farm for a rental for a few months. When there's no guarantee that the player would stay. And you don't want to give up a prospect you could regret in the future, Micheal Brantley is a perfect example of that who comes to mind. I'm sure the Brewers wish they never traded him.

All in all this should turn out to be a good trade for both teams. The Cardinals also have a ton of pitching depth who could be ready for the MLB soon. One of those pitchers who isn't far off is Marco Gonzales, just to name one of them.

Jori Lehtera leaves KHL, signs with Blues

Finland native, center Jori Lehtera, has signed a two-year contract with the St. Louis Blues. He'll make $5.5 million over those two years. Lehtera, 26, was drafted by the Blues in the 2008 NHL draft in the 3rd round, and was picked 65th overall. He had a short stent in the Blues minors in 2008-2009, for then the Peoria Rivermen. He played in 7 games for them and recorded an assist. That season they made the playoffs, and he played 7 games in their playoff run, with 1 goal, and 1 assist, and 2 points. Besides that short stent in North America, he's been playing in the KHL, Russia's top league for hockey.

He's was able to make himself one of the top players in the KHL, while playing for Sibir Novosibirsk. One of his teammates there was current Blues player Vladimir Tarasenko, in 2011-2012. Both had great chemistry playing together, so that should be able to help Lehtera who hasn't played an NHL game yet. He's pretty much player who is high skilled, and is a pass first player. Last season, while playing for Sibir Novosibirsk, he played in 44 games, with 12 goals, 32 assists, 44 points, and was a plus 14. In the playoffs for them, he played in 10 games, getting 6 assists, and 6 points. He made back to back All-Star games while playing in the KHL the last two season.

It sounds like he could center a line with Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko. If that line ends up to be true come the start of the NHL season, it could end up being a pretty sweet line to watch.

I'm excited to what Lehtera can do in the NHL once he plays. There's been lots of talk about him before.

Blues make big splash on first day of NHL free agency, land Paul Stastny

The St. Louis Blues have been looking for a number one center for awhile, that that on today when they signed free agent center Paul Stastny. He gets a four-year contract, the deal is worth $28 million. Stastny,28, was drafted by he Colorado Avalanche in the 2005 NHL draft in the 2nd round, picked no.44th overall. His first season in the NHL was in 2006-2007. That season he played in all 82 games, scoring 28 goals, with 50 assists, and 78 points, he finished as a plus 4. He also scored 11 goals on the powerplay that season. He ended up finished second in the Calder Trophy (rookie of the year) voting. He's played eight seasons in the NHL, so far he's played in 538 games, 160 goals, 298 assists, 458 points, 47 powerplay goals, 1 shorthanded goal, and is a plus 6. In the playoffs, he's played 22 games, with 8 goals, 10 assists, 18 points, and is a minus 4.

Stastny, made his first NHL All-Star team in 2010-2011. Last season he played for team USA in  Sochi, Russia. He joins current teammates David Backes, T.J. Oshie, and Kevin Shattenkirk who were part of team USA. Shattenkirk also knows Stastny from the Avalanche, before the Avalanche traded him to the Blues a couple of years ago.

He's the son of Hall of Famer Peter Stastny, who played for the Blues before the end of his career, and is the younger brother of former Blue Yan Stastny (played for the Blues from 2007-2010). He'll become the fifth farther-son combo to play for the Blues in franchise history.

This is a great move by the Blues to start their offseason. The Blues needed a number one center and more offense. They get both in Paul Stastny. Kudos to the Blues for stepping up and landing him.

Blues swap defensemen with Maple Leafs

The St. Louis Blues trade defenseman Roman Polak to the Toronto Maple Leafs for defenseman Carl Gunnarsson, and the 94th pick in the 2014 NHL draft (Ville Husso). Husso, turned out to be the pick. He was ranked number one for European goalies. Polak was drafted by the Blues in the 2004 NHL draft in the 6th round, overall he was picked 180th. Since Polak's rookie season in 2006-2007, he's played 424 games, with 13 goals, 66 assists, and 79 points in eight seasons and is a minus 7. He's played in 25 playoff games, only has 2 assists, and is a minus 11 in the playoffs.

As for Gunnarsson what does he bring to the Blues? He can control the puck better than Polak can. Both are pretty much similar types of players, except Gunnarsson fits Ken Hitchcock's system on the Blues. Gunnarsson was drafted by the Maple Leafs in the 2007 NHL draft in the 7th round, overall he was picked 194th. His rookie season came in 2009-2010, that year he played in 43 games and scored 3 goals, with 12 assists for 15 points. He lead the Leafs in the plus/minus department with a plus 8.
He was paired with Dion Phaneuf for the Leafs top paring. He looked good making up for Phanuef's mistakes. Last season on a bad Maple Leafs team he finished as a plus 12.

In his career his played five seasons in the NHL so far and has played 304 games, with 15 goals, 71 assists, and 86 points, and is a plus 14. He's played 7 career playoff games, with 1 assist and is a minus 7. 

People liked Polak a lot, they'll tend to like Gunnarsson if they give him a chance. Polak made hits and got lots of blocked shots, well guess what? Last season lets compare both Polak had 130 blocked shots, and 151 hits. As for Gunnarsson, he had 176 blocked shots and 166 hits. It's a win-win for both teams if you look at it. Gunnarsson fits Hitchcock's style better, and controls the puck better. The Blues improved their game. That's one improvement into making this team better than last years team so far. Will Jordan Leopold be traded? I could see the Blues trading him to clear cap space and find someone who could fill Polak's role with maybe less playing time in free agency. Both Polak and Gunnarsson are about the same age.

Twins land free agent 1B/DH Kendrys Morales

The Minnesota Twins have signed first basemen/designated hitter Kendrys Morales to a one-year contract. The deal is worth $7.5 million for the rest of the 2014 season. Morales played for the Seattle Mariners in 2013, after the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim traded him to Seattle in December 2012. He's played seven seasons in the MLB, after making his debut on May 23,2006. It would be nine seasons, but he injured himself on a walk-off grand slam in 2010 and missed all of the 2011 season recovering from his injury.

Morales' best season came in 2009, when he played 152, hitting .306, 173 hits, 43 doubles, 86 runs scored, 2 triples, 34 home runs, and 108 rbi's. In 2013, for the Mariners, he had his best season since 2009. He hit .277, with 23 home runs, and 80 rbi's.

His career stats are: 620 games played, 622 hits, 130 doubles, 280 runs scored, 4 triples, 4 stolen bases, 345 rbi's, and a career batting average of .280.

I like the move a lot for the Twins, they seem to be playing a lot better than people excepted them right now coming into the season. They get a power bat in their line up in Morales, who is capable of driving in runs.