First Major MLB Trade as Deadline Approaches

The St. Louis Cardinals and the Oakland Athletics have agreed on a trade that will send Matt Holliday to the middle of the map to join Albert Pujols and the rest of the St. Louis lineup. In return the struggling Athletics will receive third baseman Brett Wallace, outfielder Shane Peterson and right-handed pitcher Clayton Mortensen. The A’s will also be sending 1.5 million dollars to the Cards as part of the deal.
Holliday, who was in his first season with the A’s after coming over from Colorado, had been struggling for most of the season. However, he began to step his game up in the past month and has been hitting the ball at a high level as of late.
I like the trade a lot the Cards are in a position to win their division and desperately needed another bat to help Albert out in the middle of that lineup. Holliday and Pujols will now each have some protection and their teams offensive numbers should increase. When coupled with a strong staring rotation and a decent bullpen, the Card have positioned themselves to make a run in the playoffs.
The trade clearly keeps St. Louis as the favorite to win the Central. I don’t believe it makes them better then the Phillies at this point and clearly not as strong as the Dodgers. With that said, the trade will help them and should make the playoff chase that much more interesting.
As the July 31st trade deadline approaches, it will be interesting to see which teams decide to make a move and what players will be rocking a new uniform for the final two months of play.