arguably the worst trade in cardinals history.

Apologies to Rick Wise, but two words: Steve Carlton.

In an interesting twist, Wise’s best win total as a Cardinal was … 16.

dg
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i know that the a’s have a rich pitching history. with great success like catfish, vida, etc. but i also remember guys named norris, kingman (brian - not dave) and a slew of two year wonders whose ruined, worn out arms halted an otherwise promising career. unfortunately, billy ball (both bean and martin) requires getting the absolute most from young players before they become pricey. and often when they are dealt, they incur injuries. point is, when dealing with the a’s let the buyer beware. i’ve been in northern cal thirty years now, and watched the a’s win consistently often at the expense of young pitching careers.
my other comment is regarding the proficiency of the cardinal medical staff. their track record is not the greatest. derrick, i wish one of you guys would do an in depth series on the medical aspect of the game. people love medical thrillers and at least with the cards, the medical side seems full of action.
and last but not least, st. louis fans ARE the smartest on the planet.

I don’t remember the story last year about the conflict over the Haren trade, between tlr and whom, Duncan? I saw one of the responses and just don’t remember that story.

I can’t even say, much less type, the name Dan Ha… And I certainly can’t watch the guy pitch. It just hurts too darn much. That trade was a tragedy of epic proportions in baseball terms.

It is natural to second guess a trade in hindsight. However, what really makes this trade hard to comprehend is that Mulder is not the pitcher they needed. The 04 series made it obvious that the Cards, although a great regular season team that as currently configured could pile up the wins with starting pitching, did not match-up well. This was because the starters did not make guys swing and miss enough. Recent championship teams (the 01 D-backs being the best example) had a top-heavy 1-2 starting rotation that could dominate a playoff series by starting 6 of 7 games. The 04 team had Carp (although hurt for the playoffs) and needed another front-end starter. So they traded for Mulder.

But Mulder was never a power pitcher who made guys swing and miss. I did not like that trade right when it was made for that reason. Anyone who could have looked beyond Mulder’s gaudy W-L record would not have made that trade and looked elsewhere for a front-end starter. To this day, I am surprised the Card’s brain trust did not, apparently, realize that Mulder was not the pitcher they needed. Hindsight was not needed to see this at the time.

What has become apparent with hindsight, as pointed out elsewhere, is the injury issue. Not just Mulder, but Hudson and Zito have not yet enjoyed the same level of success they had as A’s. And probably never well. I think that tells you a lot about the A’s handling of young pitchers. Not that the Cards are a model for player development and injury issues either. Although this trade was bad, would you rather be the Giants and have $126 million tied up in Zito? I think not, so take heart Cards fans, it could have been worse. S

till though, this trade should not have been made because even a healthy Mulder was not the player the Cards needed after 04.

GREAT story. I’ve been sick about this trade since the ‘Birds made it. Of course, you never know until you know and, overall, Jocketty did more than a decent job as the GM, but a guy had to have seen something in him when he was a 24-year old during the ‘04 post season! Haren was nails! At the same, one has to wonder about Mulder’s character.

I hated to see Haren go - I liked the way he went after hitters and he was a bargain compared to Mulder. But, I understood the desire for a lefty impact starter at the time.

“Impingement syndrome” is such a bogus diagnosis. So, he’s had two surgeries and suddenly he’s developed an impingement which was correctable during either procedure? Whatever. . . his flexibility sucks from all the scar tissue created during the two procedures, that’s all. He needs some Active Release Technique treatments from Dr. Leahy out in Colorado like Saberhagen had during his comeback (2 treatments, 1 hour, 4 mph - enough said). A lower arm slot may be in order at this point in his career, but only after the underlying cause of the problem is actually treated rather than ignored.

If the Cards hired Nelson Ayotte from the Blues, the team would be much better off as far as strength and conditioning goes - then maybe we wouldn’t have these largely avoidable problems to begin with.

While this wasn’t a beautiful moment in Jocketty’s tenure, the Cards did win the 2006 World Series. While Haren might have made the Cards a more of a sure thing that year (probably not), it’s important to keep in mind that the A’s haven’t gotten a whiff of the the World Series, and haven’t had nearly the post season success in the past 10 years as the Cards have.

But keeping Haren sure looks great now.

Caveat Emptor!

Did the Cards win in ‘06 BECAUSE of Jockety, or DESPITE him? Watching this year’s resurgence of young talent makes it clear it was time for Walt to step down.