The Cardinals acquired Marcell Ozuna from the fire-selling Marlins in a trade on Wednesday, a deal essentially forced St. Louis to trade an outfielder to carve out an everyday spot for Ozuna.
Stephen Piscotty, a 26-year-old from Pleasanton, Calif., was the outfielder the front office decided to move. St. Louis traded Piscotty, who hit nine homers and drove in 39 runs in 107 games last year, to the Oakland Athletics in exchange for two minor league prospects.
The move means Piscotty will be closer to his mother, who was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) during this past season and lives in California.