At the trade deadline, the Cardinals did something that no one expected. They traded Harrison Bader, their Gold Glove-winning starter at center field, to the New York Yankees.
Now, I’m on record (in spoken and written form) as a fan of this move. This particular iteration of the Cardinals was supposedly built on pitching and defense. The pitching, though, wasn’t holding up its end of the bargain, particularly in the starting rotation. The defense, likewise, was still excellent on the infield but rarely together in the outfield. (Blake did a good job dealing with that in his piece from yesterday.