Cardinals add LHPs Jon Lester & J.A. Happ

Well…. at least they made trades, I guess.

On Friday, leading up to the trade deadline at 3:00 PM Central time, the Cardinals added a pitcher from the Nationals and another hurler from the Twins. Not Max Scherzer… and not Jose Berrios.

Instead, St. Louis got Jon Lester from the Nationals and J.A. Happ from the Twins. In the Lester deal, the Cardinals sent outfielder Lane Thomas to D.C., and righty John Gant and pitching prospect Evan Sisk are heading to the Twins.

These moves aren’t the big pitching acquisitions perhaps we were hoping for. Happ had a 6.77 ERA in 19 starts for the Twins this year, while Lester had a 5.02 ERA in 16 starts with Washington. Both Happ and Lester have averaged less than five innings per start, and opposing batters are hitting around .300 off each of these lefties.

Earlier mention of Scherzer and Berrios warrants a look at the other trades around the league from this afternoon:

(Scherzer was traded to the Dodgers last night)

• Right-hander Jose Berrios went to the Blue Jays for prospects Austin Martin and Simeon Richardson.
• The Cubs traded Kris Bryant to the Giants, Javier Baez and Trevor Williams to the Mets, and Craig Kimbrel to the White Sox.
• Philadelphia acquired RHPs Kyle Gibson and Ian Kennedy from the Rangers.
• The Braves got outfielders Jorge Soler from the Royals, Adam Duvall from Miami, and Eddie Rosario from the Indians.
• Oakland added on, from the Nationals, bringing in Josh Harrison and Yan Gomes.

Seeing big names travel across the country, padding the rosters of postseason-contending teams, definitely makes this seem much more relatable..