Atlanta Braves: Revisiting the trade that sent Adam Wainwright to St. Louis
By Seth Carter
Jocketty-ing for Position
Walt Jocketty and the Cardinals had their sights set on the Braves’ top pitching prospect. The Braves tried to hang on to Adam Wainwright in the negotiations but it became clear that one-year of J.D. Drew’s bat would cost them the career of Adam Wainwright.
You just never know how a minor-league standout will transition to the majors. Wainwright was ranked as high as the 18th best prospect in the game prior to the 2003 season by Baseball America. Prior to the 2004 campaign, he was ranked 49th and had spent three consecutive years inside the top 50.
With other teams inquiring about the services of the thunderous bat of J.D. Drew, Atlanta was forced to include the big right-handed pitcher in the deal.
On December 13, 2003, the Atlanta Braves traded SP Jason Marquis, RP Ray King, and minor leaguer Adam Wainwright to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for OF/C Eli Marrero and OF J.D. Drew.
The deal was complete.
Jason Marquis and Adam Wainwright accounted for the Braves’ top picks in the 1996 and 2000 drafts. Marquis had been serviceable in his four seasons with the Braves, pitching to a 4.45 ERA. He would go on to put up the best season of his career with the Cardinals in 2004 as he crossed 200 innings for the first time and finished with a 3.71 ERA and won 15 games for the Redbirds.
Meanwhile, the Braves were simply trying to fill the holes on their roster following the 2003 season. The biggest hole was on offense. Javy Lopez was gone and replacing that kind of offensive production from the catcher position was next to impossible. The Braves planned on going with Johnny Estrada and Eddie Perez behind the plate.
The pitching staff still looked pretty solid on paper as they opened the season with Russ Ortiz, Mike Hampton, John Thompson, Horacio Ramirez, and Jaret Wright.
Atlanta also boasted one of the best closers in the game. John Smoltz was coming off of a truly spectacular 2003 season in which he saved 45 games and humiliated opposing hitters by allowing only eight earned runs the entire season.
The trade was a potential sacrifice of a future asset to fill the need for an outfield bat right now. Did it pay off?