Atlanta Braves: Revisiting the trade that sent Adam Wainwright to St. Louis

The Pay Off

We all know how things turned out for Wainwright in St. Louis. In fact, things are still turning out for the veteran right now. Over 14 major-league seasons, he has registered a career ERA of 3.39 with four top-three finishes in Cy Young voting.

On the flipside, Walt Jocketty’s fears would soon become a reality.

"“Our biggest concern is that he could have his breakout year,” Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty said. “It’s something we agonized about.”"

Adding Drew to an already star-studded team which included Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Rafael Furcal, Marcus Giles, and Adam LaRoche, really reduced the impact of losing both Sheffield and Javy Lopez.

Did the sacrifice pay off for the Braves? I suppose that depends on who you ask. There’s no doubt that the plan worked. The plan was to trade a prospect of the future for production right now. J.D. Drew stayed healthy and produced what would be the best season of his entire career.

In his book, Built to Win, Schuerholz said he called this before the season.

"“I predicted to our staff we would have him for only the one year remaining on his contract. He is represented by Scott Boras, who pushes his clients into free agency when at all possible and, if J.D. had the kind of productive season I fully expected, would demand far more than our budget would accommodate.”"

He would go on to say that the Braves did offer Drew the most they could muster, which was three years and $25 million.

"“Boras laughed at it.”"

Drew ended up slashing .305/.436/.569 with 28 doubles, eight triples, 31 homers while driving in 93 runs and scoring 118 runs and walking 118 times.

The Braves ended up winning 96 games en route to their 13th consecutive NL East title.

The cherry on top of the deal was Eli Marrero’s performance. At the time of the deal, Braves’ manager Bobby Cox expressed his enthusiasm in also acquiring Marrero as a part of the deal.

"“He’s capable of stealing 30 bases,” Cox said. “I think he’ll see a lot of playing time. He’s not just a throw-in, we want him.”"

Marrero played in 90 games for the Braves in 2004, slashing .305/.374/.520 and clubbing 10 homers. He ended up playing an important role for the division champions.

I think it’s fair to say that this trade worked out for both parties. The Cardinals moved their oft-injured outfielder with one year remaining on his deal for an ace that would become one of the faces of their franchise.

The Braves moved a top prospect in an effort to win now and win now they did. The Braves 2004 season ended when they lost in the NLDS to the Houston Astros.