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Just one day removed from acquiring Justin Masterson from the Indians, the St. Louis Cardinals have now added John Lackey to their rotation after agreeing to a deal with the Red Sox. The Cardinals will send Joe Kelly and Allen Craig to Boston.
The Cardinals are currently 2.5 games behind the Brewers for first place in the NL Central. The Pirates sit two games back.
While Masterson has been having a poor season, Lackey has been solid for the Red Sox in the tough AL East. Over 21 starts, he has a 3.60 ERA and 1.23 WHIP. Over 137 innings he has struck out 116 and walked just 32. The Cardinals have been dealing with key injuries to starters Jaime Garcia and Michael Wacha, and seemingly don't want top prospect Carlos Martinez in the rotation yet.
Lackey has an option for 2015 while Kelly, who is 26 years old, is under team control through 2018. In three major league seasons, Kelly has a 3.25 ERA while splitting time between the bullpen and rotation. This year, however, he has made seven starts due to injury and has a 4.37 ERA.
Craig, meanwhile, has had an 863 OPS over the last three years, but was hitting .237/.291/.346 in 2014.
The Brewers remain quiet at the deadline, with very few rumors coming out about the team. The deadline for non-waiver trades is at 3:00 CT today. One wonders if the Brewers might have interest in any Red Sox players with Boston seemingly willing to trade away nearly anything. Mike Napoli could look good in a Brewers uniform while relievers Andrew Miller, Junichi Tazawa and Koji Uehara could be of interest to Milwaukee.
