The St. Louis Cardinals traded starting pitcher Joe Kelly and utility man Allen Craig to the Boston Red Sox on Thursday in exchange for John Lackey. We knew Lackey was on the block and we knew the Cardinals were looking for pitching, but apparently neither Kelly nor Craig knew that they were available. In fact, both players had to find out for themselves that they had been dealt.
According to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Kelly found out he had been shipped to Boston by watching TV while Craig learned he had been traded while surfing the web.
The Cardinals are fond of calling their clubhouse “family.” There’s much ado about ignoring outside “distractions” created by media, hangers-on, whatever. Yet Kelly learned he had been traded through a television report. Craig learned while surfing the net. Neither player even knew he was in play. Craig was so stunned he left the Petco Park clubhouse without comment. Family one day, disposable the next.
Stories like this have increased over the past year or so (see: Darren Sproles to Philly), which makes sense. With the amount of news that “leaks” over Twitter and other social media sites, teams have to be careful not to reveal too much information when discussing trades. That often means leaving players in the dark to decrease the risk of compromising a deal.
Having said that, we understand why Craig and Kelly would be upset. Players want to think that their teams would at least inform them of the possibility that they could be dealt. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work like that all the time in 2014.
H/T Hardball Talk
