St. Louis Cardinals: Ranking the 10 worst trades in the last 20 years

1. St. Louis Cardinals acquire Mark Mulder for three players.

Cardinals Receive: Mark Mulder

Athletics Receive: Daric Barton, Kiko Calero, Dan Haren

The St. Louis Cardinals were going for it all in 2005, so they flipped Barton, Calero and Haren for Mulder, who, while coming off a down season by his standards, was still expected to produce. And in his first season with the Cardinals, he did, pitching to a 3.64 ERA in 205 innings in 2005. He also pitched well in the postseason that year, but he couldn’t lead the team to a title.

Mulder couldn’t stay healthy for the rest of his time with the team as his shoulder wouldn’t cooperate. He had two rotator cuff surgeries throughout his Cardinals tenure. When he did pitch, he was ineffective.

Over the next three years, Mulder only pitched a total of 106 innings, giving up 150 hits and 96 runs, with an ERA of 7.73. He made one appearance in 2008, leaving the game in the first inning after again hurting his shoulder when attempting a pickoff. He never appeared in another game.

Haren wasn’t spectacular with St. Louis in his first two years in the major leagues, pitching to a 4.85 ERA in 118.2 innings. But he broke out after the trade and became an elite pitcher. He earned three All-Star berths, from 2007 to 2009, and had a 3.70 ERA for his career after the trade, including a sparkling 3.07 in 2007.

The first-rounder Barton was the centerpiece of the trade, but his eight-year career was less than impressive. His outlier was 2010, where he hit .273 and led the American League with 110 walks. He never developed the power teams desire from a first baseman; his 10 home runs in 2010 were a career high.

Calero did pretty well with the Cardinals during his time with the team. He had a 2.80 ERA with 98 strikeouts in 83.2 innings. He faltered a bit during his tenure in Oakland, pitching to a 3.96 ERA. His best season was probably his final one, where he pitched with the Florida Marlins, where he had an ERA of 1.95 and struck out 69 in 60 innings.

The only saving grace for this trade was that the Cardinals won the World Series in 2006. But Haren definitely would have had a spot in a merely adequate rotation during the following years. With the starkly different performances of the player received and who became the best player traded (Haren), this can be argued to have been the worst trade the Cardinals made in the last two decades.

So there it is. If you look back a few more years into Cardinal history you may find worse trades but from 1999-now, that is my take on the list of players the Cardinals should’ve decided to hold on to instead of ship off to another team.