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

8. St. Louis Cardinals ship out Jack Wilson.

Cardinals Receive: Jason Christiansen

Pirates Receive: Jack Wilson

The St. Louis Cardinals drafted shortstop Jack Wilson in the ninth round of the 1998 draft, but they traded him to the Pittsburgh Pirates for relief help in Christiansen. Later that year, the team traded for Edgar Renteria, which has gone down as a great trade for the Cardinals.

Renteria held down the fort from 1999 to 2004, his last year being Wilson’s lone All-Star appearance. Needless to say, shortstop was solidified for the team, and when Renteria left, David Eckstein filled the void.

Wilson batted .265 and played decent defense at shortstop throughout his career. In 2004, Wilson led the National League in assists, putouts and total chances, and he played 31 consecutive games without committing an error.

Wilson likely would have been the odd man out in the infield had he stayed, but if the Cardinals held on to him for a bit longer, he might have been able to be traded at a higher value and net someone better than Christiansen, who only pitched 29.1 innings with the Cardinals and had an ERA of 4.91. Christiansen was traded to the San Francisco Giants a year later for Kevin Joseph and cash.

Whenever a player who has yet to make his debut is traded and has a long, solid career, and the player received is a short-term solution and isn’t even that good with that team, it’s hard to chalk up the trade as anything but a failure, even if Wilson wasn’t going to fit into the Cardinals’ long-term plans.