St. Louis Cardinals: Digging into the history of Cardinals GMs

Frank Lane (1955-1957)

Biggest win: Sam Jones

Biggest loss: Bill Virdon

Total WAR gain: 14.1

Total WAR loss: 46.1

Frank Lane began his career in St. Louis in 1955, and one of his first moves was to send former 20-game winner Harvey Haddix to Philadelphia, where he continued to have a stellar career. The players the Phillies gave up – Murry Dickson and Herm Wehmeier – didn’t do anything special with the Cardinals.

Lane’s worst trade, however, was dealing star defender Bill Virdon, the 1955 National League Rookie of the Year with the Cardinals, to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Virdon went on to post a FanGraphs WAR of 15.1 with Pittsburgh over the next 10 seasons. Littlefield, meanwhile, threw one bad season on the mound with the Cardinals and was subsequently dealt to the New York Giants. Del Greco hit .215 with the Cardinals and was traded to the Cubs in April of 1957.

The most alarming part of Lane’s tenure, however, was a move that fell through: Later in 1956, Lane attempted to trade superstar outfielder Stan Musial to the Philadelphia Phillies for ace pitcher Robin Roberts. However, after news of the likely trade was leaked on the radio, owner August A. Busch Jr. stopped the deal.

Lane’s best move by WAR was in 1957. 1955 All-Star pitcher Sam Jones came to St. Louis and posted a WAR of 9.40 while leading the major leagues in strikeouts in 1958.

Overall, Lane’s time with the Cardinals wasn’t successful, but if Busch hadn’t intervened in the Musial trade, things could have been much darker, even if Roberts was a future Hall of Famer in his own right.

Bing Devine (1957-1964)

Biggest win: Lou Brock

Biggest loss: Larry Jackson

Total WAR gain: 158.6

Total WAR loss: 88

Bing Devine served two stints as the Cardinals’ general manager. The first move he made was one of his best, acquiring 19-year-old Curt Flood from the Cincinnati Redlegs. Although some might remember Flood for a fielding miscue that might have cost the Cardinals the 1968 World Series, he accumulated a WAR of 36.4 and served as one of the best defensive outfielders of all time.

Before the 1959 season, Devine pulled off another excellent move in getting first baseman and outfielder Bill White and third baseman and outfielder Ray Jablonski from the San Francisco Giants for Don Choate and Sam Jones. White would go on to have some of the best years of his career with St. Louis.

But the Devine trade everyone remembers was just that: the trade. In 1964, the last year of his first tenure with the Cardinals, Devine traded for young Chicago Cubs outfielder Lou Brock, giving up a very solid pitcher in Ernie Broglio. Brock, of course, would go on to be immortalized in Cardinals history, while Broglio was out of baseball two years later.

WAR puts Devine’s worst trade as dealing pitcher Larry Jackson to the Cubs. He posted a WAR of 15.4 for the rest of his career, But in the Cardinals-Cubs trades under Devine, it’s easy to see which team got the short end of the stick.

Devine’s first stint with the Cardinals was one of the most successful in Cardinals history, and he set up the Cardinals for success down the road, even though he wasn’t at the helm when it happened.

Bob Howsam (1964-1966)

Biggest win: Orlando Cepeda

Biggest loss: Mike Cuellar

Total WAR gain: 19.6

Total WAR loss: 40.2

Bob Howsam’s two seasons in St. Louis didn’t lead to great results; those would come when he constructed the Big Red Machine a few years later. However, Howsam did make one solid move in getting first baseman and future Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda from the San Francisco Giants for pitcher Ray Sadecki. Cepeda would post an 11.2 WAR during his two-plus seasons with St. Louis.

Howsam also traded third baseman Charlie Smith to the New York Yankees for former great Roger Maris, owner of the single-season home run record at the time. Maris, although in the last two seasons of his career, experienced somewhat of a renaissance in St. Louis, finally away from the harsh landscape of the New York fans and media, who believed “true Yankee” Mickey Mantle should have been the new home run king instead of Maris.

Howsam’s worst move by WAR was trading pitcher Mike Cuellar to the Houston Astros after he failed to make St. Louis’ major league roster. Cuellar would go on to post a WAR of 15.3 for his career.

Stan Musial (1967)

Biggest win: Jack Lamabe

Biggest loss: Jerry Buchek

Total WAR gain: 0

Total WAR loss: 1

OK, look, Musial was an outstanding player, but he didn’t do much regarding trades during his time in the front office. Jack Lamabe had a decent season pitching for the Cardinals in 1967, but the Cardinals lost 1 WAR in the Jerry Buchek trade. There’s really nothing to say here besides the fact that Musial apparently treated the players very well and offered fair contracts, and the Cardinals won the World Series in the only year he was in charge.

Bing Devine (again) (1967-1978)

Biggest win: Joe Torre

Biggest loss: Steve Carlton

Total WAR gain: 141.1

Total WAR loss: 301.8

While Devine’s first seven years as the Cardinals’ general manager were some of the most successful in team history, his second turn through the wringer didn’t prove nearly as fruitful. The man who spearheaded what is widely considered the most lopsided trade in MLB history — in favor of the Cardinals — was also behind the Cardinals’ biggest trade loss by WAR in the team’s history.

When pitcher Steve Carlton asked for a raise after winning 20 games in 1971, owner August A. Busch Jr. ordered Devine to sever ties with Carlton, and he was traded to the Phillies, where he accumulated Hall of Fame numbers and a WAR of 75. Wise did have an All-Star campaign with the Cardinals in 1973, but he was traded to the Boston Red Sox after the season.

Devine’s best deal in his second turn as general manager was acquiring catcher Joe Torre for first baseman Orlando Cepeda. Torre put up a WAR of 25.4 for the Cardinals and made four All-Star appearances in six years. Cepeda had a few more decent years, but he was done being an All-Star. Another noteworthy move was trading pitcher Eric Rasmussen to the San Diego Padres for outfielder George Hendrick, who would have the most productive years of his career with the Cardinals.

When Devine traded Curt Flood to the Phillies, Flood refused the trade and filed a lawsuit against the league. While Flood ultimately lost the case, the results of the trial led to sweeping overhauls across baseball. Owners no longer had complete control over their players, and players had more of a voice in trades and the ability to seek free agency.

Devine’s second time around with the Cardinals didn’t go nearly as well as the first, but it was what happened on the legal side with Flood that expanded beyond the team itself and gave players more of a voice, and for that reason, some could consider it a serendipitous success for Devine.

John Claiborne (1978-1980)

Biggest win: John Stuper

Biggest loss: John Denny 

Total WAR gain: 1.8

Total WAR loss: 10.9

John Claiborne only served as the Cardinals’ general manager for 22 months before owner August A. Busch Jr. determined that he wasn’t the right fit for the team. Claiborne had difficulty signing top-tier free agents such as Pete Rose and Tommy John, who both refused the Cardinals’ offers, and he balked at the idea of swinging a deal with the Chicago Cubs of acquiring Bruce Sutter, Tom Herr and Leon Durham.

John Stuper was the best trade by WAR that Claiborne engineered, coming over as a minor leaguer from the Pirates and serving as a decent arm for the Cardinals in 1982 and 1983 before falling off a cliff in 1984.

Claiborne’s trade of pitcher John Denny for aging slugger Bobby Bonds didn’t work out. Denny won the Cy Young award with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1983 and put up some good years, especially near the end of his career. Bonds, meanwhile, didn’t appear to have much juice left, as he hit only five home runs with the Cardinals and batted .203.

Whitey Herzog (1980-1982)

Biggest win: Ozzie Smith

Biggest loss: Terry Kennedy

Total WAR gain: 126.5

Total WAR loss: 70.5

Legendary manager Whitey Herzog took over John Claiborne’s duties as the general manager on Aug. 17, 1980, and brought pitcher Bruce Sutter and catcher Darrell Porter across the state with him from the Kansas City Royals. Sutter and Porter would prove to be very good players for the Cardinals, but it was Herzog’s actions in 1981 that set the stage for the dynamic Cardinals of the 1980s.

In 1981, Herzog traded for shortstop Ozzie Smith, outfielder Willie McGee and outfielder Lonnie Smith. He also re-signed pitcher Joaquin Andujar. The Cardinals’ future WAR accumulated in 1981 was 105, second-best for any team since 1955. Ozzie Smith had a career Cardinals WAR of 57.5, making him the Cardinals’ best trade acquisition via WAR in history.

Catcher Terry Kennedy was the Cardinals’ biggest loss by WAR, as he would go on to be a four-time All-Star. But it was another catcher whom most fans remember being dealt away. Ted Simmons was voted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 2020, and while fans often still look at the deal with the Brewers as a bad one, it wasn’t the mess some believe.

Dave LaPoint, one of the players coming back from the Brewers, put up a WAR of 6.5, and David Green accumulated a WAR of 4.5. Simmons had a 6.1 WAR, and while the other players sent to the Brewers (Rollie Fingers and Pete Vuckovich) amassed WARs that tilted the trade toward the Brewers, it wasn’t as bad a deal as many make it out to be.

Herzog is remembered as one of the greatest managers and general managers in Cardinals history, and deservedly so, as the 1980s Cardinals were threatening to say the least.

Joe McDonald (1982-1985)

Biggest win: John Tudor

Biggest loss: Keith Hernandez

Total WAR gain: 22

Total WAR loss: 33

Joe McDonald assumed the role of general manager after Herzog stepped down to manage full time, and it’s safe to say he wasn’t able to recreate the successes of his predecessor. Pitcher John Tudor was the trade that netted the best results for the Cardinals, as he finished second in Cy Young voting in 1985 and led the major leagues with 10 shutouts. George Hendrick was involved in the trade, going to the Pirates, but his best years were behind him.

McDonald’s biggest whiff by far was trading first baseman Keith Hernandez to the New York Mets. However, McDonald may not have been completely to blame, as Hernandez was said to have had many skirmishes with management, including Herzog.

Hernandez was already an outstanding player when he left the Cardinals, especially in the field, where he would eventually win 11 consecutive Gold Gloves and be widely considered the best defensive first baseman in history. While Hernandez did have a higher WAR in his time with the Cardinals, he still had a very strong career with the Mets. The players the Cardinals received in the trade couldn’t touch Hernandez’s contributions, as Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey pitched to unspectacular results.

Dal Maxvill (1985-1994)

Biggest win: Jose Oquendo, Jose DeLeon

Biggest loss: Andy Van Slyke

Total WAR gain: 80.1

Total WAR loss: 87.2

Maxvill took over as general manager in February 1985, and his first trade proved to be successful for the Cardinals as they acquired utility player Jose Oquendo from the New York Mets for John Young and Angel Salazar. Oquendo would prove to be valuable for the Cardinals with the ability to play nearly anywhere on the field, and he took over as a coach for the team in 1999.

Maxvill also sent outfielder Lance Johnson and pitcher Ricky Horton to the New York Mets for pitcher Jose DeLeon. Oquendo and DeLeon both accumulated a WAR of 14.7 during their time with the Cardinals, but DeLeon’s acquisition proved more costly, as Johnson went on to have a solid career. DeLeon, for his part, was a pretty good pitcher for the Cardinals in 1989 and 1991, although he led the major leagues in losses in 1990.

At the other end was Andy Van Slyke, whom the Cardinals traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates along with Mike Dunne and Mike LaValliere for catcher Tony Pena. Pena would have one All-Star season in St. Louis, but for the rest of his career, he never touched the success he found in Pittsburgh.

Van Slyke, meanwhile, was serviceable with the Cardinals during the first four seasons of his career, but he became a three-time All-Star after his trade to the Pirates in 1987 and had a career post-Cardinals WAR of 30.4.

Maxvill’s time with St. Louis saw the Cardinals struggle among inflating contracts that prevented him from re-signing players such as Terry Pendleton, but his acquisition of Oquendo proved to be valuable not only during Oquendo’s playing career, but during his coaching and mentoring career as well.

Walt Jocketty (1994-2007)

Biggest win: Jim Edmonds

Biggest loss: Adam Kennedy, Placido Polanco

Total WAR gain: 233.3

Total WAR loss: 126

Adam Kennedy? What? That’s right, in this world of WAR, Kennedy proved to have the best career after he was traded from the Cardinals. The reason it’s not remembered as a failure is because Walt Jocketty snagged outfielder Jim Edmonds from the Anaheim Angels for him.

Placido Polanco is a similar story: While Polanco turned in good career with the Philadelphia Phillies, the player he was traded for was one Scott Rolen. Edmonds and Rolen proved to be thumpers in the middle of the lineup for years, complementing feared slugger Albert Pujols.

But let’s back up to 1997. That’s when Jocketty traded Eric Ludwick, T.J. Mathews and Blake Stein to the Oakland Athletics for Mark McGwire, who would shatter the single-season home run record the next year in a famous dinger duel with Sammy Sosa. It’s saying something when WAR doesn’t consider a guy who cranks 70 home runs in a season your best acquisition.

No, that goes to Edmonds, who, along with swinging a sweet left-handed stroke, was also one of the greatest defensive outfielders ever to play the game, winning eight Gold Glove awards and compiling a 42.3 WAR.

Rolen served as a fielding wizard in his own right, manning the hot corner for the Cardinals for more than five seasons and slamming 111 home runs during that time.

Finally, in December 2003, Jocketty made a move that is paying dividends to this day, sending J.D. Drew and Eli Marrero to the Atlanta Braves for pitching prospect Adam Wainwright. We all know how that turned out.

There were only a few moves of Jocketty’s that can be considered duds. One is trading eventual solid shortstop Jack Wilson to the Pittsburgh Pirates for pitcher Jason Christiansen. The other is more well known, as the Cardinals traded pitchers Dan Haren and Kiko Calero and first baseman Daric Barton to the Oakland Athletics for pitcher Mark Mulder.

Injuries and ineffectiveness plagued Mulder’s time with the Cardinals, while Haren became a very good pitcher. Still, Haren’s WAR after St. Louis is 12.2, which is lower than some might think, especially compared to Kennedy’s 15.7.

Jocketty was fired in October 2007, but he built a World Series winner in 2006 and several teams that just missed a title.

John Mozeliak (2007-2017)

Biggest win: Matt Holliday

Biggest loss: Colby Rasmus

Total WAR gain: 77.4

Total WAR loss: 36.9

John Mozeliak took the reins after Jocketty’s firing in 2007, and one of his first moves was to trade Jim Edmonds to the San Diego Padres for third baseman and future World Series hero David Freese. But Mozeliak’s most influential trade was getting outfielder Matt Holliday from the Oakland Athletics for Brett Wallace, Clayton Mortensen and Shane Peterson. Holliday would go on to have an excellent career with the Cardinals and accumulate a WAR of 26.6 with the team.

It’s hard to find a trade in the Mozeliak era (at least with him as the general manager) that failed. Outfielder Colby Rasmus had the biggest impact by WAR for either team, putting up a 6.1 WAR after being dealt, but it’s very hard to see that trade as anything but a success given the 2011 World Series title.

The trade of pitcher Luke Gregerson to the Padres as the player to be named later as well as Mark Worrell in exchange for shortstop Khalil Greene could go down as the most lopsided deal in the Mozeliak GM era. Greene struggled with his mental health while with the Cardinals and was away from the team for most of his time there. Gregerson proved to be a solid relief pitcher for several years with the Padres.

Mike Girsch (2017-present)

Biggest win: Paul Goldschmidt

Biggest loss: Marco Gonzales

Total WAR gain (as of 2020): 14.6

Total WAR loss (as of 2020): 44.5

It’s not known how much influence Mike Girsch has over the Cardinals’ trades since he took over as general manager after John Mozeliak was promoted to president of baseball operations, but the results lately have stung. Paul Goldschmidt holds the top WAR for the Cardinals during the Girsch era at 7.3, and Marcell Ozuna is second at 5.3.

The players the Cardinals have sent away recently have been a source of many lamentations, but surprisingly, it’s Seattle Mariners pitcher Marco Gonzales who has the highest WAR of players the team traded under Girsch, at 9.6.

The trade of pitcher Zac Gallen could look worse in a few years, as he has emerged as an ace for the Arizona Diamondbacks. The deal of Luke Voit to the New York Yankees for Giovanny Gallegos has proven beneficial for both teams, and while it was hard to watch Randy Arozarena go ape in the 2020 playoffs, he hasn’t consistently shown that level of dominance this year. Matthew Liberatore, one of the players the Cardinals acquired for Arozarena, could easily have the better career.

The years with Girsch as the general manager have been rocky, but we still have to see how several of these players’ careers go from here. It could look worse, but we could also see some long-term WAR adjustment for the better.

If we go by the total WAR for each general manager since 1955, Walt Jocketty has proven to be the best, with a total WAR of 107.3. The worst was Bing Devine in his second go with the Cardinals, losing 160.7 points of WAR.

I found this program illustrating the Cardinals’ trade history to be fascinating, and I hoped that dividing the list into eras of separate general managers would be interesting. And always remember that while the trades could be better, they could also be a lot worse. Just think of Stan Musial in a Phillies uniform.