Adam and I tend to agree on many things Cincinnati baseball. Walt Jocketty appears not to be one of them.
Walt Jocketty during his time in St. Louis has amassed one of the most successful track records of talent acquisition via tradei n recent memory. One trade, Haren, is on the minus side of the list, but look at his pluses.
The list of player acquired by Jocketty via trade...
Mark McGwire, Jim Edmonds, Edgar Renteria, Darryl Kile, Scott Rolen, Dennis Eckersley, Todd Stottlemyre, Fernando Vina, Larry Walker, Will Clark, Adam Wainwright, and Woody Williams.
Notable players given up in those trades....
Eric Ludwick, T.J. Mathews, Kent Bottenfield, Adam Kennedy, Braden Looper, Pablo Ozuna, Manny Aybar, Jose Jimenez, Placido Polanco, Bud Smith, Steve Montgomery, Jay Witasick, Juan Acevedo, Chris Narveson, Jose Leon, one year of J.D. Drew, and the waning days of Ray Lankford’s career.
By targeting good but under appreciated star or near-star players, Jocketty created a fantastic cycle of these players flourishing under the love of St. Louis fandom, and then signing them at a discount. Jocketty also has a great track record of developing pitching staffs on the cheap. Jocketty is also the shrewdest deadline dealer in baseball.
Granted, his farm systems ran pretty thin, and his big league clubs didn't have a lot of depth, due to his constant dealing of mid-level prospects. However, the Cardinals have been the premier NL ballclub under Jocketty.
Ultimately, anytime an organization can add a baseball mind such as Jocketty's to its ranks, I view it as good. In my opinion, the front office management today is smarter and more experienced than it was at the end of the season with the addition of Jocketty. And that's a good thing
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