Jason Heyward received a bit of a rough welcome back to St. Louis today, as he appeared there for the first time since leaving the Cardinals for the rival Cubs. But that didn’t seem to bother him; as he told reporters, including MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat (Twitter link): “If somebody boos me here, that means they weren’t happy to see me leave. I’m glad people weren’t happy to see me leave.” He’s already covered his decision to move on to Chicago in some detail, of course, but the occasion offered a chance to revisit the winter market once again. As Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports, Heyward ultimately spurned the Cards not out of any failure to see eye-to-eye on a contract, but because he had found another spot he preferred. “It came down to Chicago was really where I would like to be at the time,” Heyward said. “… I feel like [the Cardinals] had every intention of keeping me here. They said that. And they followed that through with their actions. It didn’t come down to contract. Whether it was the opt-out, whether it was the full no-trade (clause), or what have you — it came down to taking the opportunity to be where I wanted to be and for the first time in my life having the choice.”
Here are a few more notes from the National League:
- Cubs catcher/outfielder Kyle Schwarber is set for surgery this week on his injured left knee, Jesse Rogers of ESPNChicago.com was among those to tweet. It’s already clear that he’ll miss the entire season with ACL and LCL tears, but a broader recovery timeline remains unknown and will presumably depend in part upon how the procedure goes.
- Young Braves lefty Max Fried is showing promise in his return from Tommy John surgery, Carroll Rogers Walton of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The 22-year-old was a highly-regarded prospect before running into elbow troubles, and remains a high-upside arm for an Atlanta organization that is full of them. He came over in the Justin Upton trade, but has only just returned to action. Fried was not only the high school teammate of Lucas Giolito — who is now the top-rated pitching prospect in baseball — but ended up being taken higher in the 2012 draft when the Nationals’ right-hander fell due to his own elbow troubles.
Hey MLBTradeRumors, add a ‘like’ button, will ya??
Not a bad idea
Having had multiple knee surgeries I have no clue how these guys play professional sports again afterwards. Must have better doctors in the MLB than they do in the Army.
Better Doctors….probably, though more likely it’s everything afterwards that is markedly better. It isn’t a knock on the armed services, who train some great docs, but the individualized treatment and attention a pro athlete gets in rehab can’t be matched: personalized nutrition plans, 1:1 specialized trainers, daily massages, etc.
Im not mad at Heyward’s comments, or how he left for less money to play for the Cubs. However, I am mad at Mo for trading Shelby Miller and Tyrell Jenkins for 1 year of Heyward, but thats baseball. Go Cards!
The Braves ended up being the real winners there. Miller pretty much rebuilt their farm system after they flipped him to Arizona.
And Miller still has not won. 8 ERA.
That will go down as one of the worst trades in the last 10 yrs. Miller is a solid #3, but he returned a #1 package. Two of those guys would have been an over-pay, let alone all three.
Well it sort of helps make up for the blunder the Braves made nearly 10 years ago in the Mark Teixeira deal with the Rangers. You can definitely point to that trade as one of the many reasons for the Braves being so horrible now.
Miller and Jenkins nothing special. Miller lost 16 games last year. He’s awful.
He lost 17 games, and that was because the team behind him was awful. Miller’s performance throughout the season was enough to place him among the top 30 starters in the majors.
Based on what stats?
Lol are you seriously using wins and losses to value a pitcher!? You are stupid!
He wasn’t worth what DBacks gave up but at first glance that was a good deal for the Braves/ for one year of Heywood. The Cardinals just know they held the cards to keep him but they didn’t count on the Curt flood thing happened to them twice
Free at last free at last Thank you Baby Cubs LOL
The Heyward thing is starting to get blown out of proportion and needs to be put to rest. As a Cards fan, I was definitely sad to see him go, but I fault no one for the outcome. The Cards did everything they could to keep him but it’s pretty clear that his mind was made up. It is what it is.
I can’t really fault him either. I live in Chicago and I can tell you that if you are young, single, and making good $$, this city is a giant playground. I’ve seen these guys at the bars (yes, Heyward included) with their gals, buying bottles and a table, enjoying each other’s company, and having a blast. You only get to live once, so have fun.
And to circle back to his reasoning: I think Heyward was about as honest as he could be in explaining his decision, knowing that most of his new teammates are his age, in the same life situation, and knowing that they will be around for a while.
Who knows what the future will hold. Nothing anyone says or does will change what has happened. Best course of action is to let the man be and move on.
That was a refreshing post, thanks for sharing.
I agree. Very well written and nice to see well thought out posts that show your intelligence and ability to look at a situation from others perspective. FYI. Not a Cubs or Cards fan so I’m neutral on the subject and therefore interesting to see all perspectives.
Hope Fried fares well. The Braves have an awful track record in recent years of rehabbing from TJ surgery and we already saw Winkler get hurt again this year (though thankfully I believe he just broke the elbow and didn’t re-tear anything). Best of luck to them and the plethora of other young men trying to come back from their elbow injuries.
I know baseball isn’t like football in that in football a team can get fined for faking an injury etc. But man, doesn’t this Sandoval “injury” just feel like a completely phantom injury? It’s clear Boston doesn’t want him around the team. They have to pay him anyway so why not trade him for, well, anything. Even pennies on the dollar.
Takes two teams to make a trade. Obviously, Boston hasn’t found a willing partner. Knowing Dave D. , it’s not for lack of trying.
Can’t see why St.louis fans are mad, considering it was a 1 year rental that they overpaid for
I think you answered your own question. I think most Cardinals fans assumed he was an easy resign, so the overpay was justified.
You NEVER assume you will be able to resign a one year rental when you trade for them. You give up what ever you think 1 year of that player is worth and if you manage to resign him that’s just gravy.
I don’t think anyone is mad.
Why would any Cardinal fan be unhappy for him leaving? He’s not even hitting his weight. They should be happy they don’t have that albatross on there team.
Its more about the fact that Mo gave up Shelby Miller and Tyrell Jenkins for 1 year of Heyward, and therefore St. Louis fans thought he should have resigned with them. So when he left, the fans saw the Cards were cheated in that trade no doubt.
If they wanted to extend J-Hey they should have only agreed to the trade under the condition that he took an extension first.
Exactly, and they didn’t do that.
.188 but still he’s an above average player – flashing the leather, running the bases, hitting line drives
Albatross? Come back in a month and see if you can pin that label on J-Hey.
The med is just a bitter Cardinals fan who wished they had Heyward