In a panic after the latest injury blows to their pitching staff, the Cardinals traded two minor league players to be named later to the Cubs for LHP Jeff Fassero and cash. Many moons ago, St. Louis drafted Fassero out of the University of Mississippi in the 22nd round of the 1984 draft. Of course, he never pitched for the Cardinals' major league team as the White Sox grabbed him in the minor league portion of the 1989 Rule 5 draft.

Now after passing through seven organizations, the third trade of Fassero's career brings him back to the Cardinals. Although he broke into the majors as a reliever with Montreal, he soon moved to the rotation and started for eight seasons before moving back to full time relief work with the Cubs last season. Chicago even gave him a chance to work as their closer in 2001, reportedly as a result of a conversation between Fassero's wife and Becky Baylor, Don's wife. Although he certainly wasn't the best choice for saving games on the team, the experiment worked fairly well. In 73.2 IP, Fassero compiled a 79:23 K:BB with 66 H and 6 HR allowed for a 3.42 ERA and 12 saves in 17 opportunities.

Unfortunately, the natural skill erosion from age that precipitated his move from the rotation to the pen hit the 39-year-old again this season. Fassero currently has a 44:22 K:BB with 65 H and 5 HR allowed in 51 IP for a 6.18 ERA. The primary positive growth in his skills' set is the increase in his G-F this season to 3.10, up from a pre-2002 average of 1.60. Although his previous G-F was good, this improvement likely explains why he's only given up three homers since the early April game in which he allowed two demoralizing bombs. The G-F numbers also mean that Fassero should experience a drop in his hits allowed as St. Louis' defense is superior to that of the Cubs.

Given the likelihood that St. Louis Manager and Match-up King Tony LaRussa should be able to maximize Fassero's usefulness with a more tailored usage pattern, the Cardinals may be able to escape this hasty decision with a stronger bullpen. Nevertheless, I fear that for the price they may pay, they could have acquired a less risky pitcher elsewhere. The Cubs should be ecstatic that Fassero commanded this much in trade this late in the season.

St. Louis pursued Fassero after placing Mike Matthews on the disabled list with a hip flexor on Saturday. The team doesn't currently have a timetable for Matthews' return. However, Matthews' trip to the DL took a back seat to the Cardinals' placement of Matt Morris on the DL with a strained left hamstring. Morris injured his leg hustling while running from the batters box to first on a grounder he hit to shortstop in the sixth inning of his August 23rd start against Philly. The Cardinals hope he'll be able to return in 2-3 weeks, but it is not a minor strain, so he could miss more time.

Luckily, Woody Williams and Garrett Stephenson should return from their extended DL trips in the next week. St. Louis called up Rick White and Nerio Rodriguez to replace Matthews and Morris on the roster.

White signed a minor league contract with the Cardinals August 17th after Colorado released him to make room on their roster for Brian Fitzgerald, who they picked up off waivers from Seattle. While White's not overly dominant, he hasn't displayed any particular skill deficiencies outside of Colorado. However, St. Louis should likely try to limit his encounters with left-handed batters as he performs much better against righties.

Rodriguez has improved upon the skills he demonstrated at AAA Buffalo following his move to AAA Memphis, despite moving to a less pitcher-friendly league. In 51.2 IP over 8 starts with Memphis, he's compiled a 43:10 K:BB with 42 H and 7 HR allowed for a 2.79 ERA. The home runs are somewhat troubling, but I still believe he deserves a chance to start. Hopefully, the Cardinals will give him a spot start this week rather than give Luther Hackman another start or pitch Jason Simontacchi or Chuck Finley on short rest.

The Cardinals' decision to recall Mike Crudale while demoting Gene Stechschulte in early July has worked out well for the club. In 40 IP, Crudale has compiled a 32:9 K:BB with 31 H and 2 HR allowed for a 1.58 ERA, making him one of the more effective relievers in the majors. Stechschulte struggled with a 21:17 K:BB, 27 H and 4 HR allowed in 32 IP for a 4.78 ERA.

In mid-August the Cardinals made a couple more changes to the pen, demoting Travis Smith and Matt Duff when calling up Kevin Joseph and Gabe Molina. St. Louis had promoted Duff to fill the roster spot opened up in the Rolen trade.

The Giants drafted Joseph out of Rice University in the 6th round of the 1997 draft, and the Cardinals acquired him in the Jason Christiansen trade at the 2001 trade deadline. Joseph has worked primarily as a reliever in the minors, struggling with his control. St. Louis never should have promoted him from AAA, where he had a 12:10 K:BB in 31.2 IP with 33 H and 2 HR allowed for an undeserved 1.99 ERA. As a result he now has allowed 16 H and 1 HR with a 2:6 K:BB in 11 IP in the majors for a 4.91 ERA.

Molina's displayed strong skills in the minors, but the 27-year-old has not yet been able to utilize those skills in the majors. This season at AAA Memphis, he compiled a 51:24 K:BB with 58 H and 7 HR allowed in 69 IP for a 2.22 ERA before his promotion. He now has a 1.35 ERA in the majors with 4 H and no homers allowed in 6.2 IP, but he'll not be able to maintain that ERA unless he improves upon his 3:4 K:BB.

The club is waiting until Fassero joins the team to announce their plans to make room for him on the roster. I suspect that they'll demote Kevin Joseph now, though Gabe Molina and Nerio Rodriguez will likely both return to the minors when St. Louis activates Stephenson and Williams. Rodriguez and Molina should probably be a part of the Cardinals' September roster expansion, though I'd leave Joseph in the minors.