Albert Pujols has a new team and a new league. AP file
The Tulsa Drillers lost two players in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft on Thursday.
Washington drafted catcher Beau Seabury away from Tulsa while Houston selected pitcher Marco Duarte off the Drillers' roster.
Seabury spent the first half of the 2011 season with the Drillers, but never appeared in a game before being sent down to Single-A Modesto, where he batted .274 with 20 RBIs in 31 games. He was expected to start 2012 with the Drillers and was viewed by some in the Colorado Rockies organization as their best defensive catcher in the minors.
Duarte, who had been in the Rockies system since 2007, was loaned to Mexico City of the the Mexican League, where he went 12-4 in 2011. Duarte was then traded by Houston to Boston...
It was good to see Tim McCarver elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame's broadcasting wing this week. McCarver has done a great job as the main broadcast network analyst for the past 25 years.
For Cardinals fans moaning about Albert Pujols' lack of loyalty for jumping to the Angels, McCarver's playing career with St. Louis is a reminder that a lack of loyalty works both ways.
In 1969, McCarver was a popular all-star catcher for St. Louis who had helped the Cards win three pennants and two World Series in a decade in the majors. But after the season was over, McCarver and center fielder Curt Flood, who had been with St. Louis for 12 years, were unceremoniously traded to the Phillies. Of course, that was the deal that led to Flood challenging baseball's reserve clause and ultimately led to free agency. The Cards dealt McCarver to make room for a young Ted Simmons.
St. Louis reacquired McCarver a few years later, and despite doing a solid job as Simmons' backup, he was released late in the 1974 pennant race to make room for rookie catcher Marc Hill. McCarver wound up playing through the end of the decade, primarily with the Phillies, helping them reach the postseason several times as Steve Carlton's personal catcher while the Cardinals never made it to the playoffs in the '70s.
After the 1980 season, the Cards again dealt another popular all-star catcher, Simmons, after 11 years in the majors. He was sent to Milwaukee to make room for Darrell Porter. That trade, however, worked well for both teams as they met in the 1982 World Series.
Many of the former Cardinals players who have been honored with their numbers being retired by the team were traded by St. Louis, including
Red Schoendienst, Enos Slaughter, Ken Boyer, Rogers Hornsby and Dizzy Dean...
St. Louis is well-positioned for life after Pujols as Lance Berkman moves to first base and World Series hero Allen Craig replaces Berkman in right field when Craig returns from knee surgery in May. And the money the Cards save will enable them to keep stars such as Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright...
After losing Pujols, St. Louis added a player on Thursday as it drafted outfielder Erik Komatsu from Washington. He batted .277 with 48 RBIs in Double-A in 2011.
-- Barry Lewis
