The St. Louis Cardinals acquired veteran starter John Lackey, pitching prospect Corey Littrell and cash considerations from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for two players ahead of Thursday's non-waiver trade deadline.
Heading from St. Louis to Boston are outfielder/first baseman Allen Craig and pitcher Joe Kelly.
The Cards are getting a two-time World Series winner (Angels in 2002, Red Sox in 2013) in Lackey, who has gone 11-7 with a 3.60 earned run average over 21 starts for the AL East cellar dwellers.
The 35-year-old right-hander accumulated 47 wins with Boston, and carries a career mark of 149-114 with a 4.02 ERA, 17 complete games and eight shutouts over 345 games -- all but one of those starts -- since breaking into the majors 12 years ago.
Craig, 30, is a veteran of five major league seasons, all with St. Louis. In 2014, he has batted .237 with seven home runs, 17 doubles and 44 RBI over 97 contests.
Kelly is in the thick of his third MLB campaign. He was 10-5 with a 2.69 ERA over 37 games (15 starts) last season, and has pitched to a 2-2 record and 4.37 ERA in just seven starts this year. Kelly did not take the mound from April 16 to July 11 due to a bothersome hamstring injury.
[SportsNetwork.com]
