St. Louis Cardinals trade analysis: 40-man roster reshaped by acquisitions

The St. Louis Cardinals have the highest winning percentage in baseball. They have had baseball's best record for a good long while now. Nonetheless, injuries have thinned out some of the talent that helped accrue those wins. This motivated the Cardinals to make three trades before Friday's non-waiver trade deadline. In separate trades, the Cardinals acquired righthanded reliever Steve Cishek from the Marlins, first baseman/outfielder Brandon Moss from the Indians, and righthanded reliever Jonathan Broxton from the Brewers. You can read all of VEB's writing on the deals here.

Prior to the Cishek trade, which began the Cardinals' trading activity, St. Louis had a full 40-man roster. They did not trade a player on the 40-man for Cishek, Moss, or Broxton. Instead, they sent minor-leaguers to the Marlins, Indians, and Brewers. Consequently, the Cardinals had to make room on their 40-man and 25-man active rosters for the newly acquired big-leaguers. Here are the roster machinations of the last week.

Cishek

• On July 24, the Cardinals acquired Cishek for Double-A reliever Kyle Barraclaugh.
• The Cards transferred righthanded reliever Matt Belisle from the 15-day to the 60-day disabled list. You'll remember that players on the 60-man DL do not take up either a 40-man or 25-man roster spot. This cleared a spot on the 40-man for Cishek.
• On July 25, the Cards optioned lefty Tim Cooney to Triple-A to create a spot on the 25-man active roster for Cishek.

Moss

• The Cardinals traded pitching prospect Rob Kaminsky to Cleveland in exchange for Moss on July 30.
• St. Louis designated veteran first baseman Dan Johnson for assignment, which cleared a spot on both the 40-man roster and 25-man active roster.
• The Cards placed Holliday on the 15-day DL with a torn quad, which opened up a second spot on the 25-man roster.
• St. Louis recalled infielder Greg Garcia from Memphis to fill one of the two open spots on the 25-man and installed Moss in the other.

Broxton

• On July 31, the last day to make a trade, the Cards swapped outfield prospect Malik Collymore for Broxton and cash considerations.
• The Cards optioned righthanded reliever Miguel Socolovich to Memphis to clear a spot on the 25-man roster for Broxton.
• St. Louis designated non-prospect Marcus Hatley for assignment, which opened up a slot on the 40-man roster for Broxton.
• St. Louis activated Broxton.

Jaime Garcia

• The southpaw completed his minor-league rehab assigned and the Cards activated him from the 15-day DL on Tuesday, July 28, to make that day's start.
• To make room, the Cards optioned righthanded reliever Sam Tuivailala to Memphis.

After these moves, the 40-man roster matrix is in need of updating. So here it is.