Jim Edmonds: 20 Years Later
Posted: March 23 20, 1:20 pm
March 23, 2020 marks the twentieth anniversary of the Cardinals-Angels trade that brought Jimmy Ballgame to St. Louis and sent Kent Bottenfield and Adam Kennedy to the Angels. Now forget for a moment how old you feel upon hearing that and think about the change in St. Louis following this trade. There are not a lot of trades that have this kind of impact. The year 2000 marked the beginning of a great run of Cardinals baseball; and Jim Edmonds was a huge part of that success during his tenure with the Cardinals (which ended in a trade in December 2007); with a 6.3 WAR 2000 campaign to lead the Cardinals back to the NLCS for the first of five LCS appearances during Edmonds' tenure. He became a key part of the MV3 with Pujols and Rolen that helped the Cardinals dominate the Central Division with three consecutive trips to the NLCS; two World Series visits and one championship. Edmonds won six gold gloves as the Cardinals starting Center Fielder and seemed to catch everything. Just by memory I can think of multiple clutch hits and big home runs. One of my favorites was a bomb he hit off Zambrano at Wrigley a couple innings after getting plunked. He soaked it in as the ball sailed out of the park and it was awesome. As a Cardinal fan watching the team during those years; he was a lot of fun to watch play.
How do the Angels feel about the trade? You can read about that here on an Angels fan blog; but needless to say they are not all that happy even today when they think back to that trade. They did pick up a solid player in Kennedy at 2B; but Bottenfield was a complete bust and did not last a full season for the Halos.
Added to the success on the field that Edmonds brought as a player; when his time in St. Louis drew to a close; he brought future 2011 World Series legend home to St. Louis in a trade to the Padres; making the impact of that trade from 20 years ago to be felt in two World Championships.
Edmonds is now a Cardinals Hall of Famer and joins Dan McLaughlin in the booth regularly for commentary during baseball games(when the season isn't shutdown due to plague that is). I personally enjoy his perspective from the booth as a hitter and fielder compared to most of the commentary we have heard over the years mostly from former pitchers.
What do you remember about Jim Edmonds as a player? What are your thoughts on the impact this trade had on the Cardinals franchise?