Joe Kelly and Allen Craig found out they were being traded to the Boston Red Sox the same way you probably heard the news.
The St. Louis Cardinals bolstered their starting rotation by acquiring John Lackey from the Red Sox in exchange for Kelly and Craig in a pretty significant deal before the trade deadline on Thursday. The deal was struck while the Cards were preparing for a day game against the San Diego Padres, but the mood turned sour in the clubhouse when the news spilled before team officials could break it to them.
“Craig, an All-Star just a year ago, was sitting in a room off the clubhouse with teammates when he heard about the trade on the television,” Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. “Kelly read it first on Twitter. Other players heard about it first from the media or a website.”
According to Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com, Mike Matheny and general manager John Mozeliak met with the two players once the deal was official, but they had already heard the reports by then.
Craig and Kelly were both drafted and developed by the St. Louis organization, which made the news harder to take, as Kelly told MLB.com he was “blindsided” by the trade.
Craig, who is experiencing a down year this season, is hitting .237 with seven home runs, 37 RBIs and a .638 OPS through 97 games. Kelly, meanwhile, spent two months on the disabled list with a hamstring injury. He has posted a 2-2 record with a 4.27 ERA in seven starts this season.
