Happy Trails, Ty and Mitchell

The Cardinals got rid of 2 players on July 9. One was on the 25-man roster, and one was in AAA but had been in the majors for parts of the last 6 years, including all of 2010 and 2012.

2012 Topps #154 Ty Wigginton

Wigginton signed a $5 million deal for 2 years, and was granted his unconditional release after about half a year. My understanding is that any team could pick him up for the league minimum for the remainder of 2013 and 2014, with the Cardinals paying the rest. I would assume a team looking for some cheap depth will pick him up soon. The rumor mill says he'll platoon at 1st for the Yankees, but we shall see.

As far as I can tell, he never even had a Cardinals card produced - with no cards in 2013 so far - so above, you see him as a member of the Rockies in 2011 (in the 2012 set). By the time 2013 Update rolls around, he'll probably be in another uniform, if he gets a card at all.

2012 Topps Update #US131 Mitchell Boggs

Speaking of the Rockies, that's where we sent Mitchell Boggs. The deal was for international signing money. I suppose the advantage for Colorado is that they didn't see any international prospects on which they wished to spend the money this year. Otherwise, a plain old cash-for-player deal would seem to be simpler. As long as the Cardinals have their eye on another $200k worth of player(s), it'll work out for them.

I'll keep collecting cards of these two, of course, since that's just how I collect. If you put the Cardinals uniform on once, you're a Cardinal to me.