That'll cure what ails ya' (not)

The Detroit Tigers have traded lefthander Mike Maroth to the St. Louis Cardinals today. The deal becomes the second trade of mention in a weeks time, as days ago the Chicago Cubs traded Micheal Barrett to the San Diego Padres.

This deal doesn’t figure to help out the Cardinals in a huge way, but it shows they still believe they can make a run at the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central. Maroth is still good enough to beat the pants off the Cincinnati Reds, who can never hit lefthanders. Maroth sports a respectable 5-2 record with a 5.06 ERA in 13 starts for the strong Detroit squad this season.

You might know Maroth from his super 2003 season, in which he lost 21 games and won 9. When he came back in 2004 and won 11 against only losing 13, many people called it remarkable.

Overall the guy has just so-so stuff, and he’s not going to be any type of major facelift for the Cardinals squad, we wouldn’t think. Unless Albert Pujols catches fire, and they get two starting pitchers in the rotation to catch fire, they’re going to have a hard time running down Milwaukee. That said, the move might have been made to get a veteran arm in the rotation to replace recently injured starting pitcher Braden Looper, who just landed on the disabled list.