He shuffled the cards and dealt a winning hand

Not often does a single trade benefit so many parties as much as the one the Cardinals made with the Braves at last year's winter meetings.

* Three of the four major leaguers who were part of the deal enjoyed prosperous seasons.

* Both the Cardinals and Braves won division championships, exceeding preseason predictions that had them pegged for second or third.

* And most significant for this story, the architects of the trade--Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty and Braves general manager John Schuerholz--finished 1-2 in voting for SPORTING NEWS Major League Executive of the Year. Jocketty won a close decision, receiving 20 of the votes cast by major league executives, three more than Schuerholz. Twins G.M. Terry Ryan was third with 12. Nine people received at least one vote from the 60 executives (two per team) selected to participate in the voting.

Engineering the trade of J.D. Drew and Eli Marrero to the Braves for Jason Marquis, Ray King and prospect Adam Wainwright was not the only reason Jocketty, 53, was honored by his peers. While the Astros and Cubs made the headline moves last winter, Jocketty acquired numerous players who would figure prominently in helping the Card, dis win their first National League pennant since 1987. He signed starter Jeff Suppan, outfielder Reggie Sanders and reliever Julian Tavarez as free agents, traded for second baseman Tony Womack during spring training and added slugger Larry Walker in August after the non-waiver trade deadline. He also locked up franchise player Albert Pujols by signing him to a 7-year contract early in spring training. Perhaps most impressive, Jocketty--who also won TSN's award in 2000--dramatically improved his club while fulfilling a directive to keep the payroll from spiking.

"Walt and his staff did a great job constructing their winter roster," says Schuerholz, who cast his vote for Jocketty, the Cardinals' G.M. since 1994. "The pitching additions as well as Womack and Walker made them a very solid team."

COPYRIGHT 2004 Sporting News Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning