St. Louis Cardinals trade for a young Adam Wainwright during the 2003 Winter Meetings.

At the 2003 Winter Meetings in New Orleans, Walt Jocketty once again struck gold with a transaction. He traded away star outfielder J.D. Drew and catcher Eli Marrero for a collection of pitchers, including Adam Wainwright, Jason Marquis, and Ray King. King and Marquis were valuable for the Cardinals, but the star of this trade would become right-handed starter Adam Wainwright. The deal was finalized on December 13, 2003.

Drew was quite talented, posting an OPS north of 1.000 twice as a Cardinal, including a 1.027 OPS in 2001. However, he failed to play more than 135 games with the Cardinals, and his relationship with manager Tony La Russa was souring by the time the 2003-2004 offseason came around.

Jocketty and the Cardinals were in need of pitching, and bringing in Adam Wainwright, who was the Braves’ top pitching prospect at the time, was a huge move.

Jason Marquis was a workhorse for the Cardinals, pitching 194 innings or more in all three seasons with St. Louis. He was also the winning pitcher in Game 7 of the 2004 NLCS. Ray King became a lefty specialist for the Cardinals as well.

Adam Wainwright would become a lifelong Cardinal who would go to three All-Star Games, win two Gold Gloves, finish in the top three of NL Cy Young voting three times, and win 200 games. He was a key part of the 2006 World Series team, as he recorded the final outs of the 2006 NLCS and World Series. He also helped lead the Cardinals to the 2013 World Series. His 18 years of dedication to the Cardinals were excellent, and he’ll go down in history as one of the best pitchers in franchise history.

Trading away an MVP-caliber player in J.D. Drew was a bit of a gamble by Walt Jocketty, but the success and contributions of Adam Wainwright for the Cardinals paid off. This trade during the 2003 Winter Meetings was a big one, and it was historic for St. Louis. While Brendan Donovan isn’t the potential star that Drew was, a package of equally as talented prospects for him could be useful this winter.