Losing teammates part of the game in MLB, but that doesn’t make it easy

A Major League baseball team is just like any other business with a staff working side by side week after week and some times year after year.

You get used to seeing that face working next to you on a daily basis.

Just imagine the shock if your coworker is suddenly transferred to another location and that friendly face you saw every day is gone.

That’s the nature of the beast in Major League Baseball. The St. Louis Cardinals experienced that with the loss of six players traded in a 10-day span.

One day they were there in the clubhouse and the next they were gone.

Genesis Cabrera was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays on July 21.

Jordan Montgomery and Chris Stratton were dealt to the Rangers and Jordan Hicks was traded to the Blue Jays on July 30.

Paul DeJong (Blue Jays) and Jack Flaherty (Baltimore Orioles) were sent packing just ahead of the deadline on Aug. 1.

Six players in 10 days. Six friends. Gone.

The players know baseball is a business, but it doesn’t make it any easier when they see their teammates and buddies traded away.

Veteran Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright tweeted a picture with Flaherty and said, “Gonna miss these guys. We sent some good ones out this week.”

I asked two Cardinals in the clubhouse last weekend, veteran catcher Willson Contreras and rookie pitcher Zack Thompson, how they handle the suddenness of teammates’ departures.

“It’s tough. It’s tough to see to see all the players go to different teams, but at the same time, baseball won’t stop. Baseball’s going to keep going and we just play with what we have. We still have a lot of games,” said Contreras, who left the rival Cubs to sign a big free agent contract with the Redbirds over the offseason.

“It definitely stinks. It’s part of the business. But they’re your friends,” Thompson said. “Losing Monty, Strat, Hicks, all those guys, definitely changes things a little bit. Wish them the best. They’re all awesome dudes. Hopefully, at least one or two of them get to make a (postseason) run.”

Thompson said he was close to all of them.

“I got close to Stratton and Hicks in the bullpen. Monty took me under his wing a little bit in spring training. Paulie, we had kind of a car connection. He’s a big car guy. Jack was great, too. It stinks to lose those guys for sure, especially on the deadline. It’s kind of a somber time, I guess. It gives some other guys opportunities. It gives them a chance to go in.”

Jersey night: Saturday night was the Contreras jersey night with the first 25,000 fans receiving a No. 40 jersey bearing the new Cardinals catcher’s name. Contreras gave those fans an extra bonus with a big night at the plate, with two hits and two RBIs to contribute to the Cardinals’ 6-2 win over the Colorado Rockies.

He said he loved having a jersey night in his honor.

“It’s cool and I think it’s really special. That will be special for any player to do that,” he said. “Thankfully I had a good game and we won tonight, that’s the most important thing. Tonight I had a good night. It was my night.”

He joked he’d like to have more jersey nights if it helped him hit like that.

10,000th win: Saturday’s win was the 10,000 in the storied history of the Cardinals franchise since it adopted the nickname Cardinals in 1900. Many Cardinals would say not many of the wins have happened this year, however.

Kevin Hieronymus has been the BCR Sports Editor since 1986 and has covered six World Series. Contact him at khieronymus@bcrnews.com