The St. Louis Cardinals have obtained left handed hitting first baseman/outfielder Brandon Moss from the Cleveland Indians for Class A pitcher Rob Kaminsky.
Moss was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 8th round of the 2002 MLB Draft. He is in his 9th season and the Cardinals will be his 6th team. He made the American League All-Star team last year.
Moss was originally sought after for a platoon role with Cardinal first baseman Mark Reynolds, though he has been hitting left handed pitching better this season (.265 vs .191). The Cardinals have been looking for a left handed bat to come off the bench, and even though Moss is having a down year, he has more home runs than any Cardinal and is only 1 less RBI than the current team leader Jhonny Peralta.
The Cardinals were looking for a first baseman, but suddenly needed an outfielder when Matt Holliday injured his right quad. It is quite possible that the Cardinals will be without Holliday for the rest of the season. Moss can play both corner outfield spots as well as first base.
The Cardinals still have the best record in the Major Leagues, so they are doing well this year. They have made a couple of moves now, one to get a closer, and now they got a left handed bat that can play first base and outfield. They are pretty well set for the playoff race.
Moss is arbitration eligible after this season.
Statistics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and MLB.com.