
The St. Louis Cardinals have acquired first baseman Paul Goldschmidt from the Arizona Diamondbacks, the team announced Wednesday.
The Cardinals were able to acquire Goldschmidt without much disruption to their major league roster, shipping right-hander Luke Weaver, catcher Carson Kelly, minor league infielder Andy Young and a competitive balance round draft pick to Arizona.
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"I would like to personally thank Paul Goldschmidt for everything he did as a D-back", said D-backs Executive Vice President & General Manager Mike Hazen. He'll be eligible for free agency after the 2019 season.
Goldschmidt, 31, has been a National League All-Star each of the past six seasons and he's a four-time (2013, 2015, 2017, 2018) NL Silver Slugger award victor and three-time (2013, 2015, 2017) Rawlings Gold Glove award recipient. He's not quite the hitter he was a few years ago - his OPS peaked at 1.005 in 2015 and was down to.922 in 2018 - and he's probably lost a step on the bases (32 steals in 2016, but just seven last season), but still hit.290/.389/.533 with 33 home runs and was worth 5.4 WAR. The right-handed batter has hit 30-plus homers in four of the last six seasons, including a league-leading 36 in 2013, when he finished second in MVP voting.