Friday, January 1, 1904
ST. LOUIS - The St. Louis Cardinals traded struggling reliever Mitchell Boggs to Colorado on Tuesday for the Rockies' international signing bonus slot No. 4.
Boggs is a former Dalton (Ga.) High School standout.
St. Louis also released veteran infielder Ty Wigginton and selected the contract of catcher Rob Johnson from Class AAA Memphis. All-Star catcher Yadier Molina returned to the starting lineup against Houston after missing two games with a sore right knee.
Boggs was 0-3 with an 11.05 earned run average and two saves in 18 games for the Cardinals earlier this season. He was demoted to Memphis, where he went 0-2 with a 5.70 ERA in 18 games.
"He was disappointed," general manager John Mozeliak said. "He had high expectations coming into the season."
Boggs went 13-15 with a 4.15 ERA in 232 games for St. Louis from 2008 to '13. The 29-year-old right-hander was a valuable member of the Cardinals' 2011 World Series championship team and went 4-1 with a 2.21 ERA in 78 relief appearances last year.
Molina had an MRI on Sunday that showed no structural damage. He entered Tuesday night's game batting an NL-best .346 with six homers and 45 RBIs. He received the most votes among NL players in fan balloting and is set to make his fifth All-Star appearance next Tuesday at Citi Field in New York.
Molina had started 78 of the team's 87 games this season.
The 35-year-old Wigginton hit .158 with three RBIs in 57 at-bats for St. Louis.
Johnson, 30, was hitting .236 with seven home runs and 32 RBIs in 59 games at Memphis.