Cardinals reportedly trade Stephen Piscotty to A’s

The Oakland Athletics have reportedly acquired outfielder Stephen Piscotty from the St. Louis Cardinals for a pair of minor league players, per Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports.

Piscotty hit .235/.342/.367 with nine home runs for St. Louis in 2017, a down year after hitting .273/.343/.457 with 22 home runs and 35 doubles in 2016. He started 92 games in right field for the Cardinals last year but was deemed expendable with St. Louis on the verge of acquiring All-Star outfielder Marcell Ozuna from the Miami Marlins.

The Ozuna trade, like the Piscotty deal, are both pending physicals.

Ozuna would an outfield in St. Louis that includes Dexter Fowler and Tommy Pham, a trio that combined for 74 doubles and 78 home runs in 2017.

Piscotty joining Oakland would put him closer to his mother, who was diagnosed this year with ALS per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

“I don’t know if I can empathize with Piscotty,” Matheny said. “You just hurt for him. You can’t even really go there to understand him and at his age and what it is that he had to endure or what that is like for a family. I think it’s really just understanding that it is very, very difficult. You let him know that you care. You acknowledge. You have compassion. We’re trying to be support for him, and we have to look to do anything we can.”

Piscotty turns 27 in January and last season signed a six-year, $33.75 million extension that will keep him around through 2022, with a $15 million team option for 2023.

A’s general manager David Forst wouldn’t confirm the trade earlier Wednesday.

“We came in with specific targets and we made progress with those things,” Forst told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle on Wednesday. “But someone asked me, ‘Are you going to leave with a right-handed-hitting outfielder?’ I’m leaving with my luggage. That’s about all I know. ... It doesn’t do anybody any good to guess.”