Jays Pick up Haerther on Waivers

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Cody Haerther was claimed by the Toronto Blue Jays off waivers on Friday when the St. Louis Cardinals removed him from their 40-man roster.

Haerther was added by the Cardinals to their 40-man roster on November 20, 2006 and played this season with Double-A Springfield, batting .289 with five home runs and twenty-eight runs batted in. He appeared in just thirty-seven games with Springfield due to a wrist injury and later had surgery on his hamate hone in his right hand.

"The Cardinals called to tell me," the outfielder told Brian Walton of Scout.com. "When I found out, at first it was like my parents had told me my dog died."

The 24-year-old spent the 2006 and 2005 seasons with Double-A Springfield as well. In 2006 he batted .277 with eleven home runs and fifty-two runs batted in. In 2005 he batted .298 with ten home runs and thirty-seven runs batted in.

Haerther was pleased to be going to the Blue Jays and a clean start.

"You realize this is a business. The Cardinals didn't have plans for me in the future, but the Blue Jays do."

"This is a good situation."

Reached early Saturday morning, Tony LaCava, the Blue Jays Assistant General Manager was excited about picking up a corner outfielder they have been targetting for a while.

"Cody has been on our radar the last couple years. He missed alot of time this year [hamate bone] but scouts Jim D'aloia and Mike Berger were strong on him in 2006. Our scouts like his approach and he has history of success [career 300/360/470]."

" We think he eventually can compete for a major league corner outfield spot."

St. Louis Cardinals General Manager John Mozeliak spoke with TheBirdHouse, our Scout.com St. Louis affiliate, and cited depth and need as the reason they removed the outfielder from the 40-man roster.

"We need a few spots and we also have depth in the outfielder," the first year General Manager said.

The sixth round pick in 2002 is also going to be playing with extra motivation.

"I plan on doing that...I promise you I plan on doing that," Haerther said when asked if he planned on making the Cardinals regret their decision.

The Blue Jays also outrighted infielder Pedro Lopez to Triple-A Syracuse, and removed him from the 40-man roster. The Jays 40-man roster stands at 39.