With Major League Baseball’s non-waiver deadline approaching this Sunday, July 31, the St. Louis Cardinals today announced a multi-player trade with the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Cardinals have acquired right handed pitcher Edwin Jackson, right handed reliever Octavio Dotel, left handed reliever Marc Rzepczynski (pronounced Zep-CHIN-ski), outfielder Corey Patterson and three players to be named later or cash considerations.   St. Louis sends outfielder Colby Rasmus, pitchers P.J. Walters, Trever Miller and Brian Tallet to Toronto.   The Jays acquired Jackson earlier today in a deal with the Chicago White Sox.

“We feel that this deal strengthens us in a number of key areas,” said Cardinals’ Senior Vice President/ General Manager John Mozeliak.  “Trades of this nature are never easy to make, but we felt that it was important to solidify a number of areas on our ball club to better position ourselves for what looks to be a highly competitive divisional race.”

Jackson, 27, was 7-7 with a 3.92 ERA for the White Sox this season.  He’s compiled a career mark of 55-58 with a 4.53 ERA, winning 14 games in 2008 for Tampa Bay and 13 games in 2009 for Detroit.  He threw a no-hitter for Arizona on June 25, 2010 at Tampa Bay.

Rzepczynski, 25, was 2-3 with a 2.97 ERA and 10 Holds for Toronto this season and he has been used as both a reliever and starter since debuting with Toronto in 2009.

Dotel, 37, had a 2-1 mark, one save, four Holds and a 3.68 ERA in 36 games for the Jays this season and he has 106 career saves, combining for a career-high 36 in 2004 with Houston and Oakland.

Patterson, 31, was batting .252 this year with 6 homers, 33 RBI and 13 steals.  His career marks include a .253 BA with 118 HR’s, 428 RBI and 218 steals.  Patterson hit a career-high 24 homers for the Cubs in 2004 and he swiped a career-best 45 steals for Baltimore in 2006.

— Cardinals Media Relations —