The Boston Red Sox, seeking pitching help ahead of Thursday’s MLB trade deadline, struck a deal with the St. Louis Cardinals for veteran left-hander Steven Matz on Wednesday night.
Boston sent minor league first baseman Blaze Jordan to St. Louis in return.
Matz, 34, has experience starting and relieving, although the bulk of his work has been out of the bullpen in 2025. Of his 32 appearances, 30 have come out of the bullpen, and overall, he has a 3.44 ERA across 55 innings, striking out 47 while holding left-handers to a .179 batting average.
Matz spent his first six major league seasons with the New York Mets, where he primarily was a starter, then spent a year with the Toronto Blue Jays before signing as a free agent with the Cardinals in 2021. He’ll be a free agent after this season.
Matz’s best season came in 2021, when his 14 wins for Toronto were second most in the American League.
Jordan was a third-round pick of the Red Sox in 2020, selected by then-Boston chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom. Bloom now works for the Cardinals and will take over as their president of baseball operations during this coming offseason, replacing longtime front office executive John Mozeliak.
Jordan, 22, is a power-hitting first baseman who started the season at Double-A and was promoted to Triple-A in early June. Across both levels in 2025, he has 12 home runs and 61 RBIs while batting .304.