Tommy Pham's reaction to rejoining Cardinals will fire up Baseball's Best Fans

The St. Louis Cardinals finally got on the board with a major trade on Monday, acquiring Erick Fedde and Tommy Pham in what turned out to be a three-team deal including the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers.

Fedde obviously gets most of the attention in this deal from a Cardinals perspective, and deservingly so. He fills a major need in their starting rotation, and has had a phenomenal season. As good as Fedde is, St. Louis getting Pham in this deal cannot be overlooked.

Not only is he a solid contributor, but he's a former Cardinal. Pham spent parts of five seasons with the Cardinals, one of which saw him finish 11th in the NL MVP balloting. He bounced around to seven different teams after leaving St. Louis, but it's pretty clear that he's excited to be back where his career began.

“You know, it was like, ‘Welcome home.’” [John] Mozeliak said of the call he made to Pham, welcoming him back to the Cardinals. “I think he’s just excited to be a part of a playoff race. He’s so competitive and he’s excited to be back here.”

Acquiring Tommy Pham was smart move for Cardinals to make

Pham is clearly a player that John Mozeliak has familiarity with and respects from his days in St. Louis, and he knows the kind of impact that the 36-year-old can have on a team trying to win. Even last season we saw Pham be an important piece on a Diamondbacks team that won the NL Pennant.

Pham isn't having his best season as evidenced by his .710 OPS, but he fits on this Cardinals team in particular because of his ability to hit left-handed pitching. He is slashing .255/.377/.471 with two of his five home runs against lefties this season, and should be in the lineup regularly whenever St. Louis sees a southpaw.

He might not be the athlete he was when he started his career in St. Louis, but can still play all three outfield positions if needed, and again, he fits a major need offensively with St. Louis ranking 29th in OPS against left-handed pitching as a team this season.

There's every reason to believe that a gamer like Pham will step his game up knowing that he now has something real to play for. Playing regularly on a 27-82 team must take a toll on anyone. He's going from that to a team right in the thick of the postseason race. His excitement is all Cardinals fans need to see to be bought in.