On Wednesday news broke that the Cardinals had traded Mike Leake and cash to the Mariners in return for minor leaguer Rayder Ascanio. The trade was a bit of a surprise, Tommy Pham summing it up the best in his now-famous bluntness in an interview with the St. Louis Post Dispatch's Rick Hummel:
Outfielder Tommy Pham said he was very surprised when he saw the news rolling across the screen on the television. “I said, ‘Is this a joke?” said Pham. “April Fool’s was months ago. It was shocking to all of us.