Matheny tells audience Heyward fits Cards' needs

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny told the audience at the Arrow Leadership and Success Summit at the Show Me Center on Monday night that newest Cardinal Jason Heyward is a good fit with his team, other than the number the outfielder has traditionally worn.

The left-handed hitting Heyward, who was acquired in a trade earlier in the day for pitcher Shelby Miller, has always worn No. 22, the number worn by Matheny.

"Actually [Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak] got a hold of me and said, 'You know, things are moving forward here. There's just one glitch -- he really likes your number,'" Matheny said. "And you know what the cool part about this story is the reason Jason has that number is one of his former teammates who had passed away was No. 22, and so he had always worn that. So there's actually new things in place that make it a little more difficult to swap a number then before, because there's merchandise out there with certain numbers, so we're trying to get that worked out. But I've got to tell you, all I care about is what's on the front of the jersey; what number they put on the back, I could care less. So we'll get all that worked out."

Matheny said his coaching staff communicates with the front office on areas of team improvement, and those conversations provide direction in the formulation of possible trades. When trade partners align, he said the personnel involved is scrutinized from team chemistry to fan acceptance.

"It comes down to the bottom line, we need him to compete, but is he going to be a guy that buys into what we're trying to do and the culture we have here," Matheny said about potential players. "And with Jason Heyward there's no question that that's part of that fit."

The Cardinals also acquired relief pitcher Jordan Walden in the trade, but at the expense of Miller and 22-year-old pitching prospect Tyrell Jenkins.

"The bad side ... we build this family and then all of a sudden we have a piece of the family go," Matheny said. "That's hard in a lot of different respects. We hate to see Shelby go, and Tyrell has a very promising young arm, and I think he's going to have a good career. I think Shelby's going to continue to do a great job right now, with everybody in this room knowing we had a hole in right field we had to figure out. Jason Hayward can be a real good option and Walden could also be a huge pickup for us to help our bullpen develop."