via cdn1.sbnation.com

According to this ESPN article, the Cardinals and A's have agreed to a trade that would send Matt Holliday and $1.5 million to the A's in exchange for third baseman Brett Wallace, outfielder Shane Peterson and right-handed pitcher Clayton Mortensen.

The Athletics and Cardinals have completed a trade that sends outfielder Matt Holliday to St. Louis in exchange for third baseman Brett Wallace, outfielder Shane Peterson and right-handed pitcher Clayton Mortensen, sources confirmed to ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney.

In addition, sources said the Athletics will throw in $1.5 million to the Cardinals.

 So the Cardinals have now made two significant trades within the last 2-3 weeks (DeRosa and Holliday) and have given up a good amount of decent prospects which shows that they're putting all their chips on the table for a postseason run this year. If they manage to sign Holliday to an extension after the season then this could turn out to be a great trae. However, if he signs elsewhere the trade would be a very, very bad one. I don't know much about the Card's farm system (anyone with information on the players they traded please feel free to share what you know), but giving up what are sure to be some of their top prospects for a half year rental could be disastrous (just ask the Brewers how they feel now about that Sabathia trade).

I believe the Cubs need to make a move now, not necessarily one as big as the Harden acquisition from last year. A left handed reliever (George Sherrill, John Grabow) and/or a starting SS/2B (Freddy Sanchez) should be the teams main focus. 

How do you guys think this changes our chances, and the NL Central overall?

Here is another post from mlbdailydish.com, another SBNation site that is great at covering trade rumors and other MLB news. Check out the story and help support their site!