Drew, St. Louis Reach Agreement

The holdout is over for J.D. Drew, who agreed Friday with the St. Louis Cardinals on a four-year contract worth $7 million guaranteed and possibly as much as $8.5 million.

Drew, 22, was taken by Philadelphia with the second pick of the 1997 draft. The Phillies’ best offer was $3.1 million over four years with a $3-million team option, so he opted to play for the St. Paul Saints, an independent Class A team in the Northern League.

Drew was the fifth pick in last month’s draft, and St. Louis General Manager Walt Jocketty quickly worked out a deal with Drew’s agent, Scott Boras.

“If I had to do it over again, I would,” Drew said after donning a Cardinals jersey at a Busch Stadium news conference. “It’s all about being comfortable, and right now I’m very comfortable in St. Louis.”

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The New York Mets got some help for their bench by trading reliever John Hudek to the Cincinnati Reds for Lenny Harris.

Harris, 33, leads the major leagues with nine pinch-hits and is tied for first in the NL with a .333 average off the bench, based on a minimum of 14 at-bats.

Met pinch-hitters are batting .192, ninth in the league.

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St. Louis Cardinals infielder David Howard was put on the 15-day disabled list for the second time in a month after re-injuring his left shoulder.

Howard was hurt leaping for a line drive by Hal Morris in the fourth inning of Thursday night’s 3-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

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Atlanta Braves shortstop Walt Weiss’ 3-year-old son, Brody, stricken with a potentially deadly E. coli infection, was released from the hospital more than two weeks earlier than originally expected.

Brody Weiss, who underwent dialysis treatment when his kidneys suffered 50% failure, was released from Scottish Rite Children’s Medical Center on Thursday night.