Here we are still four days away from the Super Bowl, and I’m already sick of the thing.  Luckily, there are guys like Bernie Miklasz, of the Post Dispatch, that can somehow mix in a little baseball with his media day coverage.  He talks about Tony LaRussa’s relationship to Patriot’s head coach, Bill Belicheck.  It’s an interesting read.  Find it here.
Next, as we continue to count down the days until Spring Training, looking for our daily baseball fix, be sure to read Matthew Leach’s take on the “muddled” starting rotation of the St. Louis Cardinals in his weekly “Around the [...]

Pujols is in the news again.  Phillies’ first baseman, Ryan Howard, is arbitration eligible, and is comparing himself to Cardinals’ slugger Albert Pujols.  Apparently, there is a $3 million difference in exchanged figures for the arbitration case, but Howard is seeking a long term deal worth somewhere between Pujols’ contract and Alex Rodriguez’s last bounty. Just the thought of this makes me laugh.  I understand that the market has changed since Albert’s signing, but Ryan Howard should never, ever be compared to either of the other two superstars.  Howard isn’t even the best player in Philadelphia.  Here are a couple [...]

The Cardinals reached an agreement with the last of their arbitration eligible players today.  Pitcher, Todd Wellemeyer signed a one year, $1 million contract, which includes $100,000 in possible incentives for starts or innings pitched.  Rick Hummel has the full story here.
Wellemeyer was picked up off waivers from Kansas City last May.  After joining the club, he posted a 3.11 ERA in 63.2 innings.  As a swing man, Wellemeyer made 11 starts, nine of which were won by the Cardinals.

With all the question marks in the Cards’ pitching staff, a guy like Wellemeyer can be quite useful.  I have a [...]

The excitement of buying my Spring Training tickets has yet to wear off. This spring is my third year of attending the games in Jupiter, which is only an hour from my place.  My excitement, along with the lack of Cardinals news, allows me to take this time to get a little personal.

I moved from St. Louis to South Florida in March of 2006.  The move was kind of an “all-in” situation, where not making it wasn’t an option. Although times were tough at first, and we were counting our pennies, saving enough for a Spring Training game was [...]

Cardinals Spring Training tickets went on sale this morning at 8am.  If you’re anything like me, you were sitting in front of the computer, credit card in hand, waiting for the hour.  I bought tickets to four games so far, but don’t worry if you haven’t ordered any yet.  Check out Stubhub.  There’s a link in the sidebar, and they’ll have plenty of good tickets still available.  I hope to see you in Jupiter.
Speaking of Spring Training, the non-roster invitee list is out.  NRIs are players not on the roster, but who’ll be in camp either getting an extended look [...]

It seems as though the Mark Mulder situation has many Cardinal fans feeling uneasy.  As we all know, Mulder’s return date of opening day was already pushed back to May 1st.  Now, that date seems unlikely.  Mark has yet to start throwing off a mound, and has only been throwing at a distance of 45 feet.  He says he feels good, but is reluctant to set a timetable for his return.

“Estimates did good for me last year, huh?” Mulder said Monday.  ”People can put a date on it if they want.  My body and my arm will tell me [...]

I dug up this old video game commercial for your viewing pleasure.  Enjoy!

The anticipation and excitement for Spring Training has just gotten bigger.  Former Cardinals catcher, Mike Matheny, will head to Jupiter, Florida, to help instruct for the first two weeks of training camp.  Rick Hummel has the full story.
“This would be a foot in the door,” said Matheny, who has previously expressed an interest in coaching.

Matheny played for the Cardinals from 2000-04.  Not known for his bat, he collected four Gold Gloves during the course of his career, which was cut short by a series of concussions and their after effects.

Cards’ newest multi-millionaire, Yadier Molina, attributes a lot of his defensive [...]

The news of Yadier Molina’s new contract has finished making its rounds though the Cardinals’ corner of cyberspace.  As I read others’ reactions and opinions of the deal, one article in particular, really caught my eye.  The sabermetrics guys over at Fungoes further analyzed Molina’s effect on the running game (or lack thereof).  It’s an excellent read with somewhat surprising results.  Find it here.
A few other stories surrounding the ball club surfaced over the last couple of days, including Albert Pujols banning a local media team from a press conference.  C70 has his take, and all of the links here.

Lastly, [...]

The Cardinals inked catcher Yadier Molina to a four year contract today worth a guaranteed $15.5 million.  Molina will make $1.75 million in 2008, $3.25 million in 2009, $4.25 million in 2010, and $5.25 million in 2011.  The contract also includes a $250,000 signing bonus, and an option for 2012 worth $7 million.
“I love being a Cardinal,” Molina said.  ”I had to take it because I love being here. I love playing here in this beautiful city with the best fans.  Anybody can take that deal.  It’s great.  I feel happy.”

I think this is an excellent move.  Yadier is [...]