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St. Louis Cardinals: The week according to Redbird Rants
The St. Louis Cardinals closed out Spring Training 2018 on Sunday and, anticipating the start of the real season, we take a look back at the week that was on our site.
The St. Louis Cardinals allowed the Washington Nationals to hit home runs enough to close out spring on the downside of a competition. Thankfully, Spring Training games do not count toward the end goal. In the same breath, it was wonderful watching Jordan Hicks pitch with such determination and control.
All of the positives of spring- and some of the negatives (e.g. Adam Wainwright starting the season the DL)- push the St. Louis Cardinals from Roger Dean to the airport and on to Toronto for their two exhibition games against the Blue Jays. Following the short stop in Canada, the St. Louis Cardinals will travel to the new Shea Stadium and will take on the Mets on Opening Night this coming Thursday night.
As we anticipate the start of the real season, let’s take a few minutes to look back at the topics we examined here at Redbird Rants last week.
We started our week last week already wishing for a legitimate closer in the way of Greg Holland. Larry Levin took us on a journey examining the interest in Holland held by the Diamondbacks and Braves and how- to him- the St. Louis Cardinals should as well.
Related Story: Wherefore art though Greg Holland
For our readers who own an Amazon Alexa, our writers from FanSided alerted us all to the new St. Louis Cardinals skill. A simple set of commands will have Alexa telling you updated news via our very own site– Redbird Rants!
In one of my posts this week, I shared my frustration with the lack of the “Battle of the Birds” this season. In past seasons, the Cardinals have closed Spring Training by playing against the Memphis Redbirds in Memphis. Not so this year as they Cardinals will travel to Canada instead.
As the St. Louis Cardinals were quickly trimming their roster, Dave Jasmon took a look at the pluses and minuses of carrying eight names in the bullpen. He debates things like protection versus a limited bench.
March 18th found the St. Louis Cardinals optioning promising players in the form of Carson Kelly and Jack Flaherty to minor league camp. While Flaherty was a surprise thanks to his great spring, Kelly had been something of a disappointment. The decision also introduced the dilemma of what the future holds for Kelly.
In the wake of reassignments and free agent pick-ups by other teams, Tito took at look at the silver lining that glowed in the wake of the Jake Arrieta, Lance Lynn, and Alex Cobb signings.
Related Story: Free agent silver linings
After having sent Hicks to the STEP camp thanks to his lack of punctuality, the St. Louis Cardinals called him back to camp this week. I took a look at this move and the ripple effect that can be anticipated in the wake of such a move.
After the St. Louis Cardinals sent Carson Kelly to minor-league camp, they left Francisco Pena and Steven Baron as potential back-ups to Yadier Molina. In another of my pieces this week, I took a deep dive into the stats of Baron and noting that he is a name to watch even if he doesn’t manage to break camp with the Cardinals.
As is our weekly tradition, we hosted another LIVE podcast on Thursday night. For more on the list of topics and to listen to this week’s podcast, click the link below. And remember that we make a new live edition each Thursday night. Additionally, we will be adding a second podcast per week to record on Sundays beginning next week.
Related Story: Official podcast episode 2.5
Josh McDonald was so excited about the approaching season that he looked into his crystal ball and made ten bold predictions for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2018. To read his post, jump down to the next article link just above the video below.
Speaking of counts of ten, MLB released their top-10 lineups and Tito showed us where the St. Louis Cardinals fell in this prediction.
Related Story: MLB lineup rankings
Leaving only one spot on the roster open, the St. Louis Cardinals made additional cuts on Friday of this week. That one spot was to be contested by Mike Mayers and John Brebbia. The person to make the final position cut? Yairo Munoz, of course.
And today, Russ Robinson and Jason Grose rounded out our week by looking at the redemption efforts of Mayers and the news that Adam Wainwright would begin the season the disabled list (respectively).
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Robinson looked deeply at Mayers’ impressive spring and how his efforts had earned him the right to leave Spring on the St. Louis Cardinals roster. Like Russ, I find myself really pleased for Mayers after the shelling that he had to stomach in his first attempt at MLB action. Moreover, Mayers showed his resiliency last season in Memphis as an imposing pitcher. Good to see it echo this season as well.
Grose took it on himself to share the bad news that is Adam Wainwright making his first trip to the disabled list for 2018. And worse? Waino’s first trip will begin on Opening Day. The last time Waino started on the disabled list was the season he had to miss entirely thanks to Tommy John surgery.
What a week. What a week indeed.
This next week looks to be just as busy and just as promising for the St. Louis Cardinals. With two games in Toronto and then Opening Day on Thursday, there are so many things that can go up (and unfortunately so much that can go down too). We will keep you posted on all things St. Louis Cardinals here at Redbird Rants so stay tuned.
Opening Day is Thursday and we will have another live recording of our podcast on that night so don’t miss that! Thanks for reading and thanks for reviewing any articles you might have missed this past week. Go Cards!