St. Louis Cardinals: Hanging up the cleats is never easy

The St. Louis Cardinals will welcome Adam Wainwright back into the fold in 2019 when many felt it was time for him to hang up his cleats. While Adam will return, I will not as my time to retire the cleats has come.

The St. Louis Cardinals will enter the winter GM meetings this week with renewed purpose and fire in the bellies: the time is now to grab some player to make a big enough splash to carry them back into postseason play. Will this come at the hands of a new entry to the Cardinals or at the departure of another?

While we fans will watch this season to see if Adam Wainwright still has the stuff to be a MLB pitcher, and if Yadier Molina can continue to capture the fountain of youth, I will be stepping down from Redbird Rants.

I’ll let you collect your breath at this shocking news.

All joking aside, I have made the very difficult decision to step down and step away from Redbird Rants after three years in her service. I am proud of the work that we have accomplished during my tenure and pray that this site continues to be a source of MY St. Louis Cardinals news as well as the news and rumor source for many of you.

To my regular readers, I appreciated you to no end and hope you will simply find another writer here to regularly read and love (if you haven’t done so already).

More from Redbird Rants

• Cardinals Rumors: 3 pros and cons of signing Carlos Rodon
• What’s next for the St. Louis Cardinals after Contreras signing?
• Report: Cardinals Emerge As Mystery Team for Carlos Rodon
• Cardinals: Trade targets after signing Willson Contreras
• Reflecting on the 2013 Cardinals’ top 30 prospects

I have had the distinct pleasure of getting to work with some wonderful co-editors in the form of Steven, Brendon, Tito, and Trevor. These guys became very close to me and shared in a great deal of my life.

I have had the distinct pleasure of working with incredible writers like CMS, Tito, Zach, Trevor, Russ, Larry, Tina, Matt, Austin, and so many others. If I failed to mention you, please don’t take this personally; I’m simply having a really tough time writing this goodbye post.

In my three years, I have had the overwhelming joy of being called-out on Twitter by Waino, retweeted by several players, and even got to know that my favorite St. Louis Cardinals player, Aaron Miles, had read my pieces on him and loved them. This will forever be one of the highlights of my life.

I have enjoyed the posts I have written, the flack I have taken by readers, and the surprises along the way. I have enjoyed the podcast, the chance to share the microphone with my own father, and the opportunity to get to know and be a part of several St. Louis Cardinals’ news conferences in Memphis.

I am not necessarily going anyway but am instead stepping away from the writing and the editing. I have no new blog home waiting in the wings but will instead enjoy my time with my family a little more without feeling guilty to my guys at Redbird Rants.

I guess I’m more like Mark McGwire than I thought: we are both stepping aside to spend more time with our families. The big, obvious difference here is that he could (and probably still can) mash home runs where I could not and cannot.

Please, for me, remain as a reader of this site. Please, for me, retweet the pieces these incredible guys write. And, lastly, please- for me- cheer on the St. Louis Cardinals as I will surely continue to do so even in my absence from this wonderful home called Redbird Rants.

With that I officially sign off. Go Cardinals!