Last night, the Sun went down, and just as predictably, St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Jack Flaherty looked like the most dominant force in baseball. While Flaherty got off to a somewhat mediocre start to his 2019 season, he continued to add to his unfathomably strong second half of the year. The twenty-three year-old ace…
The weekend in review–10 moments where the Cardinals put the Cubs in the trash
Last week, in preparation of the St. Louis Cardinals' four-game series against the Chicago Cubs, I wrote that the Cardinals should destroy the Cubs. And while referring to a four-game set in which a team outscored its opponent by four total runs as "destroying" is probably a bit generous, the result was there--by wins and…
The Cardinals should destroy the Cubs
I am a man of countless idiotic opinions. I hold beliefs that I have been told are stupid, and wisdom of crowds makes me believe that they are indeed stupid, but this does not keep me from believing them. I believe that The Godfather Part III is not only a good movie, but a deeply necessary counterpoint…
A look back at the great Cardinals trade swindles, from the other side
In the twenty-first century, Major League Baseball’s front office personnel had a major breakthrough in pop culture relevance. With the enormous popularity of Michael Lewis’s book Moneyball, general managers became easily identifiable avatars for fans, particularly sabermetrically-inclined fans. The rising popularity of franchise modes in EA Sports video games, not to mention Baseball Mogul or Out Of…
What is Tommy Edman?
When the St. Louis Cardinals promoted Tommy Edman to the Major Leagues three months ago yesterday, it felt like the wheels were being turned for a few years on the Memphis Shuttle. While Edman had hit well for the Memphis Redbirds in 2019, he was not a particularly acclaimed prospect--FanGraphs ranked him 20th among Cardinals…
Evaluating Dakota Hudson’s awards case
Considering the St. Louis Cardinals are in first place and have been the hottest team in the National League for the last couple months, the team has a shocking lack of viable candidates for National League Most Valuable Player. And I don't mean to win the award, which will almost certainly (deservedly) go to Milwaukee Brewers outfielder…
The case against a Dylan Carlson September call-up
It's easy to forget that St. Louis Cardinals minor league prospect Dylan Carlson entered the 2019 season as a relatively minor prospect. Per MLB.com, Carlson ranked just tenth in the Cardinals system, as he entered his first season with the AA Springfield Cardinals. But throughout the season, Carlson has emerged as, along with Nolan Gorman,…
Mike Shildt stands up for his players and we should be glad he does
Matt Carpenter is having, by his standards, a rough season in 2019. He has never been a particularly fleet of foot runner, and defensively, while he once provided additional value by virtue of his ability to handle, if not master, multiple positions, he has been limited almost exclusively to third base. Carpenter's value comes from…
The chase to be Team of the 2010s
Who is the team of the 2010s? This is an open-ended question but it is also a question which can be quantified. So I decided I wanted to quantify it. Of course, the 2010s are not yet over, and the next two-plus months of baseball, particularly the off-season, will go a long way in defining…
You can never have too many good outfielders
Yesterday afternoon, Springfield Cardinals outfielder Dylan Carlson was promoted to the Memphis Redbirds. As somebody with bare-bones knowledge of the St. Louis Cardinals' minor league affiliates, a system promotion that does not involve being promoted to the Majors normally wouldn't be a big deal to me. But over the last 4 1/2 months of professional…
St. Louis Bullpen 