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5 Cardinals That Could be on the Move at the Trade Deadline

The MLB trade deadline is Monday, July 31st at 3 PM Central Time. For the first time in years it’s unsure where exactly the St. Louis Cardinals will fall on the buyer / seller spectrum.

On one hand they’re only 3.5 game out of first place. On the other they haven’t been over .500 since June 1st and seem to be more than one big name away from being a legit contender1. Continue reading “5 Cardinals That Could be on the Move at the Trade Deadline” →

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Notes From The Pine: A Tale of Two Birds

This is a copy of the newsletter that went out earlier this week. If you want this great content in your inbox every week without the hassle of going to the website you can sign up here. Plus you’ll get it before everyone else.

Let’s go back in time a couple weeks. Back on June 6 the St. Louis Cardinals allowed Scooter Gennett to become the 17th player in the history of Major League Baseball to join the 4 homerun club. He of 42 career homeruns. The next lowest career homerun total on the list belongs to Bobby Lowe who joined the list in 1894 with the Boston Beaneaters1. Lowe had 71 career homers. Continue reading “Notes From The Pine: A Tale of Two Birds” →

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5 Cardinals That Need To Step Up For The Playoff Push

The St. Louis Cardinals are alternating between limping and striding into the playoff race. Just as they seem ready to turn a corner they lose 2-1 to Milwaukee at home. Then follow it up by nearly being no hit by their division rival in Busch.

Now the Cardinals find themselves in a three team race for two wild card spots. Their opponents being the New York Mets and the San Francisco Giants. They’ve at least got a bit of a chance to control their own fate with a 4 game series looming in San Francisco this weekend.

But they need to get through the Cubs series within striking distance. And that’s going to require some Cardinals to step up over the final 19 games of the regular season.

Adam Wainwright, Kolten Wong, and Randall Grichuk have already started getting hot. They need a few players to join them and light a fire under this team. Continue reading “5 Cardinals That Need To Step Up For The Playoff Push” →

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posted on written by Jason

All 2000s St. Louis Cardinals: Third Baseman

The hot corner has been a pretty steady source of production for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2000s. It’s provided solid defense, spectacular playoff moments, and Troy Glaus. Now that I’ve gotten the randomly unnecessary1 Troy Glaus burn out of the way we can get into the top 3. Just one side note, Fernando Tatis hit his two grand slams in 1999, and only played with the Birds into 2000.

Continue reading “All 2000s St. Louis Cardinals: Third Baseman” →

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The Case for Matt Carpenter as MVP

After a 2012 that saw Carpenter bat .294 over 114 games, Cardinals fans were left wondering what he could accomplish with a starting dose of at-bats. In the offseason, the Cardinals parted ways with fan favorite Skip Schumaker, and Matt Carpenter was given the chance to make the switch from third to second base over spring training. Carp was able to do enough with the glove to warrant a starting position and more than enough with the bat to make fans forget about Skip Schumaker.

It’s hard to see Matt Carpenter taking the MVP with star power like Andrew McCutcheon, Joey Votto, and Clayton Kershaw leading the way, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve it.  Don’t get me wrong, those guys have the stats too, but here’s five reasons Matt Carpenter has a shot to win the National League Most Valuable Player.

He can score runs

Carpenter is leading the Majors in runs scored at 119. That’s 11 up on Mike Trout in second with 108, and 10 behind Trout’s league lead from 2012. He’s projected for 127. Which should be more than enough to lead the league. His ability to score has been a huge asset for the Cardinals this season. Which brings me to our next point. Continue reading “The Case for Matt Carpenter as MVP” →

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Feels So Wong, It’s Got To Be Right

Cardinals phenom, Kolten Wong is joining the Birds today in Chicago a few weeks before September callups.

I’ve got to imagine he’ll be getting some work in at 2B moving Carpenter over to 3B on days Freese needs some rest. Obviously, Matt “Doubles” Carpenter isn’t going to be seeing the bench much anytime soon, so it’s likely Wong will cut into Freese’s playing time.

Freese hasn’t been terrible over the last few weeks batting .311 with 1 HR and 9 RBIs over the last 15 days, but with Matt Carpenter’s sudden appearance as an All-star leadoff hitter, and Wong lurking in AAA the move has been coming for awhile. It’ll be interesting to see how the Cardinals move on with Freese, Wong, and Carpenter for the rest of the season.