BIRD BYTES The annual MLB winter meetings open this weekend in San Diego, as high-ranking members of the 30 baseball front offices huddle with each other and player agents to explore options and weigh the risks and rewards of potential free-agent signings and trades....
In the pursuit of a higher-caliber catcher, the Cardinals can go for a free agent or make a substantive trade. Prospects aside, the Redbirds would likely draw plenty of trade interest in several of their young hitters who bat from the left side. The three I have in...
How about Ken Rosenthal, stirring the pot on The Hot Stove? In his Tuesday column at The Athletic, Rosenthal introduced the idea of Matt Carpenter returning to the Cardinals in 2023. After making a remarkable comeback as a hitter for the 2022 New York Yankees, could...
As you undoubtedly know by now, the Cardinals have lost nine of their last 10 postseason games and have faded into also-ran status in October. My job would be much easier if I simply blamed all of this on the batting coach or some other convenient fall guy. I...
BERNIE BITS If the Cardinals want to make headway in the postseason by actually winning games, they must reevaluate their goals in curating a pitching philosophy. The ground-ball obsession, backed by superlative infield defense, is a pragmatic and effective way to go...
Greetings. The Cardinals didn’t play ball on Monday so I’ll dig into an issue that fans are talking about. First Up: Who Should Bat Leadoff? There’s no obvious answer, and so I won’t pretend that this is an easy call. Among other things, two of the candidates have...
THE REDBIRD REVIEW After a downbeat period of baseball – a show of mediocrity that included fragmented starting pitching, cringeworthy losses and low spirits – your St. Louis Cardinals are aloft. They are winning and warbling and tied with Milwaukee for first place in...
This is the first “Ask Bernie” that I’ve done in a while, so I apologize for straying from the plan. But I was having some email issues that had to be cleaned up, and now I’m back in the game. You can hit me with your questions via email: BernieScoops@gmail.com Let’s...
If it’s OK with you, I’ll take a pass on offering a review of the CBA negotiations and the peace agreement between MLB’s owners and players. The entire process was fatiguing and frustrating, and baseball is boring enough during normal times. So why waste additional...
