The Cardinals should score plenty of runs in 2024. The bullpen won’t be a tinderbox. The defense should save runs instead of cost the team runs. The baserunning won’t be as passive or careless. That leaves the starting pitching. It’s the most important sector of the...
Here’s the latest chapter in my offseason series explaining my reasons for cautious optimism over the 2024 Cardinals. I am convinced of this: this team is better, perhaps much better, than how they’re viewed locally. It’s just a matter of maximization. Converting the...
I’m always interested in the outside view of the St. Louis Cardinals. We have a tendency to let the local thundercracks influence our perceptions as we assess the team’s offseason. Based on the vociferous, widespread and entertaining sentiments expressed on X-Twitter,...
THE REDBIRD REVIEW Please allow me to introduce myself. I’m the loon who keeps attaching the word “optimism” to the 2024 Cardinals. For this condition I blame my intense dedication to homework and a stubborn attitude derived from an old-fashioned concept known as...
The annual Winter Warm-Up is set up, in part, to get the fans fired up about the coming season. The players are in a good mood, management uses the occasion to spin a positive message, and fans in attendance are mostly happy. It is a time for optimism. It all goes...
I’ve been asked the question: what do all of the big-money signings by the Los Angeles Dodgers mean for the St. Louis Cardinals? The answer: not much. The Cardinals were never going to be a factor in the high-end section of free agency. The good-hearted but happily...
THE REDBIRD REVIEW To rehabilitate last season’s decrepit .438 winning percentage, the Cardinals put their resources and attention on starting pitching. Swell. But the disaster fund must be put to other uses after president of baseball operations John Mozeliak signed...
When Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak prioritized innings in his reconstruction of the team’s starting pitching, he knew what he was doing. And Mozeliak absolutely did the right thing, because innings matter. Innings matter very much. The...
THE REDBIRD REVIEW Fans and media are pleading with the St. Louis front office to add another high-end rotation piece before the 2024 season. It can be a free-agent signing. It can be a trade. But the Cardinals need more strength at the top to pair with new...
