Latest news and updates about the Cardinals
It is with much happiness that I say out loud that we are now only days away from pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training. That means we can now look at what St. Louis Cardinals President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom was able to accomplish. What grade would you give him for his first […]
Last week I took an early look at the Cardinals projections, and before I take a look at the Cardinals again (think of last week as a preview of the final Cards projection article) I will look at the NL Central from the bottom up. And that starts with the bottom of the ocean floor, […]
Good morning! Yet another infield option is off the board, as the Seattle Mariners acquired All-Star Brendan Donavan in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals yesterday. Perhaps you’re still holding out hope for an Isaac Paredes deal, but it’s looking increasingly likely that the Red Sox will head into Opening Day with Marcelo Mayer […]
I hope you’re having a swell Tuesday morning … Pitchers and catchers for some clubs will start reporting, officially, to Spring Training sites in exactly one week. That doesn’t mark any kind of hard cut-off for signings and trades, but if you’re a free agent pitcher, in particular, it does seem like you might be eager to get something done so that you can arrive with your fellow pitchers and catchers on a normal schedule with your new team. Which is to say, for that group of moves, spec...
As the offseason winds down and early-arriving players begin ramping up for the 2026 season, it’s your turn, once again, to ask us at VEB your most pressing questions as we head into spring training. The Cardinals were able to move all of their no-trade-clause-wielding players on the roster and added a couple of veteran […]
The Tampa Bay Rays have acquired slick fielding third baseman Ben Williamson from the Seattle Mariners as part of a three-team deal with the St. Louis Cardinals that will generally be known as the Donovan trade: Drafted 57th overall in 2023 after what Baseball America called a “monstrous senior season” at William & Mary, Williamson […]
The day after Justin Hollander and Jerry Dipoto both said at Fan Fest that the Mariners were still looking to make one impact move, they backed that up today with the most significant trade of the Mariners off-season, a three-team trade with the Rays and Cardinals that will bring long-anticipated trade target Brendan Donovan to […]
Over the weekend, the infield market started churning , with free agents Luis Arraez (San Francisco) and Eugenio Suarez (Cincinnati) signing fresh deals with new teams. And that movement continued on Monday with long-rumored Cardinals trade chip Brendan Donovan getting dealt to Seattle in a three-team deal (pending physical). This transaction has some already-realized, near-term impact on the Cubs, seeing as the Cardinals’ sell-off is now even more substantial (they REALLY went for it, de...
MLB Trade Rumors: St. Louis infielder Brendan Donovan is heading to the Seattle Mariners in a three way deal that, of course, features the Tampa Bay Rays as the third team, per reports. Donovan, 29, finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting in 2022, a year in which he also nabbed the utility […]
It looks like one of the most anticipated trades of the offseason is about to be complete. Multiple reports say that the St. Louis Cardinals are close to trading Brendan Donovan to the Seattle Mariners. The St. Louis Cardinals are receiving pitching prospect Jurrangelo Cijntje and Tai Peete, a 2023 first-round pick and Colton Ledbetter […]
It has been expected (by me, at least) ever since Main Street/FanDuel Sports Network (the successor to Diamond/Bally) missed a broadcast rights payment to the Cardinals back in December, and now it’s happening: a whole bunch more clubs are returning their local broadcast rights to Major League Baseball, as had happened previously over the last year+ with the Padres, Diamondbacks, Twins, Rockies, Nationals, and Guardians. Up to eight more teams, formerly having their rights at Diamond/Ball...
Earlier on Monday, we got word that the Atlanta Braves were one of three teams (alongside the Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Angels) that didn’t decide to follow the Brewers, Cardinals, Rays, Reds and Royals to MLB Media as far as their televised games are concerned. Well, now we know why the Braves didn’t join […]
We finally have solid details of how the St. Louis Cardinals plan to make their games available for streaming for the upcoming season. The team says that Major League Baseball will produce and distribute all in-market St. Louis Cardinals games and they promise to do it with no regional blackout restrictions. Here are the exact […]
The Braves are still looking for a television broadcast partner after moving on from Main Street Sports Group (aka the company that runs Fanduel Sports Network). However, six of other eight teams are not looking anymore for this season. The Brewers, Marlins, Rays, Royals, Cardinals, and the Reds are moving on over to MLB Media. […]
I saw a little bit of surprise that Leonardo Bernal, voted as the sixth best prospect in the system, wasn’t voted in the top 5. I am not surprised. Doing this for three years, catchers usually end up lower than I expect, not higher. Bernal was ranked 8th last season and that definitely surprised me […]
Sean McVay will once again have to hire a new offensive coordinator and for the second time he’s replacing someone in the LaFleur family: The Arizona Cardinals are hiring Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur to be their new head coach according to multiple reports on Sunday morning by Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero. LaFleur will […]
Before you immediately run to the comments and simply put “YES”, hear me out. The St. Louis Cardinals have spent the entire offseason actually committing to the (re)build, but have done so by trading away high-priced and/or underperforming veterans and restocking the minor league pitching staff. Those deals have created opportunities around the diamond, except […]
Becoming a major league baseball player is extremely difficult. I know, breaking news… It definitely helps if a major league team signs you to a professional contract and sends you to one of their minor league affiliates, but even so, the odds are against you. With the recent excitement in Cardinals nation around the signing […]
As my mind’s eye turns to Spring Training, hope stirs. What once seemed so far away is now just around the corner, even though it hasn’t moved one iota (for those keeping score at home, iota is the smallest letter in the Greek alphabet and is proxy for really, really small amount). My mind wanders […]
As of today, we’re almost exactly two weeks from the day when pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training. I would say there’s at least an even chance that Brendan Donovan will remain a St. Louis Cardinal once the season begins. If that’s the case, what do you think the St. Louis Cardinals opening day […]
In the vote for the #4 prospect, Quinn Mathews did not win by a lot. It was a two-man race and Joshua Baez was only 14 total votes short of Mathews’ total. He received over double the votes of the third-place vote getter. It is not a hard and fast rule, but it was a […]
2026 baseball projections are out now, so I’m going to begin to take a look at how the crystal ball of statistical projections sees things for the coming year. Sure, we might lose one of our key players in Brendan Donovan, so I will probably do this again (plus ZiPS literally just came out a […]
I know not everywhere got dumped on by 21 inches of snow like we did, and then immediately followed by sub-zero temperatures, but I am going stir-crazy. The kids are all home, we can’t really go anywhere, and I think we could all use some fresh air. Worse, the brutal cold isn’t turned for, at a minimum, another 10 days apparently. I’m grateful our furnace is working, but I would also be grateful for enough of a break in the roads/temps that everyone can safely go back to school … The Fr...
How do you weigh the cost of opportunity when it comes to a long-term build? When I talk to Cardinals personnel, the consistent theme remains “long-term focus.” What exactly does that mean for players who continue to accrue service time but are not quite to the point where they are rental assets? We know that […]
The St. Louis Cardinals are preparing the way for Spring Training which is now just over two weeks away. The team announced the 27 non-roster players that will officially be a part of camp. Here’s the share that the St. Louis Cardinals just dropped on social media today. In case you can’t see the Cardinals […]