Cardinals legend Red Schoendienst was born on this day in 1923. Schoendienst spent 15 seasons in St. Louis as a player and 14 more as a manager, winning a World Series in both positions (as well as another Series win as a member of the Milwaukee Braves in 1957). Schoendienst's career was capped off when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1989.
Here's some news from both St. Louis and elsewhere in the NL Central…
- The Cubs' arbitration hearing with Matt Garza is scheduled to take place tomorrow, reports Bruce Levine of ESPN Chicago. There is a sizable gap between the two sides; Garza is asking for a salary of $12.5MM, while the Cubs are offering $7.95MM. The result of this hearing could have an impact well beyond Chicago, as if the Cubs win the hearing, Garza's lower price tag could re-ignite trade interest in the right-hander.
- The Cubs unveiled plans today for a new baseball academy in the Dominican Republic. MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez has the details.
- The Pirates' arbitration hearing with Casey McGehee is set for February 16, reports Bill Brink of the PIttsburgh Post-Gazette. Brink's source says the two sides are still negotiating to see if the hearing can be avoided. MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith recently looked at the arb cases for both McGehee and the other side of the Bucs' first base platoon, Garrett Jones.
- ESPN's Jerry Crasnick looks at Zack Greinke's decision to act as his own agent and the history of other players who have handled their own contract negotiations. The Brewers right-hander is entering the last year of his four-year, $38MM contract but is open to the idea of signing an extension with Milwaukee.
- The Reds "had an offer on the table" for Francisco Cordero since the end of the 2011 season, writes MLB.com's Mark Sheldon but the team wouldn't give Cordero more than a one-year contract with an option. Cordero was holding out for a multiyear deal so the Reds signed Ryan Madson instead. Cordero settled for a one-year, $4.5MM deal with the Blue Jays and Shelton opines that Cordero "can’t be thrilled with how his offseason turned out."
- Beyond losing Albert Pujols, Tony La Russa and Dave Duncan, the Cardinals' quest to defend their World Series crown could be complicated by their reliance on several players with checkered injury histories, writes FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal.
n but the team would’ve give Cordero more than a one-year contract with an option
*wouldn’t, I think
It was time for Coco and the Reds to move on. Also, that would be pretty sweet to see Greinke represent himself.
Definitely worked out well for the Reds.
Yep. It’ll be a good battle all season long with the Cards and Reds battling for 1st and the Brewers not lagging far behind.
How are the Brewers suddenly less talented than the Reds? Much better team last year and the dropoff isn’t that significant this year trading Fielder/McGehee/Betancourt for Ramirez/Gamel/Gonzalez. More likely to be Cards/Brewers with the Reds possibly getting in the mix.
I’ll take Fielder/McGehee/Betancourt over the other option any day of the week. Braun is likely going to be out 1/3 of the season. The Reds were 2nd in runs scored last year, and had the best offense in the NL in 2010. No significant pieces at all have been lost from 2010. Cozart will be playing SS, and I know his .300 average is from a very small smaple size, but he will be much better than out .220 hitting Janish/Rent-A-Wreck combination. There will be a slight dropoff between Mesaroco and Hernandez, but the C position should still be fine with Hanigan. LF was a joke last year with Jonny Gomes/Fred Lewis playing a majority of the time. Stubbs can only get better from last year considering how bad he was. The rotation is much improved with a 1-2 punch of Cueto/Latos. The Bullpen is stacked with Marshall/Madson/Bray/etc… The entire Bullpen this year had an ERA between 2 and the low 3s last year. Chapman is a question mark that could be great or terrible in the rotation.
We could argue this all day, but at the end of the day the game isn’t played on paper like we are doing right now. You never who is going to blow up, whether it be good or bad. I’ll just agree to disagree and wait for some quality entertainment in the NLC this summer. At the end of the day, we have very very very minimal control in the outcome of the game being fans. At least the NLC is no longer considered a laughing stock, or at least it shouldn’t be anymore.
dear MLBTradeRumors… please look back at the 2011 season and tell me straight up that the Cardinals are definitely not going to win the World Series this year. Please because EVERYBODY said they wouldn’t or couldn’t last year and look what happened. I kept telling people that it can happen even back when they were 10.5 games back. If the team can come back from 10.5 back With TLR, Dunc, and Pujols, how can they not do it before spring training even starts this year? ok so you simply said their chances “could be complicated” and that is true they could be but the point i’m trying to make is that in baseball, or any sport, the final standings aren’t determined until the last 2nd place team’s E# is 0, the World Series isn’t over until a team wins 4 games and a World Series game isn’t over until the last out is recorded. All of which points were made last year. now I’m not saying with absolute certainty that they ARE going to win it all again but they sure have a better chance now of doing it again than they did on Aug 25 last year even with all the team changes. I just would like to think that the 2011 season has taught everyone in baseball a few lessons, especially on not giving up on a team until they have been eliminated and I know a LOT of Cardinals fans who had given up on them before they were eliminated and the Cardinals proved them wrong by never being eliminated. I know I never gave up on them, I just ask that every Cardinals fan does the same.
Paragraphs are your friend.
When you guarantee things in February, you often end up looking really silly. *cough* Red Sox *cough*
Lol
Rosenthal was evaluating the team, not MLBTR. I didn’t think it was any disrespect at all. There are some question marks entering 2012 as there is with every team. When you’re the World Series Champions “experts” are going to magnify everything. No big deal, is it April yet?
Rosenthal did not believe the Cardinals were any good the night they won the World Series… The Cardinals & their fans are used to it.
I just hate how all the so-called experts kept putting the Cardinals down, especially during the World Series they ALL picked the Rangers to win, even AFTER everything they had been through up until the point of time before game 6, then EVEN AFTER game 6 they STILL picked the Rangers to win game 7… and you can tell in their tone of voice “How did this happen”-Tim McCarver and “They Just won’t go away…”-Joe Buck, both of whom have strong ties to Saint Louis, when the Cardinals were making their game 6 comeback. they both are going out of their way to make their favoring of the Rangers known whether or not they had specified such favors before that point but still just makes me not like them. The rest of the “experts” out there I can understand that a little bit more just because they may not have any history with the Cards but come on. “They Just Won’t Go Away”… Jack Buck must have turned in his grave…
Give me a break. I just hate how every fan overreacts every time something negative is said about their team.
… and I’m not really replying to just you… It’s the majority of the Cardinals fans above you… I just hit reply on your post.
I’ve had to hear probably hundreds of times this off season how old the Phillies are… everybody has flaws and it’s well within the media’s rights to point them out.
I can understand people picking the Rangers over the Cards I just can’t understand EVERYONE picking the Rangers over the Cards like they did. All those ESPN and Fox Sports people before each game chose the Rangers, they did say the Cards would put up a fight but they never once chose the Cards to win it all. and even after the Cards showed in game 6 that they couldn’t be defeated so easily they ALL still kept choosing the Rangers, not ONE of them were convinced that the Cards were not going down and that’s what I have a problem with. and it makes us Cardinals fans feel disrespected or even ignored. we are a serious team with serious potential and our overall history proves that and our entire 2011 season was basically a reflection of our great history. true any team can say they have a great history but you can’t look at the 2011 Cardinals on 10/1/2011 and say they have no chance against the phillies after all they had been through to catch up and pass the braves, you can’t say on 10/6/2011 that the Cards can’t overcome the phillies to move on just because Roy Halladay’s on the mound after all they had been through up to that point, you can’t say during the NLCS that the Cards have no chance after that brilliant NLDS game 5, and you couldn’t say that after taking down the Brewers that they still stood ABSOLUTELY NO chance against the Rangers… then after game 6 they just kept with it… underestimating the Cards. that to me is very disrespectful. yes they did have every chance to lose but after all they had been through they had plenty more than NO chance yet all the “experts” kept saying they had no chance.
That’s not really how I remember it. I think most people were saying it was going to be a great World Series and could go either way.
Anyway though, I don’t know why any of it would bother you. That’s what made the season one of the best I can ever remember watching. It was everything they did that they “weren’t supposed to do”
no I truly appreciate what the team did and how they did it and yes it made it more special to prove all the “experts” wrong but I just don’t believe that we should be tossed aside so easily. Yes there were some of the “experts” who said it could go either way but all of their final predictions picked the Rangers to win it all. I don’t think any of them predicted the series would go any less than 6 games but they never picked the Cards to be the ones on top at the end of 6 or 7, not even after game 6 which is the real disturbing part. I’m just really obsessed with the Cards, maybe that’s why it strongly bothers me when it might not bother most Cards fans or maybe any other Cards fans but when your own guys like Joe Buck and Tim McCarver simply refuse to believe, while they’re there while it’s happening, that the Cards can come back to win game 6 and in turn game 7 and you could feel the tone of their voices were pulling so much for Texas. Even when JB said “We will see you tomorrow night” he didn’t sound excited at all, he sounded like he was tired of this and it should have ended 2 innings ago… it’s stuff like that. the national media don’t ever take the Cardinals seriously unless they happen to have the most wins in the league, I don’t believe they had done that since ’04 and/or ’05. of course we all know what happened in ’06 but they then won the World Series with the fewest wins ever in the reg. season for a WS Championship team and up until last year of course we had some struggles and such but once we pushed our way back in we were automatically “not supposed to be there” and they just treated us like we were supposed to be escorted out by security or something.
Luck
“majority of Cardinal fans above you”
Huh? That kind of came out of left field. Since he was the only person takling about not getting any respect.
Rosenthal put into words what I was thinking the whole postseason
“Hey guys, one time something really improbable happened, so I defy you to say things that might not happen are improbable!”
baseball is built off the improbable.
so I suppose the cubs winning the world series ever again is truly impossible because if it was possible but improbable it probably would have happened at least once in the last 104 years, right? lol
I redirect this comment to Rosenthal as well however I doubt that he’d be reading this where MLBTR just may be.
I understand exactly what you’re saying. It is however not easy to give up when it seems that there’s no hope. I never thought the Rays would get in the playoffs last year. It seemed like an impossibility. Strange things can and do happen. The Cards did an amazing job and their fan base should be proud.
I was extremely happy when the Rays did it too. they are my favorite AL team, and I have no ties to or anything to do with the Rays or anything I just really like them. and I thought it was the “perfect” night in baseball, when the 4 teams that needed to win won and the 4 teams that needed to lose lost to set the playoffs. I was really really really hoping for a Rays-Cards series but I’m just as glad it wasn’t the yankees though. I suppose the biggest advantage to being a Rays fan, now over the past 4 years more than ever, is their ability to keep the redsox and yankees out of the playoffs, or at least one of them if the other makes the wild card. that was a great night in baseball history though, 9/25/2011. never forget it! probably the greatest night in baseball up until 10/27/2011.
I’ve got to follow that?! ^
Anyway, Brewers need to re-up Greinke and Marcum. Make it happen Doug.
chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120202…
Cubs sign Concepcion?
Can Cardinals fans stop crying and whining? Please?
I know right.
Cardinals fans don’t whine. They are the best fans in baseball. Didn’t you know that???
Can you stop judging an entire fan base, because of one guy? Please?
Not sure how long you’ve been reading/posting on this site, but “one guy” doesn’t quite describe it.
There was quite a lot of moaning and wailing from Cards fans in recent months, so this “one guy” you see now is only the latest of many. This is what these fans are reacting to – with good reason. It wasn’t pretty.
it’s been pretty pathetic. i haven’t been as sad as them since the 6 months i was forced to live in missouri.