December 7, 2010. The Cardinals had just acquired shortstop Ryan Theriot for right handed pitcher Blake Hawksworth from the Dodgers. Calling him a “natural shortstop” the organization quickly distanced themselves from Brendan Ryan as their starting shortstop in an effort to become a better team. After having considered starting to blog for awhile, it was the push I needed.

Over the next few days I registered a blog on Blogspot, used my graphic design skills to whip up what would be Redbird Dugout’s first logo, and wrote a critique of the concept of how someone could possibly be a “natural…

Just over a week ago it began being reported that the Cleveland Indians have informed other clubs that they intend to trade Francisco Lindor this offseason. It’s not that surprising of a proposition considering that the organization has all but come out and said that they don’t intend to sign their star 27-year-old shortstop to an extension once his years of team control come to an end at after the 2021 season. That means the time to trade Lindor is now.

There have also been a few reports that the Cardinals are among the top candidates to acquire Lindor in…

On Tuesday night, Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com posted an article talking about the history of the Tampa Bay Rays’ pursuit of Randy Arozarena, who has been the breakout star of this postseason. So far this postseason, Arozarena has the rookie record for home runs in a postseason and is knocking on the door of the rookie record for hits as well. He’s clearly been the central cog of the Rays’ offense on their charge to their second World Series berth.

Last winter the Rays acquired Arozarena, Jose Martinez and traded back in the competitive balance round of the MLB draft…

Over the weekend, negotiations between the Major League Baseball owners and the Players’ Association about a new economic agreement to get the season started have broken down. The owners have accused the Players’ Association of a failure to negotiate in good faith while the players have publicly said that further attempts at negotiation would be fruitless and therefore the owners should just tell the players when and where to report.

The breakdown is the latest in a long line of troublesome negotiations between the players and the owners — and really Major League Baseball and anyone else these days.

There…

St. Louis Cardinals’ owner Bill DeWitt Jr was on St. Louis’ 590 The Fan this week and talked about the business side of baseball and negotiations with the players while they try to find a way to get back on the field and play the 2020 season. During the interview he dropped a bomb that caught a lot of attention on Twitter.

“The industry isn’t very profitable, to be honest. And I think (the players) understand that. They think owners are hiding profits. There’s been a bit of distrust there,” said DeWitt Jr.

The response is always quick when billionaire…

The St. Louis Cardinals announced yesterday that they have agreed to terms with all 25 of their team controlled players, except one. Jack Flaherty.

For players with fewer than three years of Major League service time, teams hold rights of renewal on a player’s contract and have the right to impose a salary on a player, provided it meets the league’s minimum salary. Teams usually have systems to determine how they pay players during those first three seasons and typically players will accept those numbers assigned to them by the team because they have no bargaining power. …

Same verse, new year for the Cardinals. A young prospect arrives in St. Louis out of nowhere and then goes on a tear that earns them consistent playing time to finish out the season. Fans spend the offseason clamoring for said player to get a larger role in the next season, but when the time comes, the player fails to produce.

In 2015, it was Randal Grichuk who put together a dominant year at the plate with an .877 OPS and 17 home runs in 103 games for the Cardinals. But in 2016, he struggled with a full season in…

Earlier this year I was talking baseball with my brother when he mentioned that he saw a comment on an article calling Diamondbacks’ shortstop Nick Ahmed the best shortstop in baseball. Even my Dbacks fan brother thought it was a laughable concept because Ahmed’s is not a name that comes to mind when you start talking about who the best shortstops in baseball might be. It’s so far out of left field, that I at least glance at the stats to see if I’m just missing something, but beyond a pair of NL Gold Glove Awards, it’s hard to see.

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