Photo by Refracted Moments™   some rights reserved
Once again, it’s good to be a Molina. Last winter, Bengie cashed in with the Giants. This time, Yadier has hit the jackpot, re-signing with the St. Louis Cardinals for 4 years, $15.5 million.
Molina and the Cardinals had been scheduled for arbitration, with Molina asking for $2.75 million and the club offering $1.85. Molina earned $525,000 in 2007, so even if he’d lost arbitration, he would’ve won big time.
Molina batted .275/.340/.368 last year and owns a career line of .248/.304/.349 over three seasons and change. He’s 25 years old and he comes with a stellar …read more

The St. Louis Cardinals reportedly are considering inviting Juan Gonzalez to spring training. Yes, that Juan Gonzalez.
Dan at Baseball Think Factory sums it up pretty nicely. Two open questions:

How is Gonzalez only 38 years old?
What is Danny Tartabull doing these days?

   Photo by <<graham>>   some rights reserved
Today’s random player isn’t a player, it’s a manager. John McCloskey headed the Louisville Colonels, “leading” them to a 37-113 record in 1895 and for the first 19 games of 1896. He was replaced by Bill McGunnigle after a 17-5 loss to the Boston Beaneaters dropped the Colonels to 2-17 on the young season.
A decade later, McCloskey would receive a second chance. From 1906 to 1908 he managed the St. Louis Cardinals, who proceeded to lose 98, 101, and 105 games under his command.
McCloskey’s managerial record over parts of five seasons? A remarkable 190-417, good for …read more

Once again I’m a little late delivering the goods because I wanted to make sure there were actual goods to deliver. In this case, it turns out there are.
The St. Louis Cardinals have traded third baseman Scott Rolen to the Toronto Blue Jays for third baseman Troy Glaus. Fun trade. Rolen is 33 and has battled shoulder problems, while Glaus is 31 and has battled foot problems.
Career lines:
Rolen: 6380 PA, .283/.372/.507, 126 OPS+
Glaus: 5203 PA, .254/.358/.500, 121 OPS+
2007 lines:
Rolen: 441 PA, .265/.331/.398, 89 OPS+
Glaus: 456 PA, .262/.366/.473, 120 OPS+
Yikes, Rolen’s power has disappeared.
Peak lines:
Rolen: 593 PA, .314/.409/.598, 157 OPS+ (2004, …read more

The St. Louis Cardinals have signed right-hander Matt Clement to a 1-year, $1.5 million deal with a club option for 2009. He was pretty darned good for the Cubs from 2002 to 2004, but hasn’t done much since.
Clement made just 12 starts in 2006 with Boston and missed all of last season while recovering from shoulder surgery. Maybe he has something left, but I wouldn’t count on it.

Wednesday? Must be a full schedule. Let’s jump right in…
American League

Angels at Mariners, 1:35 p.m. PT — Division rivals, great pitching matchup (Jered Weaver vs Felix Hernandez). Most days this would be a no-brainer as the game to watch, but there are several good ones today.
Red Sox at Yankees, 4:05 p.m. PT — Josh Beckett goes up against Roger Clemens. Advice to hitters: look for the fastball. The AL East is slipping away from the Yankees, as they are now 8 games back with 31 remaining. They’re only 2 behind Seattle in the wild card.
Twins at Indians, 4:05 p.m. PT …read more

St. Louis Cardinals infielder Aaron Miles got the thrill of a lifetime when he was called upon to work the eighth inning as a pitcher in his club’s 12-1 loss to the Washington Nationals. Well, maybe not the “thrill of a lifetime” — really, getting blown out by the Nats can’t qualify as anyone’s high point — but pretty cool nonetheless.
Miles, apparently chosen because of his height (5′8″; Tony LaRussa wanted a “short” reliever, ba dum bum), retired the Nationals in order on seven pitches. Mike Maroth, the Cards’ second pitcher of the game, retired just two of the eight …read more

This is heart-breaking. St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Josh Hancock was killed in a car accident early Sunday morning. The Cardinals’ scheduled game yesterday with the Cubs was canceled.
Out here in San Diego, at Petco Park, Hancock was honored with a moment of silence before the start of Sunday’s game against the Dodgers. For those of us who follow the Padres, Hancock’s untimely death brings back memories of Mike Darr, the talented young outfielder who was killed in a car crash during spring training 2002.
My thoughts are with Hancock’s family and friends…

It’s here. Finally. The New York Mets start the ‘07 baseball season at St. Louis to take on the defending World Series champion Cardinals. Tom Glavine goes against Chris Carpenter. We’ll be here all night, covering the game as it happens.
Baseball is back. Everything feels right again.

Who is Jeff Luhnow? He is the St. Louis Cardinals’ vice president of amateur scouting and player development, and Baseball America’s Chris Kline has done a fantastic interview with him:
I’ve had scouts come in and participate in our player-development discussions about who’s going to make a certain team and who’s not. I’ve had player development people go out and look at some of the top (amateur) prospects in Florida and other places. Part of communication is empathizing a little bit with the other side’s job. It’s so easy for a scout to criticize player development for making a bad decision, …read more