最新杏吧原创

Fanning out through the general manager meetings to ask executives which club is best outfitted to end the National League Central鈥檚 decade-long drought without a World Series trophy yielded the exact kind of answers about baseball鈥檚 diverging economics and competitive balance that prompted the question.

The officials were all in the same hotel but not at all in the same place.

Standout seasons that earned Cardinals prospects JJ Wetherholt and Brycen Mautz honors as Texas League postseason All-Stars also earned the two rising players top organizational honors.

Wetherholt and Mautz were named Cardinals' minor league player and pitcher of the year, respectively, it was announced Wednesday.

As I watched Jontay Porter in the spring of 2018 鈥� this near 7-footer casually splashing 3-pointers for Mizzou 鈥� I believed the whole sports world would someday know his name.

Only 18 years old, Porter was named the SEC鈥檚 co-Sixth Man of the Year. And in his 10 games leading up to the NCAA Tournament, Michael鈥檚 younger brother averaged 14.5 points and 7.6 rebounds.

The Cardinals on Tuesday added prospects Leonardo Bernal, Joshua Baez, Cooper Hjerpe and Brycen Mautz to their 40-man roster, giving each protection from the Dec. 10 Rule d Draft.

The Cardinals had three open spots on their 40-man roster at the start of Tuesday but designated right-handed reliever Jorge Alcal谩 for assignment to clear a fourth spot.

Before dawn on the day the Cardinals clinched their most recent National League pennant and helped onetime nemesis Carlos Beltr谩n to his first World Series, the outfielder鈥檚 wife woke up to find him in his batting stance near their bed.

He was imagining at-bats, practicing his swing.

The deadline for teams across the majors to set their 40-man rosters and protect players eligible for this December鈥檚 Rule 5 draft is 5 p.m. Tuesday.

At the start of Monday, the Cardinals had 37 players on their 40-man roster following a series of roster moves earlier this month聽鈥� and a crop of Rule 5 draft-eligible players that includes former top draft picks and international signees.

COLUMBIA, Mo.聽鈥� Greetings. Welcome to the weekly Cardinals chat here at StlToday. I'm set up here in Columbia, Missouri, just a few feet from Mizzou's campus. Getting a chance to visit with some J-School students today and perhaps talk a bit about the Rick Hummel Memorial Internship that the baseball writers run. That means this will be more of a sprint chat than a marathon. And imagine there are many questions as we inch into the Hot Stove season, especially fresh of the Las Vegas meetings.

You've got questions, I'll do my best to provide answers. Let's see where today's conversation takes us.

For Cardinals infield prospect Deniel Ortiz, the introduction to professional baseball was worth the wait.

A 16th-round draft pick out of Walters State (Tennessee) Community College in 2024, Ortiz did not appear in a game with a Cardinals affiliate before the minor league season wrapped. The wait for Ortiz, who played winter ball in Puerto Rico last year, came to an end in early April when he saw his name in Class Low-A Palm Beach鈥檚 starting lineup three games into the season.

Another of the former Boston Red Sox executives 鈥� 鈥淭here are so many former,鈥� wise-cracked one 鈥� to relocate to the National League Central paused as he considered what Chaim Bloom can expect within the division as he takes over the Cardinals鈥� baseball operations.

Pittsburgh general manager Ben Cherington, the past leader of Boston鈥檚 front office like Bloom most recently was, thought it was a good question and took time to give a better answer.