Recent News:
JOSE OQUENDO TO MANAGE TEAM PUERTO RICO FOR THE WBC!
WBC: Albert Pujols will be playing for the Dominican Republic, Yadier Molina will be playing for Puerto Rico and newly aquired pitcher Ricardo Rincon will be playing for Mexico. Mark Mulder is on the provisional roster for the Netherlands and Jason Isringhausen pulled out of the WBC.
More on the New Busch Stadium: Well, you can now tell where the field will be in the new stadium! Pretty much all of the seats are up too. I hope they can have the stadium finished in time. The first game is April 4. It's an exhibition game between the Memphis Redbirds and Springfield Cardinals...the top two minor league affiliates for the Cards. Tickets for that game sold out within 20min. The Cards home opener is April 10, 2006...I won't be there. I will be at the May 13th game against the Arizona Diamondbacks...with field level seats and everything. That's for 4H Day With The Cardinals. I'm also hoping to go to the 3 Giants games and one Phillies game!
Busch Stadium Update: The sign is up at the new Busch Stadium, and there is no more 'old' Busch Stadium...except for rubbish!!
10th Annual Winter Warm-Up!!! From January 14-16, the St. Louis Cardinals will be holding their 10th annual Winter Warm-Up at the Millenium hotel in St. Louis. There will be many players there signing autographs, including: Chris Carpenter, Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, Jason Isringhausen, Lou Brock, Red Schoendist, Ozzie Smith and many, many more. I will be attending for the first time, and I am very excited.
Players we have aquired: We got Larry Bigbie(outfield) and Aaron Miles(2nd) in a trade with the Colorado Rockies. We signed Sidney Ponson (pither) who will compete with rookie Anthony Reyes for the 5th spot on out starting rotation. We signed back-up catcher Gary Bennet to replace Einar Diaz. We signed Deivi Cruz (in field utility), Juan Encarnacion (right field), and Junior Spivey (possible starting 2nd baseman.)
More FREE AGENT UPDATES>>> Backup Catcher Einar Diaz has signed a minor league contract with the Cleaveland Indians...he will compete for the spot of back-up catcher at spring training. Diaz was the starting catcher for the Indians for about 8 years i think. Starting pitcher Matt Morris signed with the San Fransico Giants. 2nd basemen Mark Grudzielanek and leftfielder Reggie Sanders signed with the Kansas City Royals. Ray King was traded to the Colorado Rockies for Larry Bigbie and Aaron Miles. No news yet on Al Reyes or Julian Tavarez.
FREE AGENT UPDATES!!!!!!! John Mabry signed a one year deal with the Chicago Cubs, Abraham Nunez signed a two-year contract with the Philladelphia Phillies and Cal Eldred & Larry Walker both retired! We've lost our two best position bench players. Nunez could play 2nd, 3rd and short while John Mabry could play right and left field, 1st base and 3rd base. Mabry was also a power left handed bat off of the bench. Nunez produced many basehits, and was a big part of the club this year, he spent most of his time on 3rd base, filling in very well for Scott Rolen.
PUJOLS FINALLY GETS MVP! After about 4 years, Albert Pujols finally got the national league MVP award!!! The last Cardinal to win the award was Willie McGee in 1985 (20 years ago) and there have only been 15 Cardinals to win the award. In his press-confrence, you could just tell that Albert was very excited to get the award. He is a very sweet man, and he has won my heart over!!! I also want to congradulate Albert on his 3rd child, Sophia, who was born on this past Saturday. Albert deffinantley deserves this award, and I am sooooo glad that he finally got it! Congrats to Pujols!
CARPENTER GETS CY YOUNG AWARD! Chris Carpenter earned the Cy Young award this year! He is only the 2nd Cardinal to win the award. Bob Gibson won the award in 1975 (30 years ago) and I believe he also won it in 1973. Chris had 20 victories and ONLY 5 losses this year. Congrats to Chris!!!!!!!!
NO NL MANAGER OF THE YEAR AWARD FOR LARUSSA! LaRussa cam in 2nd place in voting to Atlanta Braves' manager Bobby Cox. Can't say I'm disapointed though...LaRussa did make me pretty mad durring the post-season. Still, he has done lots of great things...I'm still mad at him though!
BUSCH STADIUM DEMOLTION HAS BEGUN! (Monday, November 7, 2005) The first part of the demoliton has begun. The wrecking ball went into part of the stadium at 3:00 pm (central time) and they are expecting to have the whole thing knocked down by next summer. You can vistit the STL Cardinal webstie (http://stlcardinals.com) for more information.
'05 Award Winners: Jason Marquis wins Silver Slugger for Pitcher, Jim Edmonds wins Gold Glove for Center field, Chris Carpenter wins NL Outstanding Pitcher (voted on by the players)...more to come
The Cardinals have been eliminated from the Post-Season, and are probably with thier families at the moment. On Thursday, October 20, 2005 they were packing up thier locker room, and um, tearing up the outfield with thier cars! We'll see ya'all next year in the new Busch Stadium!
Injury Updates: Skip Schumaker had surgery on his knee on Friday, October 21, 2005; he will be back at 'em in about 4 weeks. Scott Rolen will be ready for the 2006 Season. He will most likely be going through therapy and such over the off season. Al Reyes is having Tommy John surgery over the off season, and should be ready for the 2007 season, or late in the 2006 season.
FREE AGENTS! Einar Diaz, John Mabry, Matt Morris, Abraham Nunez, Cal Eldred, Julian Tavarez, Mark Grudzielanek, and Reggie Sanders. Jason Marquis is arbitration eligible, and Ray King has requested to be traded. Larry Walker is retiring. I'm gonna miss Ray King and Larry Walker, alot. I'll miss Larry more though!!
NEWS FLASH! Ray King (who was under contract until 2007) may NOT be returning in 2006. I BLAME YOU, TONY LARUSSA!
