Birdos in Brief

The "torso soreness" that had left Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar unavailable on Thursday has now been confirmed by President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak to be fractured ribs. I'm no doctor, but I would imagine that would cause some torso soreness, indeed. The good news is as far as fractures go, a standard rib fracture requires pretty minimal treatment: rest, ice, and NSAIDS. Pain should subside in a few weeks, which puts Nootbaar's availability for Opening Day in jeopardy, but doesn't entirely rule it out. More to come as more information is reported!

Timely journalism this morning — asked around the clubhouse for advice about the best way to do Barbenheimer, starting with this from Oli Marmol: “What the hell is that?”

— Jeff Jones (@jmjones) July 21, 2023

When asked the best way to watch Barbenheimer, the St. Louis Cardinals had varying opinions from not knowing what the reference even was to suggesting you watch all three Lord of the Rings movies instead. Jeff Jones again with the diligent reporting in this great Twitter thread (or whatever Twitter is now).

Jack Flaherty is scratched for tomorrow with right hip tightness. Tomorrow’s starter TBA.

— Jeff Jones (@jmjones) June 24, 2023

I am going to start this on a personal note. When I wrote the previews for this series I originally wrote everything guessing Matthew Liberatore would start Sunday. Then the Cardinals pushed up Jack Flaherty so I had to scramble to write some analysis for him instead. Turns out that was all for naught as he has been scratched from Sunday's game due to hip tightness. Brutal. The starter is TBA, but it would be Liberatore's turn in the rotation. I believe Miles Mikolas would also be available on full rest.

Eric Longenhagen and Tess Taruskin have made it to the Cardinals in their top prospect series. No surprise here at who reigns at the top of the list. They include wonderful breakdowns of each prospect in this list -- it looks like a lot of time and care goes into crafting these. It is well-organized and easy to understand, while including all the relevant information a fan could want. Definitely check it out if you want to learn more about the Cardinals prospects!

Our old friend Ben Clemens has a really good piece at Fangraphs about St. Louis Cardinals infielder Nolan Gorman. Last season he struggled with high fastballs, but a bit of a change to his stance seems to have made that issue a thing of the past. As usual, it is super interesting and insightful work from Ben and I thought you all might want to check it out!

Wishing a happy 21st birthday to the top prospect in baseball: Jordan Walker! #STLCards pic.twitter.com/auQ1MJRZt7

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) May 22, 2023

The Cardinals top prospect turned 21 today -- hopefully there are some celebrations at the end of the season he will now be able to partake in if he wants!

Todays game has been ppd. You can tell because parking prices plummeted. A heads up before you start your drive. Expect official announcement soon. #stlcards

— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) April 13, 2022

I am not #online enough to know how the #banged phrase began, only enough to notice it is A Thing. Anyway, it looks like the game is going to be postponed, though I have yet to hear something officially. Keep your ears open.

Did you all see that Will Smith thing at the Oscars? That was really weird right? It gave me really bad secondhand embarrassment and I’ve been having trouble sleeping. My mind has been racing all night. As it turns out, the universe had a plan. You see, if I had fallen peacefully asleep I would’ve missed John Denton of MLB.com reporting that Albert Pujols has signed a one-year $2.5 million contract with the St. Louis Cardinals. You might recall that Pujols had spent 11 years with the Cardinals, winning two championships in 2006 and 2011 before signing a 10 year contract with the Los Angeles Angels and spent the last half of 2021 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Rumors have been swirling about a possible return to St. Louis for the former MVP, but honestly I didn’t think it would happen. I don’t think I am getting any sleep tonight.

On May 6 at 9:00 am CT, FOCO made its newest Yadier Molina bobblehead available for pre-order on their website. The bobblehead celebrates Molina's 2000th start and displays a seemingly very accurate depiction of the Cardinals long-time backstop as he salutes the crowd with the Arch in the background. The price on the site is $50 and they will only be selling 204. I have not yet personally reviewed this bobblehead so I cannot say from experience how this specific one looks, but in the past the FOCO bobbles I have received were of fantastic quality and accuracy. I have one of Ozzie Smith doing a backflip on my desk at work that people always compliment me on. (Just as a note, neither VEB nor I earn any money from this, I just personally like bobbleheads and thought some Cardinals fans might be interested in this as it is a limited edition and it is Yadi.)

Moving On! #NLCS | #TimeToFly pic.twitter.com/HwfnSX3WtT

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) October 10, 2019

Wow - what a series! The Cardinals held off elimination to force a deciding game five where they put up ten runs in the top of the first inning. The rest was smooth sailing from there. A full recap is on its way soon, but feel free to woo here in the meantime! The Dodgers and Nationals square off for game five of their NLDS. If the Nationals win, the Cardinals will have home field advantage. And as always, congrats to the Braves on a great season and a hard-fought series.

Trevor Story hit a walk-off homer and the Brewers lost an absolute heartbreaker, 3-2. They are one back of the Cardinals with one to play.

— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) September 29, 2019

The Cardinals lost a tough one to the Cubs, but the Rockies rallied to walk off the Brewers 3-2. The Cardinals still cling to a one-game lead in the National League Central heading into the final game of the season. This is fine.

After some speculation as to what ailment caused the breathing difficulties Cardinals closer Carlos Martínez had been experiencing, the St. Louis Post Dispatch has delivered a definitive answer: It is allergies. Anyone in St. Louis right now can attest that the air quality can get pretty rough. It also turns out Martínez has asthma, which he was previoulsy unaware of having. This is ultimately good news for Martínez and the Cardinals as both allergies and asthma are common and pretty easily treatable. Martínez has already been cleared to play.

Chris Duncan, a 2006 #STLCards World Series champion, has passed away at the age of 38. Our thoughts are with his friends and family. pic.twitter.com/CBWbvGsayc

— FOX Sports Midwest (@FSMidwest) September 7, 2019

It is with the heaviest of hearts that I must report to you that Chris Duncan, former Cardinals outfielder, broadcaster, and son of former Cardinals pitching coach, Dave Duncan, has passed away at the age of 38 after a lengthy battle with glioblastoma, an extremely aggressive cancer that begins in the brain. Duncan was the Cardinals Team Rookie of the Year in 2006, a World Series Champion, a radio host, a son, a husband, and a fighter. Though it was cancer that ultimately overcame him, to say he lost his battle with it seems misguided. Like he did so often as a player, he fought. That was something fans always loved and appreciated about him. It is something we can still love and appreciate. Chris Duncan gave life his all. He will be missed.

In 1924, the Cardinals had back to back double headers: 2 games against Philly and 2 against the Giants.

Rogers Hornsby went 13-for-14 with 4 doubles, 2 home runs, and a walk.

.929/.933/1.643 and the Cardinals went 2-2.

— Jeremy Frank (@MLBRandomStats) August 31, 2019

Due to intense rain, the Cardinals game against the Reds scheduled for Friday evening is postponed until Sunday at 6:05pm. It was to be the second game of a doubleheader with an earlier game scheduled at 12:05 pm. Those games will be the Cardinals third and fourth games in half as many days as the two teams were already scheduled to face off in a doubleheader on Saturday — game one at 12:15 pm and game two at 6:15 pm. It was not uncommon 95 years go for the Cardinals to participate in doubleheaders in consecutive days. Teams will be allowed to expand their rosters on Sunday, September 1.

As we suspected, the Cardinals have postponed tonight's game due to inclement weather. The game has been rescheduled to be the second game of a doubleheader on Wednesday starting at 6:45 pm.

Contract has a no-trade that kicks in for 2020. The option, at $18.5 million, for 2022 kicks in with 1,100 PAs total in 2020-21 AND at least 550 PAs in 2021, per source. Has a $2m buyout, $18.5m salary and that’s how it gets to $39m guarantee, per sources. https://t.co/tnLZACxwCu

— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) April 10, 2019

The St. Louis Cardinals announced a mysterious press conference for today at 3:00pm. Since everyone is signing extensions nowadays, that seemed to be the popular guess as to the reason. Turns out we were right. At the press conference the Cardinals announced they have agreed to a contract extension with Matt Carpenter. The Cardinals drafted Carpenter back in 2009 and he has been with the team ever since, making his debut in 2011. In 2012 he got his first real taste in the big leagues as the Cardinals toughest bench bat. He broke out for real in 2013 and has not looked back. In eight seasons with the Birdos he has amassed 28.5 fWAR and put up a 132 wRC+. 2019 marks his age 33 season, keeping him a Cardinal until he is at least 35, hopefully 36 (because that would mean he has played well enough to trigger the vesting option).

The #STLCards have acquired six-time NL All-Star 1B Paul Goldschmidt from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for C Carson Kelly, RHP Luke Weaver, INF Andy Young and the club's Compensation Round B selection in the 2019 MLB Draft. #TimeToFly pic.twitter.com/65SThIrDli

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) December 5, 2018

We'll have more coverage of this blockbuster trade as the details unfold.