I published this last week but somehow it didn’t get published on this site. Sorry.We all learned not to believe everything that we hear. Sometimes, though we read a situation clearly WITHOUT A WORD.  Same is true in the Sports World.

….We watched as the Cardinals keep telling us that Wilson Contreras really IS their catcher for now & the future.  Yet, we have currently have 3 catchers on our roster. We WATCHED THE Cards who signed Contreras for multiple years claiming after an earlier flare-up that all was OK. Then we watched Andrew  Knizer who’s 28 years old & in this 5th year play regularly recently. In the last week, the Cards have brought up Ivan Herrera, WITHOUT OUT A WORD we know there’s more to the story. Surely, they aren’t bringing up Herrera just to see if he could “beat out” Knizer for the backup role. WITHOUT SAYING A WORD, the Cardinals are showing their hand about their feelings about Contreras. It seems that the Cards are setting the table for the departure of Contreras.

….It likely will be a trade, probably later rather than sooner.  His hitting has been hot & cold throughout 2023. In April, he batted .264 with 2 HR/11 rbi. In May it was a .158 avg w/3 HR-14 rbi. In June, Contreras batted .221 w/3 HR-6 rbi. Thus far in July, he’s been red-hot at the plate–.436 with his usual 3 HR per month. There’s been chatter that he can’t handle pitchers. That he doesn’t “frame” the ball well. i.e. trying to make pitchers that are a ball look like a strike by subtly moving your glove or turning your glove upon receipt of the pitch to make it appear that it was in the strike zone. Some think that his personality, which is somewhat animated, doesn’t fit into the Cardinals stoic, placid, little emotion mode—no matter what “good” happens on the field. I think that those positive emotional responses may elevate the emotions of the entire team. Remember, his 1st trip back to Chicago? The fans were giving it to him. When he blasted a HR…after circling the bases he stayed out of the dugout and yelled right back at them. It was emotional! Most of all, I think that the brass doesn’t feel like they are getting the “return on their money ($80m+)”…so cut bait.

….As I LISTENED to the announcement that Scott Rolen was going into the MLB HOF, I wondered if he really belonged there. Well, when I checked out his ACTIONS on the field, WITHOUT A WORD, it clearly demonstrated that he REALLY DID BELONG! He won 8 Gold Gloves @ 3B! Only 3 other 3B have won mor! 2 well known retired 3b– HOF’ers Brooks Robinson (16) and Mike Schmidt (10). Currently, current Cardinals 3b Nolan Arenado (10 gold gloves) have more at third base. Rolen was an 8-time NL 3B Gold Glove Award (1998, 2000–04, 2006, 2010) and a 7-time NL All-Star (2002–2006, 2010, 2011) Rolen DID it in BIG GAMES too (many players pile up stats in somewhat meaningless(like games in Sept when the team has been eliminated) regular season games. In 2004 season was one of his best. He led the NL in RBI’s for much of the season and was a league leader in several other batting categories. At All-Star time he received the highest vote total of any player in the All-Star game. In addition, he delivered key hits On the BIG STAGE type games (like post-season, key games, etc). This is a very relevant factor in choosing HOF players. In 2004 post-season, Rolen was a clutch batter in the NLCS. He blasted a 2-run HR in the 6th inning of Game 7  against Roger Clemens which  won the NL pennant for StL by defeating the Astros in 7 games. Although they lost the World Series to the Red Sox, Rolen’s big hit helped take them there.

…Then my curiosity got the best of me.  How does Jim Edmonds compare to Rolen? They both were on some of the same Cardinals post-season teams. Edmonds not only played with the Cardinals, he played at the same time @ Rolen. So, WITHOUT A WORD, we can easily see that these 2 talented players are very comparable..  These are the career stats not the stats just  with the Cardinals.  Games Played: Rolen- 2038 Edmonds- 2011; plate appearances: Rolen-8518; Edmonds-7980; Batting Avg-Edmonds-.284 Rolen .281; OBP-Edmonds-.376; Rolen-.364; Slug % Edmonds-.905 Rolen-.853; Hits-Rolen-2077 Edmonds-1949; RBI-Rolen-1287 Edmonds-1199; HR-Edmonds-393  Rolen-316; Stolen Bases-Rolen-118 Edmonds-67; Each player had— 8 gold Gloves; 1 World Championship; 1 Silver slugger Award. Rolen was on 7 All-Star teams Edmonds was on 4 All-Star teams. They seem remarkably close.

… There are 24 CF in the HOF but only 10 by the BBWA-baseball Writers Association. 6 were added from the Negro Leagues & 8 from the Veterans Committee. There are only 17 3rd Baseman in HOF. The fewest of any position. 3 played in the Negro leagues & 9 through Veterans Committee/other earlier committees. That means only 5 3B reached it through the HOF committee! Rather astonishing since 3B is of the spot that many teams put one of their power hitters. Sooooo….hopefully, Edmonds will have a chance…but he’ll have a better chance through the veterans committee. Let’s hope he makes it!!

…WITHOUT A WORD we can see easily & clearly that the Cards farm system isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. In an organization that’s lauded for It’s finding & development of players—it just isn’t that way any longer. The up & down use of Taylor Motter is a classic example of the Cards weak status of their minor developmental system. He’s 33 years old. He began playing professional baseball in the Minors in 2010. Since that time he’s reached the MLB 6x with 7 different teams– Tampa Bay, Seattle, Minn, Colorado, Boston, Cincy & now the Cards. While he is a versatile player utility player but his MLB career batting stats are “telling”. His lifetime marks are .190-avg/.263-OBP/.307-slug % in 427 at-bats over the course of six seasons. When the Cards keep bouncing him back & forth between MiLB & MLB, it points a big finger at a weak Minor league system.

…How about that St Louis City Team? When I HEARD that StL was getting an expansion team, I felt like most of you, “It’s good to get a expansion team…but it’ll be ugly on the field”. WITHOUT A WORD,  just look @ the exciting ACTIONS of the team on the pitch.  City SC has been totally different & has already exceeded most pre-season expectations! Perched in 1st place currently with a 8-3-1 mark, the STL soccer community is really alive!  CITY SC has provided the great StL soccer fans, who pack the park each & every game, wonderful soccer. Not only being spectators but cheering and singing (almost continually) and often in organized form throughout the entire match!   StL fans are incorporating European style fan involvement into the match. However, from my view, City plays a different style than most teams. It’s more of an aggressive, continual, attacking style. From my non-Soccer knowledge, it’s more of an American style of play(if there is such a thing). Maybe it’s the Americans lack of patience spilling over onto the pitch? Whatever it is….it’s been SUPER. 

…As one LISTENED to Coach Drinkwitz explaining that he was no longer going to be calling the offensive plays, it sounded good. This will be his 4th year @ Mizzou, he’s 17-19 overall and 11-14 in conference play. His team played very well against some good teams last year but fell short of winning often due to a key play or plays late in the game—often an MU Miscue. WITHOUT A WORD, his actions really tell us that he knows he HAS TO WIN IN 2023. Not a national championship but reach a significant bowl game that’s after December 20th and then…WIN IT! MU has been in the weakest bowl games that start in early Dec. The bowl games get progressively better each week. Not only has MU played 2 really early(very mediocre) bowl games, but they’ve LOST both games!   

…Thanks for your read. WITHOUT A WORD…just send  it to me 😊..any of your thoughts on any of the topics. Or…more illustrations of strong messages in the sports world WITHOUT A WORD that are taking place right now. Pass the word to your family/friends… Bob