Alex Kellner: Lion King Of Cardinals Pitching Staff

Cardinals pitcher Alex Kellner understood the importance of control and precision in his work both on and off the field.

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How Alex Grammas Got A Second Chance With Cardinals

Seeking stability at shortstop, the Cardinals went back to the past in a bid to enhance their future.

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Ruben Amaro Began Big-League Career With Cardinals

Desperate for a quality shortstop, the Cardinals turned to Ruben Amaro and gave him his first opportunity to play in the major leagues. Amaro fielded splendidly but didn’t hit well enough and the Cardinals quickly gave up on him.

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The Day Warren Spahn Shocked Stan Musial

Given a choice of facing Del Ennis or Stan Musial with runners in scoring position and the game on the line, Warren Spahn did what no other big-league pitcher had done before him: He opted to pitch to Musial.

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Scouting The Scouting Directors, Part Two

In Part 1 yesterday, I didn’t mention the work of scouting directors with three years or fewer on the job. That’s because directors with such limited work are prone to wild swings and outrageous bWAR+ figures based on a single player. One way to remedy this is to look at individual drafts. Let’s look at the top individual drafts now. (Since most recent draftees haven’t even started their major league careers, these data will exclude drafts from 2009 and later.) Here are the 10 best using those criteria. This is for total talent drafted (signed and unsigned), relative to league:

The Hardball Times

Ken Boyer Converted From Infield To Center

When Tyler Greene was told recently by manager Tony La Russa he would be expected to fill in at center field as well as in the infield, it brought back memories of the Cardinals’ conversion of Ken Boyer.

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