Orioles Interested In Jaime Garcia & Jason Vargas; Orioles, Royals, & Marlins Interested In Melky Cabrera; Kip Wells Would Like To Do Analytics For A Club

Inside Baseball from Jon Heyman brings you news, notes, rumors and more from (nearly) all 30 MLB teams. For a look at which teams have improved the most during this slow winter, click here. For his All-Unemployed All-Star team, click here.

FanRags

Worst Free Agent Moves Of Bill DeWitt Era

Columnist Ben Frederickson reviews the Cardinals' worst free-agent signings under chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. (1996-2017).

Post-Dispatch

For Cardinals, Crossroads Comes Every Ten Years

For the Bill DeWitt Jr. and the St. Louis Cardinals, sustained success is the name of the game. Since the DeWitt family took over in 1996, the Cardinals have had just three losing seasons. Since their last losing season (2007), the club has added four division titles, two pennants, and a World Series title. Most impressive, perhaps, is the five consecutive playoff appearances between 2011-2015. Cardinals fans can rattle those achievements off. It’s quite possible, however, that two of the losing years (1997 and 2007) shaped the organization far more than the winning ones.

Redbird Daily

As The Cardinals Come Home, I Must Ask: If This Is Baseball Heaven, Then Why Are They Playing Like Hell?

It’s been bad, really bad. The Cardinals come home with a smelly, seven-game losing streak. They have won five of their last 22 games. This is 2007 bad. This a big comedown from the organization’s high standards for success.

101 ESPN

The 2017 Cardinals & PECOTA Panic: Distribute The Oxygen Masks

Our dear baseball town was put into a tizzy the other day, when the august Baseball Prospectus rolled out its preseason PECOTA projections, which presented games-won forecasts for 2017. Based on the advanced calculations, the St. Louis baseball Cardinals will be a scrawny non-threat in the upcoming campaign … a sad little team that will stagger its way to 77 wins for the franchise’s lowest victory total since 1999.

101 ESPN

Ryan Franklin: From Cardinals Pitcher To Advisor

Acquired by the Cardinals to be a starting pitcher, Ryan Franklin appeared in 285 regular-season games for them and never made a start. Instead, Franklin established himself as a reliable setup reliever, then a closer and, when his playing career ended, a key member of the front-office staff.

RetroSimba

Kip Wells Failed To Click With Cardinals, Dave Duncan

After pitching coach Dave Duncan transformed Jeff Weaver from a consistent loser into a postseason ace with the 2006 Cardinals, the club wanted him to work similar magic with Kip Wells in 2007. Duncan and Wells were willing. The results, though, were far from the same.

RetroSimba

Jaime Garcia's Struggles Continue As Playoffs Loom

Maybe we’re worrying too much. Maybe the randomness of baseball’s playoffs is just what the Cardinals’ starting pitchers need — a small-sample-size tournament that has made even Clayton Kershaw kerplunk but allowed mound mortals to reign.

Hochman

The Cardinals Rotation Is Leaking Oil Again. Better Fix It, Boys. And Soon.

Just like the team that surrounds them, Cardinals’ starting pitchers are having a zig-zagging, inconsistent season.

101 ESPN

Redbirds Reverb 4-27-16: Cardinals On The Bash...What The Heck Is Going On Here?

Overview: The Cardinals bashed two more homers, getting a two-run shot from Stephen Piscotty and a three-run bomb from Brandon Moss. Unlike some of his fellow rotation mates, starting pitcher Carlos Martinez pretty much locks it down if given a lead, and “El Gallo” shut down the D-backs on Tuesday. Martinez suppressed a very good Arizona offense with 8 shutout innings, getting scratched for only three hits with a walk and four strikeouts.

101 ESPN

Kip Wells & Aaron Bates Named To Dodgers' Minor League Staffs

All six of the Dodgers' Minor League affiliates will have new field managers in 2016, the club announced Thursday.

Los Angeles Official Site

Ten Worst Free Agent Signings Of The Bill DeWitt Era

Free agency is upon us. While we wait for the Cardinals to make a move, let's look back on the moves they have made.

Post-Dispatch

Keith Hernandez Compares Terry Collins To Whitey Herzog

Keith Hernandez, who in a five-year span in the 1980s was a member of both a Cardinals World Series champion team and one with the New York Mets, enjoys returning to St. Louis, especially whenever there is a 1982 celebration, but now broadcasts for the Mets on their television network.

Post-Dispatch

Hope About Phenoms Is A Baseball Rite of Spring

Phenoms are to spring training what cliff swallows are to San Juan Capistrano.

Post-Dispatch

Cardinals Vow Not To Repeat 2007

Back from an offseason shortened by success, the Cardinals opened the year expecting another summer of contention and the promise of a fourth consecutive visit to the National League championship series. They encountered only frustration. The offense became stale, and the clubhouse with it. The pitching hemorrhaged runs.

Post-Dispatch

Jaime Garcia Is Hurting But Cardinals Rotation OK

It unfortunately happens here every spring. The Cardinals ride into camp singing confident songs about the soundness of their pitching staff and before long a Woody Williams, a Chris Carpenter, an Adam Wainwright or a Jason Motte happens. Someone pulls an oblique, experiences arm numbness or blows out an elbow. It’s a rite announcing the true opening of camp.


Post-Dispatch

Kip Wells Officially Retired, Pursuing Front Office Job

Jerry Crasnick Twitter

Kip Wells Officially Retired

Adam Rubin Twitter

Kip Wells Considering Retirement

12-year MLB veteran Kip Wells is contemplating retirement, agent Burton Rocks tells MLBTR's Zach Links. Wells was released by the Angels in late May. He's looking for a minor league opportunity with a realistic shot of being brought up to contribute at the big league level. If nothing materializes by season's end, Wells is considering moving into the player development/scouting side of baseball. Wells was drafted by the White Sox in the first round in 1998; he posted a 3.43 ERA over 395 2/3 innings for the Pirates from 2002-03 and earned over $17MM in his career.

MLB Trade Rumors

Angels Release Kip Wells

Steve Klauke Twitter