Sifting Through The Non-Tender Free Agents

Shortly before Christmas 2005, back in the paleolithic days before iPhones and Twitter (can you imagine!), it took a global triangulation of phone calls for the St. Louis Cardinals to pounce on a non-tender free agent.

STL Today

Rockies Non-Tender Blaine Boyer

Jack Magruder Twitter

Jaime Garcia Will Get Extra Day Off; After Midnight; Pirates Are Passed

The spinoff from the Cardinals acquiring righthander Jake Westbrook from Cleveland on Saturday is that, since Westbrook will be starting here Monday against Houston, lefthanded rookie Jaime Garcia will be moved back to Tuesday and, for the moment, righthander Blake Hawksworth, 4-7 in 29 games (eight starts), is back in the bullpen.

STL Today

Pirates, Blue Jays Bidding On Mexican Right-Hander Luis Heredia

Today marks the opening of Major League Baseball's signing season for international 16-year-olds, but the Pirates' prized pursuit cannot be signed for another six weeks.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Yadier Molina Drives In The Winner As Cardinals End Skid

Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina was the offensive and defensive star Friday night as the Cardinals managed to pull out a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates and end a three-game losing streak in a game that Cardinals manager Tony La Russa termed one of the best-umpired affairs he had seen, coming after a series in Philadelphia when the Cardinals felt they couldn’t get a call to save their lives.
STL Today

Yadier Molina led the Cardinals to a wild win in Game 1 of the series in Pittsburgh on Friday night.
The Cardinal Nation

Major League Bans Weapons From Clubhouses

Hoping to avoid a Gilbert Arenas-style controversy, Major League Baseball has told its clubs to post its "Weapons-Free Workplace Policy" in the clubhouses. Arenas was suspended by the NBA and faces criminal charges after pulling a gun in the Washington Wizards locker room.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Round Two: The Cardinals Should Sign...

THE WATERCOOLER

QUESTION: Cards GM John Mozeliak has indicated the Cards likely will wait until spring training to assess their needs before turning to the free agent market. That said, given the team’s current needs and limited budget, who is one free agent you’d be pursuing right now if you were the Cardinals GM?

STL Today

Cardinals Roster Is Leaning Heavily To The Right; David Freese Speaks About Arrest

As Cardinals General Manager John Mozeliak has said several times in the past couple of weeks, the organization’s strategy for completing its opening day roster is going to be to approach any possible moves with the attitude of “if we have one bullet to use, how do we use it?”

STL Globe-Democrat

Pirates Nearing Deal With Ryan Church

The Pirates are closing in on a deal with free agent outfielder Ryan Church, multiple major league sources told FOXSports.com.

Fox Sports

Cardinals Major League Notebook 1-9-10

What is next for the St. Louis Cardinals after signing a new contract with outfielder Matt Holliday?

The Cardinal Nation

The Last Pennies In The Jar

the signing of matt holliday was the cap on the pinnacle of the 2009-2010 off-season, or probably, several seasons of management of the cardinals.

Viva El Birdos

Giants Can Do Better Than Rick Ankiel

My gut reaction to Ankiel was, "Go get him." But after getting scolded by fans/readers for not checking facts thoroughly enough on other players, I must conclude that even at this late juncture, the Giants can do better than Ankiel. His advanced defensive metrics aren't overwhelming and his OPS was a shockingly low .672 last year. A more attractive option would be Ryan Church, to name another under-the-radar, left-handed-batting outfielder.

Giants Official Site

Rick Ankiel Falling Off Pirates List

Ankiel had been the Pirates' top target among position players, but that no longer seems to be the case even though they remain open to having him.

Ankiel's agent, Scott Boras, is selling his client as an everyday player, and there is cause of Boras' stance despite Ankiel slumping to a .231 average and 11 home runs last season with the St. Louis Cardinals: The previous year, Ankiel batted .264 with 25 home runs and 71 RBIs, he is a superb defender, and he is 30 years old.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Players A To Z: Ryan Church

Ryan Church played outfield for the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves in 2009. He currently seeks work as a free agent.

Baseball Musings

The Puzzling Numbers Of Matt Holliday's Deal, Khalil Greene's Agent Looking For Major League Contract

The Cardinals finished their negotiations for Matt Holliday, as Joe Strauss writes. Holliday was an MVP candidate in Colorado and he performed exceptionally for the Cardinals in the last nine weeks of last season, giving St. Louis a devastating two-man punch in the middle of their lineup.

ESPN

Matt Holliday Deal Alters Landscape

When considering what his roster would look like in the event Matt Holliday signed elsewhere, Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said his preference would be to hoard pitching.

STL Today

Inbox: What's Cardinals Plan For Outfield?

Welcome to the first post-Winter Meetings Cardinals Inbox. As always, if you have a question, use the link below to submit it -- and please be sure to include your first name, last initial and hometown. If you send a regular e-mail, rather than using the form, be certain to use the word "mailbag" in the subject header -- otherwise your mail may be directed to the spam folder or possibly be ignored in an unbecoming manner.

Cardinals Official Site

Chien-Ming Wang Non-Tendered By Yankees; Might Interest Cardinals

The list of available free agents grew on Sunday when the deadline passed for teams to offer players contracts for the 2010 season, and there is at least one name on the list which might interest the Cardinals.

STL Globe-Democrat

39 Players Non-Tendered, Now Free Agents

With the midnight ET deadline passing, a total of 39 players were non-tendered this year, and therefore become free agents.

The Biz Of Baseball

Yankees Non-Tender Chien-Ming Wang

Joe Strauss Twitter