Viva El Birdos
A St. Louis Cardinals Fan Community
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St. Louis Cardinals Land at 13th in the MLB Draft Lottery
The St. Louis Cardinals had a slim chance of landing the number one slot in the MLB Draft Lottery. That didn’t happen as President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom and his team will be making a selection much later than they would have preferred. The Chicago White Sox will pick 1st followed by the Tampa […]
Cardinals Have a Chance to Land Number 1 Pick in Draft Lottery
Today at 4:30 PM ET, MLB will unveil the results of the Amateur Draft Lottery. The Cardinals currently have the 8th best odds of landing the number 1 overall pick at 2.35%. The Chicago White Sox (27.73%), Minnesota Twins (22.18%), and Pittsburgh Pirates (16.81%) round out the top 3. The Orioles, A’s, Braves, and Rays […]
Free Agent Profile: Munetaka Murakami
I don’t necessarily intend to write about players I don’t think the Cardinals will ever get. It feels like a waste of time. But well, I don’t know who I could write about if I focused on players I thought the Cardinals might get. It’s a short list and most of the list aren’t very […]
St. Louis Cardinals Nemesis Jeff Kent Elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
No second baseman hit more home runs than Jeff Kent and he’ll now take his place in the National Baseball Hall of Fame according to the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee. The National Baseball Hall of Fame has shared the news tonight that Jeff Kent will be enshrined as part of the class of 2026. He […]
Could a six-man rotation answer more questions for the Cardinals in 2026?
The St. Louis Cardinals are officially committing to the rebuild after teasing with the transition idea at this time last year. With Sonny Gray gone, the Cardinals need to go fully into this new direction and truly look to take advantage of their trade pieces. By now, you know to me that means dealing Nolan […]
Breaking Down Bloom’s Hitter Blueprint: Approach, Contact, and Damage
Hello Viva El Birdos! I am excited to break down some Cardinals hitters today, but I wanted to briefly introduce myself. I have been reading VEB for well over a decade at this point and credit this site’s writers and commenters with much of my education in baseball analytics. I appreciate the quality that this […]
St. Louis Cardinals Winter Meetings Predictions
As I write this, we are only a few days away from the beginning of the MLB Winter Meetings. There seems to be a consensus that the St. Louis Cardinals will be active, but what will President of Operations Chaim Bloom and his team accomplish over the next week? Let’s make some somewhat educated guesses. […]
St. Louis Cardinals 2026 Roster Construction
Last week, I published a breakdown (here) of what could be enough “starZ” to make up a competitive roster. This week you’ll read my musing about how the Cardinal FO could apply such a model to their current roster and look to build a roster that can be competitive. There are multiple ways to get […]
Cardinals Rumors: JoJo Romero Top Trade Target of Seattle Mariners
As we get closer to the MLB Winter Meetings, the rumor mills are kicking into high gear and that includes new interest in a St. Louis Cardinals reliever. New reports indicate that JoJo Romero is one of the favored targets for the Seattle Mariners. There’s a new update just shared today by MLB Trade Rumors. […]
What could the Cardinals receive in a trade for Willson Contreras?
So you want to trade Willson Contreras? I hadn’t intended on making this post, but since Contreras is apparently more open to getting traded, if it’s the right fit, might as well see what any potential return will bring back. I already did this with Sonny Gray (I was wildly wrong, so take this with […]
3 Days in December Whitey Herzog Turned Cardinals into Champions
As a child of the 1970’s, I remember the St. Louis Cardinals when they rarely threatened to win their division. Contending for a World Series during that era was nothing more than a pipe dream. Looking back now, I can pinpoint 3 different December days when Whitey Herzog made key moves that turned the St. […]
Looking back at consensus St Louis Cardinals projections pre-2025 season
In the early months of 2025, I wrote a series of articles about consensus projections, focusing more on the starting talent but also some of the bench roster. It may have been a mistake not to delve deeper, because the projections weren’t entirely accurate. But they never are. It’s impossible to predict a season, we […]
Report: St. Louis Cardinals Willson Contreras More Open to Trade Now
As the offseason began, it appeared that among the St. Louis Cardinals veterans Willson Contreras would be the most likely to remain with the team during the rebuild. A new report seems to indicate that his desire to remain with the team might have changed. Katie Woo of The Athletic dropped this curious share on […]
Cardinals 2025 Rule 5 Draft Targets
On December 10th in Orlando, Florida. Major League Baseball and all 30 clubs with an open 40-man roster spot will have the opportunity to steal eligible young talent from another organisation in hopes of finding a marginal advantage on the roster. Most recently, the St. Louis Cardinals drafted Ryan Fernandez in the 2023 Rule 5 […]
The Viva El Birdos Podcast – Episode 44: November Monthly Reader Mailbag (2025)
On this week’s episode of the podcast, we’re answering your questions! Jake, Gabe, and Scott talk turkey, the Sonny Gray trade, and take questions from the readers. Thank you to Memphis Myke, TheRealAaron, thp0344, HueyRVA, and jdog55 for your submissions!
Former Cardinal outfielders who Cardinals might bring back
I noticed a curious thing when I was perusing potential outfielders for the Cardinals to sign. I noticed this when I made a case for Michael Conforto, which was understandably not received that well. If you hyper focus on right-handed outfielders, there’s a bunch of former Cardinals. It’s actually kind of crazy how many of […]
The pitching revamp continues for the Cardinals
Reports at the start of the offseason stated that the St. Louis Cardinals were expected to be a popular target for rival teams looking to enhance their rosters for next season. While we are used to the Cardinals usually being the ones hoping to add to a postseason roster, the organization has fully committed to […]
Former St. Louis Cardinals Closer Ryan Helsley is Now a Baltimore Oriole
The wheels continue to turn as the baseball offseason rolls on with another free agent signing. This time it’s former St. Louis Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley who is now reportedly a Baltimore Oriole. I first saw this shared by MLB Trade Rumors. It’s based on a share on X by Katie Woo of The Athletic […]
Cardinals Rumors: Latest on Nolan Arenado & Brendan Donovan
As the Winter Meetings in December draw closer, we’re likely to learn the fate of Nolan Arenado, Brendan Donovan and maybe even Alec Burleson soon as the St. Louis Cardinals continue to reshape their roster for the 2026 season and beyond. Here’s the latest reports on which teams seem to be interested and what the […]
The St. Louis Cardinals have some work to do to be competitive in 2026
This article is a result of a bunch of data queries I wrote to explore the idea you are about to read about. So it will be a little dense with data, hopefully not too much so. I purposely scheduled it for the holiday weekend, thinking people might be looking for something a little more […]
November Monthly Reader Mailbag/Open Thread
The Hot Stove is heating up, and the St. Louis Cardinals have already been plenty active as the calendar prepares to flip to December. Sonny Gray has already been traded to Boston, and more deals are on the horizon as the new President of Baseball Operations, Chaim Bloom, continues to re-imagine this roster and replenish […]
A look at the new Cardinals – Richard Fitts and Brandon Clarke
On Tuesday, the Cardinals – to somewhat of a surprise – traded Sonny Gray. Most encouragingly, they traded Sonny Gray and picked up $20 million of the check. Well, I was wrong in two ways. I thought Gray had limited his trade pool more than he had and I did not expect Bill Dewitt to […]
St. Louis Cardinals Eye Marmol Extension, But Why?
I am mystified about a new report that the St. Louis Cardinals are already talking to manager Oli Marmol about an extension. I cannot come up with a good reason to explain the reason why. I just came across this article from MLB Trade Rumors that appears to be based off of a Derrick Goold […]
The Walker/Gorman Conundrum-Should Cards Hold Em or Fold Em?
An argument can be made that if Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman had lived up to their potential, the St. Louis Cardinals would not be in a rebuild now, but they haven’t so here we are. Is it time for the Cardinals to move on or should they hang on to these very talented players? […]
Thinking of some St Louis Cardinals fair trades
It’s time to dream and warm up to the hot stove. Happy Thanksgiving Eve everyone! I am about to go from fasting to feasting in record time. Although tonight I ate heartily: a bison burger with garlic, seasoning, havarti, stone ground mustard, chipotle mayo, a dash of ketchup, and some sauerkraut. But it will soon […]