Skip to main content

Viva El Birdos

A St. Louis Cardinals Fan Community

Latest Entries

Great Scott! Can Victor Hit?

Victor Scott II is one of the most interesting players the Cardinals have rostered in quite some time. He has plus-plus speed, elite defense, and swings the bat with the ferocity of a house cat playing with a ball of yarn. While the Redbird infield has players in place that you could envision playing for […]

Would You Extend St. Louis Cardinals Manager Oli Marmol or Fire Him?

I don’t want to give away my age, but let’s just say that I’ve lived long enough to witness 11 St. Louis Cardinals managers. Of all of them, I can’t remember any that were more polarizing that Oli Marmol. My question for you is would you extend Oli or let him go as your next […]

MLB

Should the St. Louis Cardinals Extend Masyn Winn Now, Later or Never?

I think it’s safe to say that most St. Louis Cardinals fans are anxious to identify the next St. Louis Cardinals core group of players you rebuild around. Once identified, you would hope to lock those players into long-term extensions. If you were St. Louis Cardinals President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom, would you work […]

Jimmy Crooks is your *#8 St. Louis Cardinals prospect

If you’re reading this in the future without context, probably unneeded in the present, here is some. In the time between when the vote for Jimmy Crooks went out and this current post, Brendan Donovan was traded for multiple prospects, one of whom may have been included on the top 20 list already if this […]

How Would You Grade Chaim Bloom’s St. Louis Cardinals Offseason?

It is with much happiness that I say out loud that we are now only days away from pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training. That means we can now look at what St. Louis Cardinals President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom was able to accomplish. What grade would you give him for his first […]

Poison? ESPN Predicts JJ Wetherholt Will Be NL Rookie of the Year

This might be a sign of the apocalypse. For once, I’m really hoping that ESPN is right about something. Today, they have made the bold prediction that JJ Wetherholt will be the National League Rookie of the Year-sort of. The 2026 season predictions for MLB’s top prospects on ESPN is a fun read for St. […]

MLB

St. Louis Cardinals Reader Mailbag – February 2026

As the offseason winds down and early-arriving players begin ramping up for the 2026 season, it’s your turn, once again, to ask us at VEB your most pressing questions as we head into spring training. The Cardinals were able to move all of their no-trade-clause-wielding players on the roster and added a couple of veteran […]

Leonardo Bernal is your #6 St. Louis Cardinals prospect

I saw a little bit of surprise that Leonardo Bernal, voted as the sixth best prospect in the system, wasn’t voted in the top 5. I am not surprised. Doing this for three years, catchers usually end up lower than I expect, not higher. Bernal was ranked 8th last season and that definitely surprised me […]

Is the Cardinals outfield really that bad?

Before you immediately run to the comments and simply put “YES”, hear me out. The St. Louis Cardinals have spent the entire offseason actually committing to the (re)build, but have done so by trading away high-priced and/or underperforming veterans and restocking the minor league pitching staff. Those deals have created opportunities around the diamond, except […]

Do the St. Louis Cardinals Really Need Ivan Herrera to be a Catcher?

As we prepare to head into a transitional season for the St. Louis Cardinals, one of the bigger projects will be to determine if Ivan Herrera can become the team’s regular catcher. The question is if you have confidence that Ivan can make the changes needed after his time behind the plate last season was […]

The St. Louis Cardinals have a riddle to solve

As my mind’s eye turns to Spring Training, hope stirs. What once seemed so far away is now just around the corner, even though it hasn’t moved one iota (for those keeping score at home, iota is the smallest letter in the Greek alphabet and is proxy for really, really small amount). My mind wanders […]

What Should the Cardinals’ Opening Day Infield Be If Donovan Stays?

As of today, we’re almost exactly two weeks from the day when pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training. I would say there’s at least an even chance that Brendan Donovan will remain a St. Louis Cardinal once the season begins. If that’s the case, what do you think the St. Louis Cardinals opening day […]

Joshua Baez is your #5 St. Louis Cardinals prospect

In the vote for the #4 prospect, Quinn Mathews did not win by a lot. It was a two-man race and Joshua Baez was only 14 total votes short of Mathews’ total. He received over double the votes of the third-place vote getter. It is not a hard and fast rule, but it was a […]

What About the Rebuild of the St. Louis Cardinals Stadium & TV Deal?

A lot has been said about the rebuild of the St. Louis Cardinals and for good reason. The roster has been a work in progress in recent years, but what about the status of Busch Stadium and the St. Louis Cardinals TV deal? Both will play a role in the future of the team and […]

MLB

An early look at St Louis Cardinals 2026 Projections

2026 baseball projections are out now, so I’m going to begin to take a look at how the crystal ball of statistical projections sees things for the coming year. Sure, we might lose one of our key players in Brendan Donovan, so I will probably do this again (plus ZiPS literally just came out a […]

The Viva El Birdos Podcast: Episode 49 Interview with Kevin Wheeler

This week, Jake, Scott, and Gabe are joined by 1120 AM/104.1 FM KMOX Sports personality Kevin Wheeler! We discuss a variety of topics, including getting Kevin’s thoughts on the offseason moves of Gray, Contreras, and Arenado, as well as the additions of May and Stanek. We also discuss Andre Pallante and what a potential return […]

NFL

How Aggressive Could St. Louis Cardinals Chaim Bloom Get In 2026?

How do you weigh the cost of opportunity when it comes to a long-term build? When I talk to Cardinals personnel, the consistent theme remains “long-term focus.” What exactly does that mean for players who continue to accrue service time but are not quite to the point where they are rental assets? We know that […]

St. Louis Cardinals Invite 27 Non-Roster Players to Spring Training

The St. Louis Cardinals are preparing the way for Spring Training which is now just over two weeks away. The team announced the 27 non-roster players that will officially be a part of camp. Here’s the share that the St. Louis Cardinals just dropped on social media today. In case you can’t see the Cardinals […]

Keith Law Ranks Cardinals JJ Wetherholt at #7-Predicts Batting Title

The JJ Wetherholt hype train continues to pick up steam as the St. Louis Cardinals get closer to Spring Training as Keith Law has just ranked him as the #7 prospect in baseball plus he makes a bold prediction about his future. Ken Rosenthal shared the news of Keith’s top 100 prospect list which was […]

Quinn Mathews is your #4 St. Louis Cardinals Prospect

Our first real battle happened in the vote for the #4 prospect, with Quinn Mathews winning by a mere 4%. Last year’s #2 prospect, he had a bit of a down year, or at least a year that didn’t go as well as hoped, but his drop to 4 actually had less to do with […]