Join columnist Ben Frederickson for a live STL sports chat at 11 a.m. Tuesday
Ben Frederickson answers your Cardinals, Blues, St. Louis City, Mizzou and SLU questions in Tuesday's 11 a.m. live chat.
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With Gorman knocking on the door, Gordo is right that there will be an odd man out in the middle infield. Do you see a deadline trade of DeJong if he does not perform, with Gorman manning 2nd and Edman moving to short? Story frankly is not much of an upgrade from what the Cards have for the price point. -
Story's price point is not known at this time. Depends on what kind of deal he wants -- max time or pillow deal to rebound and take another crack at free agency potentially? -- and what kind of team he wants to play for next season.Paul DeJong has an OPS of .721 since 2019.Story, same span, is at .864.Both are good defensive shortstops.I'm not the world's biggest Story fan, but I'm not sure how he could be viewed as something other than an upgrade in terms of production.Especially when the Cardinals just saw in real time how Nolan Arenado handled a bat in life after Coors -
Just read the article that reported the autopsy report findings for the NFL player who shot and killed six people. Stage 2 CTE was for me in the frontal lobe. Killed loved ones and multiple strangers. They said matter of factly, that this was the result of playing tackle football for over 20 years of his life. Is the moral of the story here that the NFL and corporate America know that they can wait out a story and eventually enough of us will forget or move on, and they're by and large able to walk away with little damage? This isn't on the local media. This story has been dead for a long time. Really shows how few companies own the national networks, tv stations, news stations and newspapers - and if those few media conglomerates are all partnered up with say the NFL, it's funny how hard significant stories are able to gain traction and never capture the American consciousness. I wondered what recent columnist taught me this lesson through a local story?????
I'm not saying you're the greatest of all time, or anything, but I am saying thank you for your dedication to reporting St. Louis' case against the NFL. You did an excellent job. -
That was a tough story to read.
The statement from the family was especially devastating.
"After going through medical records from his football career, we do know that he was desperately seeking help from the NFL but was denied all claims due to his inability to remember things and to handle seemingly simple tasks, such as traveling hours away to see doctors and going through extensive evaluations."Heartbreaking.
I've said this before, but I love football. I played it from third grade through senior year of high school. I am who I am today, to some degree, because of it.
It brought me friends for life. It brought me closer to my dad It kind of brought me this career. The first columns I ever typed out were first-person recollections of Friday night football games for the Sunday edition of the Sedalia Democrat during my senior season.
I love football.
That said, if I had a son I don't know if I would want him to play. I would be torn. I know many who love the game who feel that same way. Combine that hesitation with the naked greed and reptilian nature of the men leading the NFL, and it's not hard to see some sort of tipping point up ahead. A reckoning of sorts.
I'm sure no one thought boxing was going to become what it is now during its prime. We like blood sports. But we like them best when the damage from them is easy to avoid and ignore. That's getting harder all the time.
Football's roots are being threatened. The men at the top of the money tree are driven by greed and oblivious to the warning signs. Seems like a problem.
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Tell Dianne nick that if you're from the STL area, unless you are a projected 1st Rounder, it makes much more sense to go to SLU than to Mizzou. And if you're a projected 1st Rounder, it makes more sense to go to a blue-blood than Mizzou. SLU alums take VERY good care of old ballplayers professionally, if they stay in the area. after their careers are over. SLU players also do well in overseas leagues. If I were a 4 star recruit in STL, I'm staying at SLU.
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I chuckle a bit every time Arozarena comes up in conversation as the big example of the Cards missing out on a guy, when the one that I think hurts the Cards most - who would be perfect for this team - just signed what I consider a great team-friendly extension with the folks across the Spring Training complex.
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Maybe I am just being too positive but I think (maybe hope) MUBB can be a .500 club. My question is do you know what is going on with Jarron "Boogie" Coleman? I thought there were high hopes for him being the point guard the Tigers need. The one thing I have to say after watching Cuonzo's teams is they ALWAYS look unorganized running their offense and that goes for his entire tenure. They never seem to have a plan. I guess that could go back to point guard troubles. Thanks, Ben.
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I really wish he would hire an offensive coordinator or something like it. His passion is defense and he's good at coaching it but I think his staff could benefit from someone who specializes on that side of things. I think his staff could be upgraded, but that's ultimately on him. He's the coach. You are dead in college hoops if you can't make threes. They're shooting 25 percent from the arc. If some of those go down, things start to open up.
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Arozarena tore up AAA the last year he was here. The offense had some real good producers and a lot of easy outs in the lineup. I believe that team advanced one round and then didn't hit much in the next round. Season over. Same players who didn't produce all year were still playing every day in September. Arozarena never got a chance. That's been the only complaint I've ever heard from Cardinal fans in person.
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Good morning Ben. I was wondering why Brendan Donovan is being overlooked for 2022? He is a natural 2nd baseman, plays 3rd, plays OF, even has played SS and bats LH. His OPS at AAA was 875 and still there is little talk about him as a middle infielder in 2022. I have big hopes for Gorman too but wouldn't it be a mistake to overlook Donovan as a starting 2nd baseman next year (if Edman gets hurt or moves to SS) because one of the Cards top prospect is wanting the job. Thanks for the chats!
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I don't think he's being overlooked. He's on the 40-man roster. He's been referred to as a potential contributor by the front office. As things are constructed now, it's Edman at shortstop and DeJong at second. Donovan could get a crack as a sub or part-timer, with an invitation to make it more. He's earned that chance.
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Soooo, let me get this straight. Shildt isn't good enough to manage for the STL Cardinals LLC, but the industry ( parent company of STL Cardinals LLC. ) thinks he's good enough to help direct the entire league with on field experience / game day management / operations. Righteous and hilarious at the same time!
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St. Louis CITY SC is one year away from conducting the expansion draft ahead of their inaugural MLS season. The club has still yet to appoint any first team coaches or acquire a precious designated player. It is not reasonable to expect the current academy players to be ready for professional competition in a year. What is the club’s timeline to ensure they’re ready to play? FC Cincinnati fielded a professional team in the USL leading up to their MLS debut and only earned 24 points. I hope CITY avoids a similar fate but the lack of progress is worrying.
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Cheery outlook.I'd like to see some of the moves happen before assuming they're not going to work.One thing Lutz said early on was that he's not going to rush to land players and coaches before he has to, because you might get stuck with ones you don't want -- or miss out on better options that emerged later.The focus, it seems, has been on setting the roots of team first and foremost.Not sure when the gears will change. They're not showing their cards there.
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The young, unproven players seem to be making the most of their opportunities. Doug Armstrong has made it clear he's pleased with the compete level and the mindset. Ideally, this trying time becomes a team-wide strength, but the longer it goes on the harder it becomes to keep heads above water
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You made a comment about the friction between Shildt and Girsch. Ever since Girsch was announced as the gm now years ago he has been the most invisible gm I can remember . I thought the goal when his promotion was announced was for Mozeliak to take on a more strategic/elevated role. It sure doesn't seem that was has occurred. Some VERY mixed results on free agent signings and talent evaluation now makes more sense with what may have caused the friction between Girsch and Schildt. Seems like Is it easier to cover up for his right hand person Girsch who he works with closely than stick with Shildt. Is this basically what happened?
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No. I just don't think the two always spoke the same language. They butted heads at times. Mozeliak's promotion came with the idea he was going to be more big picture, and to some degree that happened, but COVID changed a lot. He wanted to be the face of the team during that time. Girsch had been doing more of the forward-facing media stuff and then the pandemic thrust Mozeliak forward again. But Girsch was often the day-to-day front office interaction point with Shildt. Example: Someone gets hurt. Who replaces him? That could be a Shildt and Girsch conversation. That's not to say Mozeliak had no part in those things. He has a part in anything he wants a part in, and that's never changed. I have tried to tell you all often that correlating Girsch's lack of media duties with a lack of duty is wrong. Mozeliak, as much as he might be reluctant to admit it, likes being in the spotlight. Girsch is happy to avoid it, but he's not sitting around twiddling his thumbs.
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What do you think of the Universal day off? like the minors all had Mondays off this past season. Baseball needs a way to better market itself. Manfred said that baseball is marketed regionally not nationally, I'm not sure why it can't be both? Maybe have 1 game on National tv on mondays? not sure how that would work but they need to do something I can barely watch the NBA these days and its hard for me to accept that its ahead of baseball.
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These guys play 162 games per season, before the postseason starts. If they want some guaranteed and schedulable down time during the marathon season, I have a hard time disagreeing with the idea. The best thing baseball could do to help its product is stopping the lip service and figuring out a solution that makes it possible for fans to watch the games they want to, the ones that already are being played. The league's archaic blackout rules and its delay in using its leverage to fix the standoff its rightsholders have developed with various streaming services is causing a real problem for existing fans who want to pay money to watch games.
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Hi, Ben. Happy Holidays to you. The NHL has canceled some games for teams struggling with COVID. Why doesn't it do the same for Blues, who have been hard pressed to have enough skaters to play, because of COVID and injuries? Seems like another of Gary Bettman's missteps. Thanks for the chat.
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Some teams have been walloped all at once, leading to schedule changes. The Blues' situation has been more of a slow bleed, so the games march forward. JT had a good snapshot just today about how this is a league issue, with comments from the league. Very interesting numbers and comments here:
COVID quandary: Blues, NHL struggle putting the virus behind them
STLtoday.comFor the Blues, and for the NHL as a whole, COVID just won’t go away. -
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I think it’s unfair to say MPJ didn’t do anything for the tigers that season.
His name mattered to recruits. Tilmon? Mark Smith? He’s brother’s decision to go to college early? MPJ was the promised main attraction and some players followed. We can give Martin some credit too, but let’s not act like there wasn’t a bunch that happened as a result of MPJ specifically. -
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