To the extent the other owners may disapprove, they only have themselves to blame. It's not like this wasn't forseeable. They saw Loria drive the Montreal franchise essentially into a receivership position. And yet they gave him the opportunity to ruin another one. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice ...

Great article, Colin. Hope you will consent to allow us to share it with non-BP subscribers. It needs to be disseminated as widely as possible.

Outstanding article. One that should be read by as many fans as possible. I would like to share it with non-BP subscribers. I understand the site would normally frown on sharing articles with those who haven't paid for them, but this really should be an exception.

Surveying the comments, it seems that most consider Ron Santo to be worthy of the Hall. I agree with that assessment. Still, I have mixed feelings about this election. Enshrinement in Cooperstown is not just about recording a roll of the best players in the history of the game. It is also about honoring the individual by allowing him to experience the thrill and joy of his own induction ceremony - standing on the stage with his peers, giving his acceptance speech, etc. Waiting until a guy is deceased to induct him makes the induction honor rather hollow. I didn't know Santo personally, but we shared a mutual friend, with whom I have often spoken about Santo. I know how he very much felt he was worthy of the Hall and wanted to personally experience the induction ceremony. Sadly, that will never happen. I'm not saying that Santo should fall off the radar due to his passing. Still, it would almost seems cruel for him to have been snubbed for three decades by the various "experts" who previously considered his worthiness, only to have him finally pass muster at the first election after his death.

I have to disagree with the comment suggesting Jon Jay would be better served as a fourth outfielder. I used to feel the same way, but I think he have proven us skeptics wrong. In two seasons, he has a career .773 OPS (OPS+ of 114) and a career True Average of .274. My subjective eye tells me that his defense in CF was much better than last year, particularly after the Rasmus trade. He's 26, so he still has some growth potential left. He's not a star, and probably never will be one. But he's a solid regular in CF. The Cardinals may need to shore up in a few places to defend their title, but CF is not one of them.

Umm, Richard, before you praise him too much, take a look at next year's schedule. Opening Day is pushed back almost a full week, to the weekend of April 6-8. Back to November baseball in 2012.

Umm, Napoli actually tomahawked Boggs's 95 mph fastball to left field, not right.

Christina, As a Cards fan, I enjoyed reading your analysis. But at the beginning of the 5th paragraph, you suggest that a deal could be done between the Cardinals and Indians because the Tribe "do seem to love them some Cardinals prospects." That may have been true a few years ago, but I don't think it is anymore. It was widely reported that the Cardinals were forced to surrender a major leaguer (Ryan Ludwick) in the deal that brought Westbrook to St. Louis because the Cardinals were devoid of prospects in which the Indians had interest. I guess that situation could have changed since the end of July, but still ...

This isn't exactly on topic, but .... Here's another way to shorten the length of games. Change the rules so that a pitcher has to face at least TWO batters (rather than one batter) before he can be removed from the game. I would include obvious exceptions such as injury situations, or where the pitcher faces only one batter but records the third out of an inning (so he could still be pinch-hit for if his spot in the batting order comes up in the next half inning) It would greatly reduce all of these late inning pitching changes that add to the length of games for no apparent good reason. It would force teams to actually try to develop pitchers who can actually be effective against both lefthanded and righthanded batters.

Seth Smith is probably not eligible for the RoY Award. He played in 74 major league games prior to 2009. My limited research discloses that he came up to the majors on or about July 9, 2008, and I was unable to locate any subsequent transaction where he was optioned to the minors. That would give him more than the requisite 45 days on the major league roster prior to 2009.

Your point is somewhat well-taken. The Cardinals don't have a lot of healthy position players on their 40-man roster. but I do think that there are options there that could be put to better use than yet another relief pitcher. They could certainly use another righthanded hitting outfielder on the roster in this series. They will be facing lefthanded starters in Games 1, 2 & 5, and they have a black hole in CF against southpaws. None of the candidates (Ankiel, Rasmus or Schumacher) hit lefthanders this year. Unfortunately, though, Nick Stavinoha got hurt in late August, and 2009 was a lost season for Joe Mather. They probably should have gone out and picked up a righthanded hitting OF before 8/31, but that's water under the bridge right now. How about Matt Pagnozzi? Ordinarily I would consider the idea absurd, but Yadier Molina's knee is hurting and I think the team could use a third catcher at this particular time. Suppose Molina's knee worsens during this series to the point where he can't play for a few days. Then your options become playing with just a single catcher (Jason LaRue), or disabling Molina to add Pagnozzi (the only other catcher on the 40-man roster). Unfortunately, if you disable a player, he has to sit out the next series in additon to the current one, so the latter option would put Yadi out until the World Series if they get that far. Even though he can't hit, his ability to catch would surely render Matt Pagnozzi a more valuable insurance policy than a 9th/10th reliever, at least at this point in time on this team. What about Tyler Greene? He's nothing special but he was good enough to be in the shortstop mix before Brendan Ryan stepped forward and seized the job. If nothing else, he could be used as a defensive replacement for Julio Lugo, and that would be more valuable than a 9th/10th reliever. What about David Freese? He was hot down the stretch in AAA. Frankly, I'd rather have him on the roster than Joe Thurston, much less a 9th/10th reliever. So while I agree with your point, I think there are a few palyers available to the Cards that would be of better use to the team than Mitchell Boggs or Blake Hawksworth.

Will, what's the story with Jesus Flores? At first, he wasn't supposed to be out for much more than the minimum. Now there are reports that he aggravated the injury on his rehab assignment and could be out for most of the rest of the season.

The difference mioght be that there is no evidence that the Cardinals had any knowledge of Worrell's elbow issues, while the Padres obviously had a lot of knowledge about Greene's anxiety issues.

Will, the language you are using to describe Aramis Ramirez's injury sounds similar to what was used when Scott Rolen hurt his shoulder in the collisions with Alex Cintron and Hee Seop Choi. It seems like Rolen never has really recovered. Can you comment?

Juan Encarnacion was standing in the on-deck circle at Busch Stadium back in (as I recall) late August of 2007 when he was struck in the eye by a foul ball off the bat of Aaron Miles. I happened to be at the game sitting a few rows beyond the Cards dugout - close enough to witness the event. It was a gruesome experience; the only thing comparable I can recall was when Joe Theismann broke his leg in that nationally-televised game many years ago. Anyway, the blow caused permanent damage to the eye. He had signed a three-year contract with the Cardinals prior to the 2006 season. He spent all of the 2008 season on the DL. His career appears to be over.

Wouldn't a catcher be far more dependent on his eyesight than a pitcher? He has to be able to clearly see the pitches in order to receive them cleanly, at least anytime there is one or more runners on base. And, intuitively, I would think that only a slight defect in a batter's vision would be a significant drawback in his ability to hit the baseball.

I am a Cardinals fan who lives near St. Louis. I have no special feelings one way or the other for the Phillies. Yet I would tune into Phillies games on my XM radio just to listen to Kalas. His descriptions of the action in his rich baritone voice were a joy beamed down from the heavens. I share the sadness I am sure that Phillies fans are experiencing, and I will miss him. .... Our sadness can be tempered by a couple of silver linings. The Phillies won the World Series last year, so Kalas left this world as the broadcaster for the World Champs, a status he richly deserves. And he got to spend the last minutes of his life at the ballpark. .... RIP, Harry. We'll miss you.

What about the Cardinals second base situation? If Skip Schumaker can't handle the transition to second base (and he hasn't played the position since at least 2001), the Cardinals would seem to have an utter black hole at second with Joe Thurston, Brendan Ryan (who probably hits lefties well enough to be that half of a platoon), Brian Barden, etc. the leading candidates for duty at that position. Yikes!