From StlCardinals.com:

"Dodgers pitcher Greg Maddux won his 18th National League Gold Glove on Wednesday, extending his own record for the honor.

Maddux, who also pitched for the Padres this year, broke Jim Kaat's record of 16 Gold Gloves in 2007.

Joining Maddux as repeat winners were shortstop Jimmy Rollins of the World Series champion Phillies and third baseman David Wright and outfielder Carlos Beltran of the Mets.

It's the third straight Gold Glove for Beltran, the Mets center fielder. Rollins and Wright won for the first time in 2007.

The rest of the NL winners were tabbed for the first time: Yadier Molina of the Cardinals at catcher, Adrian Gonzalez of the Padres at first base, Brandon Phillips of the Reds at second base and Nate McLouth of the Pirates and Shane Victorino of the Phillies in the outfield.

The American League winners will be anounced on Thursday."

Of course we fans like to speculate on who the front office will be looking at for middle infield help as the main goal this off season; and find an "impact bat" to help Pujols.  Instead of listing off all of the players we would like to see in the Lou next season, lets go a different route.  Lets take a look at teams who are most likely to have a fire sale this off season. The most logical teams are the Mariners, Padres, and yes the Marlins.

Lets just get the Marlins out of the way first.  Of course we all salivate at getting a bat like Dan Uggla's.  Sadly, he is not likely to be traded.  It seems the Marlins would like to improve their infield defense and move Cantu to first.  This opens up third for Uggla to shift over to, the position he played the most time at in the minors.  The other players likely to be traded are Jeremy Hermida and Kevin Gregg.  Knowing the Marlins, if we want a player, we will drastically overpay.

Padres...oh, the good ol' Friars.   Obviously they wont be trading players such as Adrian Gonzalez, Peavy, or Young...but they could potentially have holes in their outfield and have some middle infield players to spare.  Depending on what their front office decides, a Khalil Greene could become expendable.  Not a great fit, but defenitely a possibility.

Now to the team that really grabs my attention: The Seatle Mariners.  The M's have globs of players that could be available: Jose Lopez, Yunieski Betancourt, Eric Bedard, and yes...even Ichiro.  Lopez is an offensive based second baseman...and he wont win any gold gloves, but his bat would definitely improve the offense.  Betancourt is a decent shortstop (has trouble ranging to his left) who is not too bad with the bat.  He isn't Derek Jeter, but he did hit right around .270 with 6 HR and 47 RBI.  Not to bad in my opinion.  Bedard is a non-tender candidate if his medical report comes back bad...so he really could be of no help.  If his exploritory surgery comes back negative, then he would cost a decent package in terms of prospects.  The player that intrigues me the most is Ichiro.  Yes we are overloaded with outfielders at the moment, but Ichiro would be that impact bat that Tony wants.   I personally wouldn't mind having one of the M's middle infieders...both are young and would help solidify the offense. Ichiro is a dream...but still would be kick ass to have in St. Louis.

Is this a great fanpost?  Absolutely not.  But atleast is opens up some more ideas for us to think about than the almost cliche rumors of Uggla and Roberts.

Brett Wallace is now a member of the Springfield Cardinals, and more importantly, is still at 3B while rising through the system.  Even with his massive legs, Wallace has shown the ability to field the hot corner so far while proving that he is a polished player who can contribute in the very near future. 

Is it safe to say that the Cardinals are expecting Wallace to take over 3B in 2010 in case Glaus is not resigned?  Maybe have a new leftside of the infield with Wallace and Kozma by 2010?  Only time will tell, but it sure is exciting to have all of this talent in the minors just waiting to burst into the majors.  Just think, in the next few years we get to see what Wallace, Kozma, Rasmus, and others can do... 

via farm4.static.flickr.com

As of 1:05 P.M. Central Standard Time, the Cardinals gained yet another young gun on the Major League roster.  This time it is Mark Worrell's time to shine.  The official announcement can be read here.  What makes Worrell impressive is his k/bb ratio in the minors which was at 38/11 with an ERA of only 1.88 so far. 

The list of young talent that has been called up so far this year keeps on growing:  Joe Mather, Kyle McClellan, Chris Perez, Mike Parisi (his strength in the bullpen), etc... and the list of players from the minor league system is outstanding when you think about Molina, Pujols, Ankiel, Looper, Kennedy, Ryan, etc...  Not to mention there are still young studs just waiting for their chance in Bryan Anderson, Colby Rasmus, and the armory of pitching at Memphis!

So although we may still be a game or two out of first, I think it is safe to say that we are all pleasantly surprised by the tenacity and youthful injection of the current roster. 

Just found this article, but top Cardinals pitching prospect Jaime Garcia was just promoted to AAA Memphis. This comes less than a week from Bryan Anderson's promotion, and sure makes one think that more moves could be coming.  No official announcement has been released yet from Memphis or Springfield that I can find, and therefore we can only speculate on who will be demoted or released to make room for Garcia; but my guess is that someone like Josh Wasdin may be headed out the door.  As I stated in my previous post about Anderson, Memphis is becoming one nice little minor league club now.  It certainly is nice to see a crop of young, home grown talent knocking at the door...

So far Garcia is 3-2 with a 2.06 ERA on the year, with 41 K's in 35 innings. The kid is downright impressive in my opinion. To view his Minor League player profile, click here.

To this point, I have not seen any articles or press releases on the subject, but the Cardinals top catching prospect, Bryan Anderson, was promoted to AAA Memphis on Tuesday April 29.  He has gone 0 for 3 with one walk and one strike out so far for the Redbirds, but has only played in one game.  Matt Pagnozzi was sent down to AA Springfield to make room on the Memphis Roster.  Here is the box score for his first game:  http://memphis.redbirds.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t235&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_29_slcaaa_mrbaaa_1

This move is very interesting to me.  I am very intrigued by Anderson's bat, but yet am afraid to lose Yadier's defense.  What are your opinions on the situation?  Do you believe that Yadier or Anderson should be traded in the near future or possibly even platooned behind the plate?  Maybe try Anderson at another position like Craig Biggio was?  Either way, Memphis is becoming a propect filled team.  It is great to see guys like Rasmus, Anderson, Mather, Freese, etc... march through the system.