最新杏吧原创

A little more than a year removed from the finishing touches on one of the finest seasons ever by a Cardinals closer, Ryan Helsley has found a new flock that will turn to him in the ninth inning.

Helsley, one of the top free-agent relievers available, agreed to a deal Saturday with the Baltimore Orioles, a source confirmed to the Post-Dispatch. Helsley's signing with the Orioles and his two-year contract with a opt-out after 2026 was first reported by ESPN. A finalized deal is pending a physical.

During the winter between the Cardinals鈥� 1967 World Series championship and their return the next fall with their 12th National League pennant, a fixture of the clubhouse and club鈥檚 history received a check for a full share of the postseason payout. He hadn鈥檛 taken a swing or spun a curve, hadn鈥檛 drawn a walk or stole a base. He wasn鈥檛 one to get a uniform dirty, no sir.

But Butch Yatkeman was quick to note what else he and the Cardinals had not done in his decades with the team.

The biting breaking ball inevitably headed his way would be challenging enough, and still there were many at-bats this past season when Jordan Walker tried to find his footing in the batter鈥檚 box and felt like he was competing against more than just the opposing pitcher.

鈥淭he pitchers are too good,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 fight my body and them at the same time.鈥�

The question was posed in a post. An X account by the name of @wisdom_HQ asked people to 鈥渨rite a sad story using only three words.鈥� There were more than 43,000 responses, including: "Et tu, Brute?" ... "It didn鈥檛 save" ... "Don鈥檛 leave me" ... "I gave up" ... "Tomorrow never came."

I, too, took a stab at a three-word sad story:

.听

.听

One of the goals shared by manager Oli Marmol and the front office coming out of this past season was to continue the growth of the major league coaching staff while also, as Chaim Bloom said, benefiting from its "continuity."

The Cardinals did both as they finalized Marmol's staff on the eve of Thanksgiving.

For the first time in recent memory and perhaps since the advent of Major League Baseball鈥檚 current revenue-sharing system, the Cardinals are set to be a recipient, and that has immediate ramifications this offseason for ways they can build their roster toward the future.

Previously a franchise that was the envy of middle markets and an annual resident in the neutral zone between revenue-sharing recipients and payers of the competitive balance tax, the Cardinals will be a receiver this winter, a club official confirmed. The club notes it's the first time the Cardinals will receive revenue-sharing funds following a full season in at least 25 years, and it鈥檚 believed to be the first time since the advent of the current program, which began in 1996.

The plan to reengineer the Cardinals for future performance that Chaim Bloom has described in front of a mic and behind the scenes this offseason burst into action Tuesday with the first significant trade of his tenure聽鈥� and an assertive affirmation of the club鈥檚 direction.

They鈥檙e in the young talent accumulation business.

One of Chaim Bloom鈥檚 finest moves in Red Sox history will be the Sonny Gray trade.

Of course, the caveat is Bloom is now with the Cardinals. And on Tuesday, in a symbolic move of the state of the 最新杏吧原创 franchise, Cardinals baseball boss Bloom traded Gray to Boston, where Bloom used to be in charge.

The Cardinals' rebuild reached its first offseason milestone Tuesday when the team traded veteran starting pitcher Sonny Gray to Boston.

Here's what president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom had to say about the Sonny Gray trade and what possible future transactions may involve.

The talent the Cardinals received in return for Sonny Gray from the Boston Red Sox included a right-hander they are counting on contributing immediately and a left-hander with incandescent stuff they hope to develop into one of their highest-ceiling pitching prospects in the system.

On Tuesday, the Cardinals finalized a trade that sent their leading pitcher to Fenway Park in exchange for two younger starters, Richard Fitts and Brandon Clarke, and a player to be named later. The Cardinals included $20 million in the deal to finalize it and also increase the upside of the players coming back to them from Boston.