Your new Cardinals blogger, and a bit of Cardinals news

Hi. I’m Joel, your new Cardinals blogger. I’ll tell you a little bit about myself, but I’m going to keep it brief.

I’m 17 and a junior in high school. I live in Michigan, but I’ve been a Cardinals fan all my life, and a die-hard one at that. How did I become a Cardinals fan? It’s rather simple, really. My dad is a die-hard Cards fan himself, and I was a McGwire fan during the 1998 home run chase. Since then, I’ve bled Cardinal red.

The reason I joined MLBlogging was because I like baseball, and I hope to be a sports journalist someday. I’ve had the dream of being a journalist for as long as I can remember – longer than most people have known what they want to do for a living.  Okay, to put a number on it, since around the age of 7.

Enough about me, and now to the real Cardinals – of which, there’s not much to talk about.

The Cardinals are going to wait and see who will close for the team in ‘09,  and the most likely candidates are Chris Perez, Jason Motte, Josh Kinney and Ryan Franklin. Given that Motte is an unknown (who, as of last year, could only throw a fastball), Kinney has an injury history, and Franklin is shaky, I’d give the edge to Perez – but that’s just my own feeling.

Troy Glaus reported to camp, but he’ll still be out until late April, maybe even the first week of May. Things are looking good for him, so it sounds like everything is going to plan. Look for David Freese (who the Cards acquired in the Jim Edmonds trade to San Diego last season) to be the Opening Day starter at 3rd base.

Ryan Ludwick avoided arbitration and recently signed a 1 year deal for about $3.7 million. Here’s an interesting fact – the Cards have not gone to arbitration since 1999, when they last won their case with former Redbirds pitcher Darren Oliver.

Finally, Albert Pujols and Joel Pineiro will not play in the World Baseball Classic. Pujols will not play for the DR because of insurance reasons, while Pineiro withdrew his name from the Puerto Rican roster because he felt disrespected after being told that he would not be in their starting rotation.

That’s all the news for today. Goodnight, and Go Cardinals!

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