Who to follow on Twitter for World Series: Cardinals edition

By Aaron GleemanOct 17, 2011, 12:44 PM EDT
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If you’re anywhere close to as obsessed with Twitter as I am you’ll want to add a bunch of Cardinals and Rangers reporters, writers, and bloggers to your follow list for the next couple weeks.

At the risk of leaving out some deserving folks, here’s a list of recommended Cardinals follows for the World Series (for the Rangers version, click here):

– @drewsilv: HBT’s own Drew Silva, who also happens to be a Cardinals fan. You should be following him already, but just in case you’re not.

– @miklasz: Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post Dispatch, one of the best local columnists and radio show hosts in the country.

– @dgoold: Derrick Goold, one half of the St. Louis Post Dispatch‘s excellent beat reporting duo.

– @joestrauss: Joe Strauss, the other half of the St. Louis Post Dispatch‘s excellent beat reporting duo.

– @matthewhleach: MLB.com’s Cardinals beat reporter Matthew Leach, who was one of the very first people I followed on Twitter.

– @bjrains: B.J. Rains, who formerly worked alongside Leach at MLB.com and now covers the Cardinals for FOXSportsMidwest.com.

– @mattsebek: Matt Sebek blogs for Joe Sports Fan and is my pick for funniest Cardinals follow on Twitter.

– @pitchershit8th: As the name suggests, Pitchers Hit Eighth is a blog devoted to manager Tony La Russa and the Cardinals, with quality writing from Nick, Josh, Andrew, and Dennis.

– @fungoes: Matt Philip runs Fungoes, which is the official Cardinals blog of ESPN.com.

– @daynperry: Dayn Perry, who in addition to being a big Cardinals fan has long been one of my favorite sabermetric writers at FOXSports.com, ESPN.com, Baseball Prospectus, and other places.

– @athooks: Aaron Hooks, who in addition to having a fantastic first name also blogs at Cardinals Diaspora.

– @c70: Daniel Shoptaw from C70 At The Bat.

– @erik_manning: Gas House Graphs blogger and Fan Graphs writer Erik Manning.

– @williamfleitch: Will Leitch is best known for his work at Deadspin and New York magazine, but he’s also a diehard Cardinals fan and must-follow.

Note: Again, my apologies for leaving good people off the list. Feel free to complain to me via Twitter.

Yasmani Grandal signs a four-year, $73 million deal with the White Sox

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By Craig CalcaterraNov 21, 2019, 12:09 PM EST
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The first truly big free agent signing of the offseason has gone down: the Chicago White Sox just announced that they have signed catcher Yasmani Grandal to a four-year, $73 million deal.

Grandal, 31, was the best catcher available in free agency. He is coming off a fine year with the Milwaukee Brewers, with whom he had to settle for a one-year pact in 2019. He hit .246/.380/.468 with 28 homers and 77 driven in. It was his fourth straight season with 20+ homers. While his catching has been criticized due to some high-profile mistakes in the postseason, the two-time All-Star once again proved himself to be one of the best pitch-framers in the game if not the best. Between the bat and the glove he has a claim to being one of the best all-around catchers in baseball.

The signing leaves open the question of what happens to James McCann, who was himself an All-Star this year. It’s not that hard a question, of course, as Grandal is a far superior catcher to McCann in every respect. The Sox could make McCann a backup. Alternatively, they could try to trade him to fill other holes on the roster.

The White Sox finished 72-89 in 2019 but are showing signs of coming out of rebuilding mode and into contention mode. This signing pushes them a big step into that direction.