St Louis Cardinals

For the most part, the 2009 MLB Awards Season will be a snoozefest.

Twitter. 

By this point you’ve formed some sort of opinion on the micro-blogging site. And that opinion is usually in one of two camps and only in one of two camps.

Camp No. 1: I hate Twitter. I don’t know why anyone would want to know what I’m doing all the time. It’s so stupid, I’m not surprised it’s popular in America. 

Camp No. 2: I simply cannot live without Twitter. It integrates perfectly into my life and is bountiful in its usefulness. Best invention of all time.  

Let put it simple. Albert Pujols was the man this past 2009 season.

Pujols undoubtedly should win his third National League Most Valuable Player award. Probably the only question is if he will be selected unanimously.

One of the better Halloween costumes at my annual party this year was Matt Holliday. Pretty simple, actually. But clever.

A guy just wore a Holliday jersey tee with baseball pants that had a Wiffle ball sewn into the crotch. It was funny because it was reductively true. Matt Holliday had indeed defined his 2009 season with one ill-timed nut shot and turned a routine fly out into a holiday meme.  

Now he’s preparing to turn this moment of failure into a legacy. Move over Don Denkinger—here comes Matt Holliday.

Mark McGwire is back in St. Louis. Big Mac will join the Cardinals' coaching staff as the hitting coach.

We've all heard the various complaints, criticisms, and even praise for the Redbirds' new hitting instructor, but how much of it is warranted? Should a player get a coaching job just because of his superstar status as a player?

Without a doubt, some superstars have gone on to excel as a major league manager—John McGraw, Joe Torre, and Frank Chance come readily to mind.

You would think after getting swept by the Dodgers in the NLDS, St. Louis Manager Tony LaRussa, who will come back for at least one more year, would be concerned with how the Cardinals can improve. Instead, he seems dead-set on creating a circus-like atmosphere for his 2010 squad.

If you haven't heard, Mark "I'm not here to talk about the past" McGwire will serve as the Cardinals hitting coach next season. And I thought we were heading towards our first Spring Training this decade free of steroid talk.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago that the St. Louis Cardinals are facing a franchise defining off-season . Well, their off-season got off to a great start today.

"I can't push this enough," Mark McGwire said addressing his Cardinals' players.  "Steroids help you hit."

McGwire, former Home Run King, will return to the St. Louis Cardinals as their new hitting coach, and he has a simple slogan: "Get Big...Illegally"

McGwire proceeded to pull a Mike Singletary during his meeting and pull down his pants revealing his testicles had disappeared. 

"Would you rather have big balls or hit the balls big?" McGwire asked.

The Cardinals players seemed to take to the slogan and clearly so did management. 

Mark David McGwire. He of 583 home runs, 1,414 runs batted in and 1 painfully unwatchable testimony before Congress is coming back to the Cardinals?

The Cardinals off-season just became roughly 34,000 times more interesting.