1 Yadier Molina: Catch Me If You Can

Future Redbirds looks at the future of Cardinals catching.

2 Rams Hear London Calling. It's Up To St. Louis To Answer

Can Rams fans staunch the slow-motion move from MIssouri?

3 The Cardinals Visit The White House; John Mozeliak Works

Resigning Kyle McClellan while on your way to see the President is a real "Cat's in the Cradle" moment.

4 Blues Moves: Trade For A Goal Scorer? Not So Fast...

SLGT looks at the commonly held belief that the Blues need a scorer and disagrees.

5 Trade Talk: Who The Blues Won't Trade

Game Time also gives us some speculation who might not be going anywhere come deadline day.

Ranking the Intangibles of the NL Central

ESPN.com baseball writer David Schoenfield previewed the NL Central earlier this week ranking every team by position using the scientific Schoenfield method:

Rankings are based on my own subjective predictions for 2012 performance, including offense, defensive ability, durability and risk.

So if you disagree with him, that's just -- like -- your opinion, man. Anyhoo, he ranks all the positions one through six and then adds the points up and the team with the most points wins. Or something. It's really absurd and a terrible way to try to predict a division. That is not the worst of it, though.

Intangibles
1. Brewers
2. Reds
3. Pirates
4. Cardinals
5. Cubs
6. Astros

This is the worst of it.

He somehow ranked teams by intangibles, which by definition are unable to be grasped, thus are not able to be judged against other intangible things.

OR SO YOU THOUGHT.

Today we go inside the mind of Schoenfield and into the locker rooms of the NL Central to find out just what in the devil is going on here.

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by Alex Fritz • Feb 9, 2012 10:47 AM CST

Chris Long Is St. Louis Rams' 2011 Turf Show Times MVP

I didn't vote in Turf Show Times' community effort to crown a St. Louis Rams MVP, but I'm willing to bet it wasn't a difficult choice for the 350-some voters who cast their ballots—of all the Rams on that star-crossed roster, only two players made a major contribution without either disappointing or breaking some important body part. Steven Jackson, the Rams' lone constant non-disappointment, finished second, but for a good reason—this year Chris Long didn't just meet our expectations, he exceeded them.

Long shook off two subpar seasons in 2010, when he topped eight sacks for the first time and finally looked like a top draft prospect, but in 2011 he missed the Rams' 14-loss memo and got even better; his 13 sacks were seventh in the NFL.

After a few years in the wilderness Long finally gave the Rams something to cheer about in 2011, but I think I speak for every Rams fan on the internet, every Sam Bradford shersey owner in St. Louis, and Jeff Fisher when I say that I hope he isn't in a position to repeat this award after 2012.

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by Dan Moore • Feb 9, 2012 8:01 AM CST

Peyton Manning Bus-Throwing Begins Ahead Of Possible NFC West Move

Normally it might be a good thing, for Rams fans, that the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals both have major quarterback problems—but this year the NFC West's paucity of arms is complicated by Peyton Manning's pending availability with the Indianapolis Colts' successful Suck for Luck campaign. The good news, if you're worried about either squad getting their hands on the best quarterback ever, is that in Indianapolis the slagging of their long-time superstar has already begun.

Talking to Tony Kornheiser, Bob Kravitz, a columnist with the Star, says Manning's arm is presently noodle-y and possibly gone for good, and that Manning intentionally attempted to co-opt the Super Bowl with news that he was medically cleared to play.

Me? Manning's United Way PSA on Saturday Night Live rights a lot of wrongs, real or perceived, in my book. A shaky conspiracy theory about Manning's Super Bowl motivations and some second-hand stuff about his arm strength isn't enough to wipe out the best athlete turn in the history of SNL sketches.

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by Dan Moore • Feb 9, 2012 7:30 AM CST

NFL Power Rankings: St. Louis Rams Survive Super Bowl Second-From-Last In 2012

I don't think the 2011-2012 St. Louis Rams had much left to lose, dignity-wise, but their last set of NFL power rankings at the bottom of the football barrel offers one bit of good news: They're 31st overall, instead of 32nd. Take that, Indianapolis Colts! And all that bit of dignity cost was the chance to trade Andrew Luck for like a million draft picks!

As Joel Thorman mentions in his comments, the Rams will make for a particularly interesting experiment in just how much difference a coach can make—they're going from an unknown and disappointing quantity in Steve Spagnuolo to Jeff Fisher, the top of the coaching class this year, and they'll be doing it with a team that has a lot in common with the one that just finished 2-14. Depending on who the Rams draft and who's able to get all the way healthy by the start of next season, things could mostly look different on the sidelines come August.

As for the Colts, they get to try to trade Peyton Manning instead of Andew Luck, putting them atop my current list of NFL Offseason Interesting Scenario Power Rankings.

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by Dan Moore • Feb 9, 2012 7:01 AM CST

Blues Fan Confidence Poll