Cardinals news and notes: Hacking punishment and the bullpen

For a relatively uneventful day in Major League Baseball, much less with the Cardinals, there was considerable Viva El Birdos posting to go around. Here's what you may have missed if you, I don't know, were following other sports stories yesterday, WHICH THERE WEREN'T ANY SO I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU WERE DOING

Hack-gate:

Wait, it's been called "Hack-gate" before, right? I mean, it's definitely still a very lazy nickname. Like, you know Watergate was the name of a hotel, right, and it's not like the "-gate" suffix means anything? I don't know. Anyway, the ol' fearless leader Craig Edwards wondered about what punishment the Cardinals may face as a result of hacking proprietary information of the Houston Astros. He wondered specifically if draft picks may be forfeited as a result of Chris Correa's actions.

It's a sticky situation, as it's not as though there is precedent for federal crimes committed by one baseball franchise against another. Theories seem largely to be colored by one's perspective: Cardinals fans feel that this isn't a big deal and Cardinals haters want the club punished to the fullest extent of the law. Somebody smarter than I am ought to be the one to sift through the emotional calls for heads to roll, and that somebody is Craig.

Oscar Mercado

Speaking of Craig, he reposted RB's evaluation of Oscar Mercado, who was ranked as the #19 prospect in the Cardinals organization. In case you missed the initial lists, these are a great way to catch up. The original posts were terrific but if they were a bit time-consuming for some, I understand. This is a more casual taste of what remains good stuff.

Matheny and the bullpen

Ben Markham addressed the bullpen and how Mike Matheny will utilize the bullpen in 2016. While it is a little bit disconcerting to think that a roster would need to be built around a manager's style, rather than having a manager's style informed by the weapons at his disposal, this is the reality of not only any baseball team, but any company. Managers in any capacity will inevitably feel comfortable with certain personnel and utilizing them in certain patterns. It's a mundane reality of organizational structures and you're probably as bored reading this as I am typing it, so just read Ben's post instead.

Cardinals ownership rankings

According to a survey conducted by Jeff Sullivan at Fangraphs, the Cardinals have the third-best ownership in baseball behind that of the San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs. Lil Scooter seems to want to give Bill DeWitt Jr. a little bit more credit than the survey did, and frankly, AGAIN FOR SOME STRANGE REASON, I'm feeling more inclined to view DeWitt positively as an owner of one of my favorite sports teams.

The Cardinals DOOM scenario

I wrote about what it would take for the Cardinals to leave St. Louis. In short: a lot, but not as much as you might think, sadly. Enjoy the good times when you can get them.

Have a terrific Wednesday, St. Louis. Nowhere to go but up!