News and Notes: Waino, Pham, VEB live

First up today was another Draft Preview from the Red Baron, this one focusing on three right-handed pitchers. There's one that should go in the first round, another with a high ceiling but durability issues, and another that's a bit of a long shot. Keep up to date as there's just a few more weeks to go before this year's draft.

Next, Ben Godar had a very interesting piece on Adam Wainwright, investigating if he's ever been as bad as he has been so far this season. Ben comes to the conclusion that he has been this bad only once before, all the way back in 2007, his first season as a starter. It certainly helps alleviate some fear with Waino pitching well last night.

Craig had something neat next with VEB live, a live video chat about all things Cardinals. Check out the video for discussion on Aledmys Diaz, the demotion of Tommy Pham, the upcoming international amateur free agent market, and Alex Reyes, whose suspension is finally almost over.

Pham's demotion was also the topic of yesterday's Hunt and Peck, as it is a fairly controversial move in this particular corner of Cardinals' fandom. Putting Ruben Tejada on waivers would have made Diaz the only shortstop on the team, unless you count Jedd Gyorko, which you shouldn't. Hazelbaker so far has a been hitting great, so it didn't really make sense to send him back down either. I guess they could have sent Matt Adams down instead, who can only play first base and is only hitting at a league average rate on the year. Pham can likely be expected to hit better than league average, and offers much higher defensive value. The Cards however really seem to not want to demote Adams at all though.

Alex was up next with a piece comparing this year's Cubs team to the 2004 Cardinals, one of the best team's in Cards history. This is yet another way of showing just how good the Cubs are this year.

If you live in St. Louis and enjoy craft beer, head to Public Media Commons in Grand Center at 6pm today and watch the game on a big screen!

Ebo had another DFR yesterday, Sandy Alcantara had a strong performance, as did Matt Pearce. Harrison Bader actually went a day without a hit. Check out all the other details inside the link.

The Cardinals beat the Rockies yesterday, on the strength of Waino's best start of the year. Check out the game thread and check out Dr. Howl's recap for a full post-game breakdown. The Cardinals take on the Rockies again today at 6:15 CT, with Michael Wacha taking on former top prospect Jonathan Gray, owner of a nice 2.34 FIP and 2.21 xFIP on the year. That's due to some excellent strikeout and walk numbers, 11.3 K/9 and just 2.2 BB/9 in 28 2/3 IP. Go Cardinals!