Cardinals news and notes: Pirates, Cozart, and the farm

Some things happened over the weekend. Some of them were even good, or at least not bad (I wrote this post after the Sunday game and I think that will become self-evident in my tone).

• Cincinnati Reds shortstop Zack Cozart had a terrific first half, but Ben Markham says that teams such as the St. Louis Cardinals should beware trading for him, suggesting that Cozart’s results do not reflect any substantial improvement in his abilities.
• The red baron examined five prospects worth monitoring in the Cardinals organization in the second half of 2017: Oscar Mercado, Dakota Hudson, Zac Gallen, Ryan Helsley, and Randy Arozarena.
• Josey Curtis analyzed the new developments in the Cardinals farm system from July 9 through July 15.
• On Saturday, the Cardinals defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-0, in a game which featured terrific pitching (and left-handed hitting!) from Lance Lynn and Matt Bowman mirroring a dinosaur, because why not? Dayman pinch-hit for IHeartBoog in writing the recap. The less pleasant 4-3 Pirates win from Sunday was recapped by VanHicklestein.