I wanted take some time today to talk about a player that I respect ... and respect a lot. That would be Willson Contreras, the erstwhile catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals who has moved to first base for 2025.

It is a wise move that will give Contreras more at-bats -- while also creating more at-bats for the impressive young hitter, Ivan Herrera, at the catcher position.

I'm glad that Willson Contreras is still a Cardinal. After the was so unfairly treated and benched when manager Oli Marmol capitulated to mewling pitchers early in 2023 -- blaming the catcher for their own failures -- my respect for Contreras grew. He handled this shabbiness with grace, class and a spirit of forgiveness.

You can always count on him to play hard and care about doing as much as he can to help the Cardinals win. Oh, and he's one of the top right-handed hitting batters in the majors.

Near the end of this video, I included 3 random "Bernie Bits" notes for some bonus content. Thank you.

The St. Louis Blues are a different team since Jim Montgomery became their new coach on Nov. 25. In this video I explain all of the reasons behind the Blues' dramatic turnaround -- but nothing has been more important than Montgomery's brilliant work at reestablishing a strong identity at 5-on-5 play. We haven't seen this type of 5-on-5 dominance from a Blues team for a long time, and there is nothing fluky about their recent hot streak.

As the roster shapes into its final form for opening day on March 27, the St. Louis Cardinals are basically repackaging the 2024 team and putting a new wrapper on it. If there's a strategy, it's hoping to get lucky.

In this video I discuss all of this and more, explaining why it makes sense to give young players and pitchers the benefit of the doubt and put them on the roster for 2025 as a way to prepare them to become key pieces in 2026. And 2025 is the perfect season to try creative things, different things, and new things. If not now, when? Plus much more ... thanks for watching.

Just like last season, the 2025 St. Louis Cardinals will be loaded with left-handed hitters, especially in their collection of outfielders. Now, this would be a true positive if these left-handed batters were more effective on a consistent basis. And if these LH batters are hitting well as a group, this would make the Cardinals a lot more capable when facing right-handed pitching. Why? Because over the past three seasons, 73% of the plate appearances taken by big-league hitters have come against right-handed pitching.

For the Cardinals to improve offensively in 2025, their LH bats will have to come through with much better results than they did in '24. It's bad enough to have these incessant logjams that are a John Mozeliak speciality. But it's worse when the logjams are such a big factor in shaping a mediocre/poor offense. Thank you for watching.

The 2025 Cardinals haven't done much to generate enthusiasm within their sprawling fan base in advance of the new season. Not a dollar spent on a major-league free agents. No significant additions. In what was supposed to be a "reset" year, the Cardinals are bringing back most of the parts from their 83-win team in 2024.

Over the last two seasons the Cards rank 22nd among 30 MLB teams in winning percentage. Despite that, the Cardinals ranked 4th in the majors in home-game tickets sold in 2023, and were 7th in 2024. But a lot of folks weren't using the tickets they purchased; the no-show factor is glaring and obvious.

The 2025 season will be particularly challenging for the Cardinals, who haven't done much (if anything) to rally the fan base after the past two years. And as of today, the Cardinals were seemingly struggling to fill Busch Stadium for the March 27 Opening Day. If you go to the Cards' official web site and look at the available tickets for the first game of the season, the visual is stunning. There are swaths of seats available, even in the seating areas that used to be highly coveted. Opening Day in St. Louis won't be the same.

St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn is a terrific player who turns 23 on March 21. The best is yet to come. But as a leadoff man, Winn struggled to get onbase, especially when facing right-handed pitching. And for the season, his .290 leadoff OBP was 29th among the 30 hitters who had the most plate appearances batting leadoff. Overall, Winn was 25th among 30 leadoff men with a 93 wRC+ -- which translates to 7% below league average offensively. He was much worse (23% below league average) against RH pitchers. Manager Oli Marmol has attractive leadoff options in Brendan Donovan. What will Marmol do if Winn struggles, again, in the No. 1 spot?

In recent interviews, Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina separately expressed their desire to manage in the big leagues. Pujols was the subject of an excellent story written by Bob Nightengale of USA Today, and Molina shared his feelings in an interview with the fantastic Katie Woo of The Athletic. I encourage all of you to read them.

In this video -- because of timing -- I'll focus on Pujols because of the endorsements he's receiving from prominent voices in and around the game. And I'm focusing on Pujols because of something Nightengale wrote: Pujols (as a spring-training instructor) had a 45-minute meeting with Angels hitters that was so powerful and stirring, even the Angels pitchers and others slipped into the meeting room to listen. And why do I care about this meeting? Because Pujols referenced all of the great, esteemed Cardinals legends, and described their impact on the way he played baseball. And he still carries their passed--down wisdom forward.

Sounds like something the Cardinals could use.

Hello again. The Blues are on a roll, having gone 5-1 in the last six games and 6-1-1 in their last eight. They now are just one point out of the second wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference and seem to be peaking at the right time.

In this video:

-- Will the Blues trade team captain Brayden Schenn before Friday afternoon's trading deadline?

-- The pros and cons of dealing Schenn.

-- What I think GM Doug Armstrong will do.

-- What are the Blues' realistic chances of qualifying for the postseason?

-- What are the reasons behind the Blues' turnaround?

-- What is the biggest difference -- positive -- about this team since Jim Montgomery became coach 41 games ago on Nov. 25?

Albert Pujols has informed the world that he's ready to manage in the big leagues, and is ready to go if he gets the call this season or before 2026. Naturally -- and nationally -- there's considerable speculation about a Pujols-Cardinals reunion, with The Great Pujols becoming the manager for a franchise and a fan base that he truly loves.

I don't know what will happen, but it would be risky business, and bad business, for Pujols to go manage another team if he's snubbed by the Cardinals. And can you imagine the reaction in Cardinal Nation if Pujols became a successful manager elsewhere?

In this video I take on the three issues thar are frequently cited as a reason to bypass Pujols as the next manager of the Cardinals. I did a lot of research on this, and I have a ton of information to present that might make you see this in a different way. Thanks for watching.

The St. Louis Cardinals pledged that 2025 season would be a "reset" after the team ranked 22nd among 30 teams in winning percentage over the past two seasons. But the reset never happened.

The reset became a "transition," but I that only applies to the project to refurbish a horrendously outdated minors/development operation. I don't see a transition underway at the major-league level. Maybe later in the season, yes. But now? No.

Reset. Transition. Those words don't apply. So here's my word of the day: REWIND.