By Jason Fink The Blues need a little bit of an overhaul on defense. They almost pulled off a coup at the trade deadline when they had a deal in place to send defenseman Colton Parayko to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for a first-round pick and Sabres number one prospect defenseman Radim Mrtka. Unfortunately, the trade fell through when Parayko exercised his no-movement clause. Don’t get me wrong, Parayko has been a stellar defenseman during his time with the Blues, which go

By Ray Mileur There are times in baseball when patience looks like stubbornness. There are also times when patience looks like wisdom. The St. Louis Cardinals may be living through the second one with Jordan Walker. Not long ago, Walker was a complicated young player in the Cardinals’ system. The tools—frame, bat speed, raw power, athleticism—all pointed toward a middle-of-the-order force. But production does not always arrive on schedule. In St. Louis, where the ghosts of gr

Mantle’s Strikeouts Tell a Different Story in Today’s Game | By Ray Mileur Mickey Mantle carried a reputation in his time as a player who struck out too much. That was the way the game was talked about then. A strikeout was viewed almost as a personal failure, the worst kind of out, a sign that a hitter had been beaten completely. In the old baseball language, putting the ball in play mattered. Moving a runner mattered. Making contact mattered. But when Mantle’s career is car

Photo- NHL.COM By Jason Fink Photo- Sportsnet Doug Armstrong did it again. The St. Louis Blues general manager, who is set to step down at the end of June in favor of Alexander Steen, completed one more final major task before riding off into the sunset. Armstrong inked winger Dylan Holloway to a five-year contract extension worth $38.75 million with an average annual value of $7.75 million. The deal will start next year and will run through the 2030-’31 season. With Hollowa