Chicago Cubs President Theo Epstein has one more reason to grouse about the Cardinals.
The arch-rival of his Small Bears got still another player development boost when it received an extra "competitive balance" draft pick from Major League Baseball.
This selection will come between the first and second rounds in 2015, so it has tremendous value to the Cardinals. And, yes, the team can trade that pick this summer for more immediate help.
The Cardinals faced the worst odds to get one of the highest picks, based on their 2013 success, but they received the third-best pick anyway.
How did this perennial contender qualify for such charity? By playing in one of the 10 smallest markets, the Cardinals were one of 15 teams in the lottery for 12 picks -- six after the first round and six more after the second round.
Also qualifying for this lottery were the 10 teams with the lowest revenues. Some teams qualified in both categories. Obviously the Cardinals did not.
"They do extremely well from a baseball standpoint and from a revenue standpoint," Epstein said Wednesday, according to The Associated Press. "It's probably the last organization in baseball that needs that kind of annual gift that they receive."
Yeah, but the Cardinals don't rake in the sort of local broadcast revenues big-market teams like the Cubs collect. Nor can they expect to draw huge crowds while putting dreadful teams on the field, as the Cubs do.
The Cardinals have to earn their money the old-fashioned way, by selling lots and lots of tickets. To do that in St. Louis they must win consistently.
To win year after year, the Cardinals must develop and deploy lots of good young players. This franchise can't throw crazy money at so-so players, as the Cubs did with Edwin Jackson by giving him a $52 million deal.
The Cardinals must develop their mid-level players and a few stars, too. So the extra pick should come in handy.
"It's not necessarily the type of thing they need, given their performance on the field and off the field," Epstein said. "They do a fantastic job, and it just doesn't seem like something they need at this point."
Hmmm ... sounds like somebody is a bit envious. Perhaps Epstein is tired of hearing about how his team has to lose big year after year to collect good prospects while the Cardinals can do the same thing while contending every season.
(Cubs fans must also wonder while the Cardinals have assembled a small army of young power pitchers while their own team seems fixated on cornering the shortstop market instead.)
"I could talk all day about the Cardinals and how we hold them in high regard," Epstein said. "That's a fantastic franchise. They have been for the better part of a century."
The late 1970s weren't great. The early 1990s were an epic catastrophe. How many fans are still haunted by the memory of Joe Coleman's dour mound visits?
But, sure, the Cardinals have experienced way more good times than the Cubs for better than a century. They have the flags and statues to prove it.
The folks on Chicago's North Side must get tired of hearing about the "Cardinal Way."
"It'll just make it that much sweeter when we get to a point where we can compete with them and ultimately, we hope, prevail," Epstein said.
Well, get back to us on that, Theo. In the meantime, the Cardinals go about their business of contending every season.
Sports on 07/25/2014