Latest Scoop by Dave Kinworthy

Who should have been the American League Most Valuable Player?

Ivan Rodriguez was declared the chosen one two weeks ago, but so much talk has been about how Pedro Martinez did not receive the award.

Did Rodriguez actually deserve the award as the MVP of the American League? He led the Texas Rangers all season long and was by far, the most dominant offensive catcher in Major League Baseball this year. Even Mike Piazza of the New York Mets did not come close to a productive season like Rodriguez.

Pedro Martinez dominated the American League all season long and was the primary reason why the Boston Red Sox emerged as the AL Wild Card in the playoffs.

One statistic showed that with as low of an earned run average that Martinez had, the second leader in ERA would have to throw over 125 scoreless innings to tie Martinez.

Along those baseball lines, Chipper Jones was unanimously selected as the National League's MVP.

I could see this coming from miles away as Jones nearly single-handedly resurrected the slumping Atlanta Braves into the playoff hunt and eventually led them to the National League title.

I would like to thank Willie McGee for all of his great contributions on and off the field.

McGee, finally announced his retirement last week after it was expected when the aging McGee contemplated retirement last season.

As McGee leaves, the Cardinals are finally understanding that pitching wins baseball games and without pitching, the Cardinals have lost the past two seasons.

The additions of Pat Hentgen and Daryl Kile are big plus when you have a surprise ace in Ken Bottenfield come out of nowhere to win 18 games. They may not be the Greg Maddux's of the National League, but these pitchers are quality players who you can count on to give the Cardinals at least 200 innings plus this next season.

Add to the first three a young Rick Ankiel and maybe a possibility of still signing Andy Benes and the Cardinals pitching staff has become decent overnight.

Keep in mind though, the Cardinals will also have a healthy Matt Morris and Alan Benes in the makings as well.

The signs look bright for the Cardinals pitching staff in the years to come, but will they actually make a push at trying to contend for the division title or will they fade off into mediocrity again?

The key is healthy players for the Cardinals and with that will come the chance (now I am not saying that they are going to win the World Series) to compete for a potential playoff berth next season. Can they compete with Houston and Cincinnati yet, I don't know.

There are too many months that we still have until spring training starts and the Cardinals need to sure up some holes in their infield, but with the urge to action by Cardinals owners, the team looks better than the past two seasons already.