Randy Arozarena thanks the Cardinals for trading him

When the Rays and Cardinals agreed to a trade involving Jose Martinez and Randy Arozarena back in January of 2020, it wasn't though of as a deal of major significance. Yet, ever since arriving in Tampa Bay, Arozarena has been raking, making the most out of his opportunity away from Busch Stadium.

The full trade, as detailed here, was a fair one at the time:

Arozarena us undoubtedly the best player traded that day. Liberatore has made his way to the major leagues and could be a big piece of St. Louis future starting rotation, but you can still mark this down as another bad deal by John Mozeliak and Co.

Randy, for what it's worth, is thankful for his opportunity.

"(The Cardinals) gave me my first steps into professional baseball," Arozarena said via team interpreter Manny Navarro H/T Tampa Bay Times. "They gave me the first opportunity to make my major-league debut with them. I'm very happy about that."

St. Louis and Tampa are two team heading in different directions. The Rays hope to make a postseason push, as they had the best record in the AL for much of the first half before falling off recently. The Cards are preparing for 2024. Would life be different with Arozarena in tow?

"It was a good opportunity for me to be here. I've done well. The last three years have been great for me. And I'm very happy about it," the Rays OF said.

Cardinals, Chip Caray takes savage shot at Baltimore Orioles

The Angelos family may want to sit this one out.

It's been a tough scene for the Orioles, a team that had been one of the darlings of this MLB season, with some of the best young players in baseball all rounding into form at the right time. The focus should be on the field, not in the owner's box. Yet, with broadcaster Kevin Brown suspended until Friday for merely pointing out the Orioles struggles in Tampa Bay during their rebuild, his fellow play-by-play men and women have rallied around him.

You can add Chip Caray of the Cardinals to that list, who got his point across in one quick, savage comment.

Brown was suspended for doing his job, which included a reference to the literal game notes.

"The Orioles have won three of the first five games at The Trop this season after winning three of the 21 games played in St. Petersburg from 2020-22," the game notes said.

That was evidently going too far, as the Angelos family is concerned about their public perception of being cheap. Perhaps they could do something about that, such as spend more on payroll (considering they rank 29th in baseball in that department). Instead, they took out their frustration on Brown.

All credit goes to Caray and baseball's best broadcasters over the past week for making this cause an easy one to rally around.

Cardinals Rumors: Top prospect Masyn Winn is injured

Just Tuesday, I listed Masyn Winn as a potential September call-up. He's done nothing but rake this season in Memphis, and despite being just 21 years of age, there's an argument to be made the Cards should see what they have in the middle infield prospect:

"Winn has a .284/.355/.467 slash line in Memphis, and has spent his entire season there thus far. Surely, there are other areas where he could continue to develop in the minor leagues, but he's proven he can hit pitching at that level. Why not give him a shot against major-league caliber competition?

Winn made some noise at the Futures Game for his arm, and for good reason — he can toss the ball across the infield at speeds over 100 MPH. While Paul Goldcshmidt may need to rest his glove hand after the fact, there isn't much other reason to keep Winn in Memphis, especially if it's stunting his growth."

However, that dream may take a brief setback. MLB.com's John Denton said Winn left his last outing.

"Winn, the top-ranked prospect in the Cardinals' Minor League system, per MLB Pipeline, left Sunday's game between Triple-A Memphis and Jacksonville after the sixth inning with what Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak described as a 'mild glute strain,'" Denton said. "Winn, 21, was injured on Sunday after stepping onto a base awkwardly. He was 0-for-3 with a strikeout before being replaced at shortstop by Kramer Robertson."

It's unclear exactly how long Winn will be out, but this could put an end to any conversations about the team calling him up for the remainder of the season. It's best to be safe than sorry with such valuable cargo.