St. Louis sports fans overhype EVERY single prospect, and for what?

Blues or Cards, fans go ape shit over losing an unproven talent.

Have you ever gotten into a debate with a Cardinals fan about a prospect that neither one of you can surely say will be great or even good one day? How many times? I’m guessing a shit ton.

The answer for St. Louis Cardinals and Blues nation is every day, and sometimes all day. Fans who know little to nothing about a 21-year-old with a live arm who could grow up to be a guy with a 5.67 career ERA. Only after a tour through his Minor League stats and some article consuming, are they ready to storm the beach fronts of Cardinals Twitter, and show what they know. It’s a fact that the very reason that arguing over prospects is mostly useless, unless you put in the time.

If you put in the time like Kyle Reis over at Birds on the Black, you can argue all day. If not, if you’re just one of the fans who doesn’t want to watch 3-4 minor league games a night and live vicariously through the game, just listen to the Kyles of the world. Shorter and sweeter, and you have more time on your hands. It’s like listening to a food critic over which food to eat, or to a film critic about which movies to avoid. We’re the freaks, so trust us.

Nope. Arguing is more fun and makes Twitter more colorful. Imagine that. In a decaying world ripping away free choice from women and jacking up prices of living in order to smoke out poverty, people lose their minds over extremely young baseball players. Here’s the deal. Nolan Gorman and Matthew Liberatore are fine young prospects with tremendous upside but if the Angels called and said Mike Trout was waiving his no trade clause to come to St. Louis, they’d be gone and I’d sleep like a baby.

Prospects are exciting to watch develop, and it hits so hard in the warmest of baseball hearts when one turns out to be a true freak. But when they don’t hit as well or pitch as sharply-fans discard the player like an empty beer bottle, reaching for another fresh Bud. They don’t care about the player; the fans want results or the barking just continues.

“NO WE CAN’T TRADE PLAYER A BECAUSE THEIR POTENTIAL IS HIGH!”

“GORMAN IS GOING TO CARRY THIS TEAM IN A FEW YEARS!”

“DYLAN CARLSON WILL LITERALLY RULE THE WORLD IN 2024!”

If you think I’m kidding, head over to Twitter. Facebook. Chat rooms. By the time you leave, the oxygen in your head will be depleted and all one will think about doing then is listening to a good CD and remembering the world doesn’t spin on baseball or its players.

We just allow it to happen to us. The same people who will sweat profusely and drink alcohol at the same time in a 105 degree stadium to watch adult men play a sport (do their jobs basically) will most likely lose their mind over trade speculation involving a guy who was using an aluminum bat a couple years prior. And for what?

Fans don’t run the team. Fans don’t make the trades. They fill the seats. Yet, every single prospect gets propped up as a savior of the team. Look over at the Blues.

For years, people wanted Vladimir Tarasenko to be the next Alexander Ovechkin, simply because #91 is St. Louis’ most notable draft pick in recent years, or decades. Tank is a fine player, but never would be Ovie. Patrik Berglund came into the league about 10 years ago, and Blues fans thought he would be the next big-bodied winger/center. A Tkachuk from another country, maybe? Nope. He ended up leaving the game after being traded to Buffalo. That’s how bad Buffalo is, folks. It causes retirement.

Robert Thomas was supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread, but it took a couple seasons after his nice Cup run breakthrough to have a very good season (77 points in 72 games in 2021-22). Do we have to go into the fact that one of the Blues’ highest draft picks, Erik Johnson, just won a Cup in Colorado. Alex Pietrangelo was their 4th overall pick in 2008, but a lot of people scream they should have selected Jonathan Toews.

Who knows? It’s a fucking crapshoot, folks. Prospects, young players, decisions, futures, and money. All of it plays into the deck of possibility in a professional sports league, the highest level possible. There’s no proven method to tell if they will thrive or end up deprived.

It’s exhausting to even play a supporting role in. Sportswriting in general has gotten so tired and redundant, because you spend every season yakking about the same things and issues--while the league and its owners operate outside of you and your interests. If fan interest feeds the game, the chefs in power don’t care or just continue operating a business.

Any discussion around baseball at the moment-lineups, potential, older players-is a headache. Step foot in a Cardinals fan-run Facebook page, and tell me what you read and see. Chaos is most likely apparent, and it’s all over a game--one that doesn’t give a shit about you.

All the while, those are real just out of college and still learning to pay bills kids being rushed into a sport and league where the wolves are always on duty. They have to face all of that, and then hear about fans gripping about their potential and what they have to do in order to avoid boos and discomfort with the (supposed) best fans in baseball.

Pass.

My advice: Don’t put the weight of the world on a very young player. Don’t expect much from them until they produce. Follow their story instead, or find it yourself. That story could end up being better than what they could or couldn’t do at the MLB level. Or, listen to the Kyles of the world. They drink and know things about players that we may never get to see.