The Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals have a long and sometimes bitter rivalry that extends almost to the beginning of baseball. That rivalry intensified in last season's playoffs when the upstart Cubs knocked the Cardinals out of the playoffs in five games. The Cardinals posted the best record in baseball and were odds on favorites to win the World Series before they knocked off by the Cubs. To stoke the fire further, the Cubs lured two of the Cardinals free agents away in the offseason, one of them Jason Heyward, whose comments will no doubt add to the fire that is the Cubs/Cards rivalry.
In a meeting with reporters, Jason Heyward was asked why he signed on with the Cubs instead of staying with the Cardinals. This is what he had to say, via an article on Fox Sports, You have Yadier (Molina) who is going to be done in two years maybe. You have Matt Holliday who is probably going to be done soon.There were already moves made with Jon Jay gone and then Tony Cruz and (Adam) Wainwright is probably going to be done in three or four years. ... Guys like that are what really introduced me to the St. Louis Cardinals' organization. I felt like if I was to look up and in three years see a completely different team, that would be difficult."
The St. Louis Cardinals, however, were not inclined to agree that they were on the downside of their success. Cards manager Mike Matheny had this to say from the same article, "I told Jason this before. I've got a lot of respect for Jason as a person. He's got to go make the decisions he's going to have to live with. If that (core group comparison) is a big deal to him, he's just being honest with people. But I don't think we have anything to apologize for in having a group like a Holliday, a Molina, a Wainwright. Those are the kinds of guys everybody wants on a club."
Of course, the Cardinals have every right to be agitated or a little miffed. They have three straight Central Division titles and played in four of the five NLCSes. Matheny added, via NBC Sports, "I see where he's coming from. I mean, look at what Chicago's done. It's very unique in this game - to have that many impact players at that young age. And he's a young player. But I can't say I'm in any kind of agreement with that (Chicago) core being better than any kind of core that we have.That veteran group (that the Cardinals have) also helps drive what the younger group turns into."
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