The 2014 Winter Warmup Coverage

Before I drop a ton of links on you(because I am really too lazy to post every single story I did individually), let me tell how amazing it was to cover the event.

For the first time, I had a chance to ask players questions, get inside the head of John Mozeliak and get a feel for how these guys are in person. For the most part, they are simply regular people doing a job. That applies to my work the past three days, a whirlwind event that overwhelmed me at first but left me saddened to let go by the end of the 72 hour stretch. I got back in touch with old Busch Stadium faces like Melody and Dan McLaughlin. I got Tony La Russa to open up with a 8 minute storytelling session about toughest stretches as a Cardinals manager. I asked Matt Holliday, Trevor Rosenthal, Daniel Descalso, Michael Wacha, Carlos Martinez and Oscar Taveras questions and got detailed answers and insight. I met and had a good time talking with local writers Brian Stull and Derrick Goold as well as Bryan Burwell. Jim Hayes and I talked about our kids. I shook nearly every Cardinal player’s hand that went in front of the microphone.

The hardest part for me was separating my die hard fan nature from my professional need to report on the event. I wanted to make my readers feel like they were there with me as I went through the process. I got congrats and kind words from sports writers and friends on Twitter that couldn’t make the event. That to me is the greatest return on hard work. People you admire and look to telling you that you did a good job.

There were perks. All the Starbucks coffee I could drink. Fruit baskets. Sweets. A flat screen TV behind me with the Broncos and Pats game on. The ability to talk sports with national sports writers. All in all, a wonderful experience and one that I didn’t want to see end. Some people get 15 minutes of rock star experience. I got three days. This experience convinced myself that I could do this for a living. I can write solid coverage as well as commentary and make each compelling. You be the judge. Check out my coverage starting with the Descalso Interview piece and ending with the Day 3 Wrap Up. I will also be writing a Tony La Russa spotlight and Mike Matheny piece because those two gave 25 minute plus media sessions. All the coverage can be found at aaronmilesfastball.com, the blog site that I wrote for.

Saturday, January 18th Coverage-

Daniel Descalso Interview Clips

http://aaronmilesfastball.com/2014/01/18/winter-warmup-kicks-off-with-descalso

John Mozeliak Feature With Quotes

http://www.aaronmilesfastball.com/2014/01/18/getting-inside-john-mozeliaks-mind/

Adam Wainwright on 2014 and ahead-

http://www.aaronmilesfastball.com/2014/01/18/adam-wainwright-dishes-on-2014-whats-ahead/

Day 1 Wrap Up

http://aaronmilesfastball.com/2014/01/19/player-feedback-from-the-winter-warmup/

Sunday, January 19th-

Mark Ellis Feature

http://aaronmilesfastball.com/2014/01/19/q-a-with-newest-cardinal-mark-ellis/