One final post this evening

It's finals week so I've been busy.

Anyway, my condolences to the family of Wilma Eckert. My brother sent me this link earlier this evening. The following was in her obituary:

she was a big Cardinals fan, she was glad to see Ray King traded.

Speaking of the Cardinals, have we been duped?

Jim Molony takes a look at the major off-season moves and the moves that may take place soon.

Dayn Perry of Fox Sports believes that St. Louis was one of the biggest losers at the winter GM meetings. For the moves we made, I'd have to agree with that assessment. We lost Matt Morris. Jocketty didn't even want to make a deal with him.

2. St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals have glaring needs at both outfield corners, at second base and in the rotation, and to fill these voids they've turned to ... Larry Bigbie?

St. Louis GM Walt Jocketty is unassailably one of the best in the business, but he's been church-mouse quiet thus far this winter. Perhaps the market is inflated this time around, but the Cardinals have playoff revenues fattening their coffers, and they're moving into a new state-of-the-art ballpark next season. So it's not as though they can credibly feign impoverishment. The Cardinals are very much a "win now" team — they have an imposing core of veteran performers and a weak farm system. The front office needs to behave as such. By low-balling their prime free-agent targets, St. Louis has allowed the rest of NL Central to close the gap.

The NY Times pays tribute to the late Richard Pryor.

Jerry Seinfeld, for example, who worked the same clubs as Mr. Pryor in the late 1970's and early 80's, said he distinctly recalled nights when Mr. Pryor would "walk the room," comedian lingo for driving patrons out into the streets.

"I remember people talking, saying Richard bombed last night," Mr. Seinfeld said. "Guys with reputations like that, they stay to the tried and true. You risk a little bit, but Richard risked everything all the time. He was the ultimate bullfighter on stage. He never let his instinct for self-preservation get in the way."

Mr. Seinfeld was just one of the many comedians mourning yesterday for Mr. Pryor, who died of a heart attack on Saturday after a long battle with multiple sclerosis. He was 65.[...]

Lorne Michaels, the man behind Saturday Night Live, says that NBC initially balked at letting Mr. Pryor be host of an episode in the show's first season, but allowed it only after demanding a seven-second tape delay. Mr. Michael said the reaction of the audience to Mr. Pryor - both in the studios and in the ratings - was explosive.

"The truth was an incredibly hot commodity in 1974-75," said Mr. Michaels, who watched as Mr. Pryor did two long monologues that night, exactly 30 years ago today. "The distrust of authority was at its absolute peak, with Watergate and the war, and he caught the wave."

Mr. Michaels said that episode, which also featured John Belushi as a sword-wielding samurai, went on to score even higher ratings when it was rebroadcast the next spring.

"It defined us," Mr. Michaels said. "It put us on the map."

Saturday Night Live did a brief salute to Mr. Pryor on Saturday, showing a famous sketch featuring Mr. Pryor and Chevy Chase trading insults. Comedy clubs around the country were also planning tributes - formal and less so - to Mr. Pryor. At the Gotham Comedy Club in Manhattan, crowds gave rousing ovations to Mr. Pryor's memory on Saturday night. At the Comedy Store in Los Angeles, where Mr. Pryor cut his teeth in the early 1970's and performed until his failing health ended his stand-up career in the early 1990's, proprietors put a message - "Rest in Peace, Richard" - on the club's marquee.

Comedy Central replayed a special Saturday night and Last Laugh 2005 was dedicated in his memory.

Okay, I'm going to watch some late night television. Coldplay is on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.