At 2:30 A.M. on New Year’s Day, the 31st-round selection from the 2009 draft was arrested in Estero, Florida for DUI, resisting arrest without violence, speeding and driving in the wrong lane.

A report filed by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office noted that Bighames’ yellow Ford Mustang was weaving “from one lane of traffic to another,” and nearly hit two parked cars while driving 50 mph in a 30 mph zone.

After being stopped, Bighames fled from the scene. As he tried to jump over a fence, the officer used his taser to subdue the athlete. Two breath tests registered results of .234 percent and .223 percent blood-alcohol content. That translates to nearly three-times the Florida legal limit of .08 percent to operate a motor vehicle.

The Naples (FL) News did not receive a reply from the Cardinals when inquiring as to what actions the organization may be planning in response.

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Bighames, 18, taken in the 31^st round of the 2009 draft as a shortstop, is the second Cardinal farmhand suspended this month and third since the end of the season. He follows Dominican Jefferson Segundo, announced on December 4 and Batavia’s Alan Ahmady, disclosed on October 6.

Bighames is the sixth from the organization to be suspended this year, tying the 2008 high annual total for the Cardinals since the program began in 2005. He is the the third nabbed this season for a drug of abuse.

17 Cardinals minor leaguers have been punished since 2005.

According to Business of Baseball, Bighames is the 82nd player suspended in minor league baseball this year. The Cardinals’ 2009 total of six is tied for the second-highest of the 30 organizations after the New York Mets.

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Those who thought the Memphis Redbirds were rescued from their financial quagmire when one operator, Blues City Baseball, was removed in favor of another, Global Spectrum, are way off base.

The maintenance and janitorial service vendor at AutoZone Park since 2006, Florida-based Diversified Maintenance Systems (DMS), filed a breach-of-contract complaint against the Memphis Redbirds Baseball Foundation. Their claim is that the Redbirds have failed to pay over $415,000 for services provided from 2006 through the end of the 2009 season, including no payments at all over the last year.

The Memphis Commerical-Appeal provides the details, including some embarrassing quotes from both the president and treasurer of the Foundation. Neither of the gentlemen in charge of the sued entity knows how much is owed DMS or any other unpaid vendors, for that matter.

If they don’t understand their own financial obligations, who does? Is there any wonder the Memphis situation is such a mess?

Like many, I was initially disappointed when the major league organization stepped away from their option to buy the team last off-season. As more and more of the years of problems that have accrued in Memphis are coming to light, the Cardinals’ wisdom is reinforced.

Mulder muddle to move to Milwaukee?

I wonder if ESPN’s Buster Olney has a hotline connected to the cell phone of former Cardinals left-hander Mark Mulder’s agent. In an ESPN Insider post, Olney notes several of Mulder’s former coaches from Oakland are now in Milwaukee, specifically manager Ken Macha and new pitching coach Rick Peterson and suggests that as an ideal 2010 landing spot for the free agent.

If Mulder’s problematic shoulder can actually allow him to pitch at the major league level anymore, the Brewers would seem to be as good a destination as any. He would look fine alongside former Cardinals Jeff Suppan and Braden Looper (though the latter’s 2010 return is not assured).

On the other hand, Olney’s perception of reality may be off ever-so slightly. He had suggested prior to the 2009 season that Mulder might be the free-agent steal of the year after throwing for scouts. Mulder didn’t even sign a contract.

As the season progressed, Mulder’s name was offered as a potential difference-maker down the stretch for a contender. Whether he didn’t receive an offer he liked or didn’t receive any offers at all, Mulder remained home in Arizona.

If Mulder would accept a non-roster invitation from someone for next spring, he would probably get a chance. After all, what team doesn’t need pitching, especially from the left side?

Still, any club that signs Mulder and pencils him into their 2010 rotation would be mighty foolish. His odds of returning to a level of past success seem to diminish with each passing year.

Olney talks of Mulder still trying to find his old arm slot, something he could not achieve with Dave Duncan in St. Louis two years ago. That search may prove to be as satisfying as the one for balloon boy.

Hill family update

The Bismarck (ND) Tribune reports on local favorite Virgil Hill’s current activities, which include training boxers and mixed martial artists. The 45-year-old also wants to fight again, “one last time”. The former world light heavyweight and cruiserweight champion works out of his New Jersey gym.

Hill also comments on the rookie season of one of his sons, Gulf Coast League Cardinals outfielder Virgil Hill, Jr. The proud papa states both his son and the organization are pleased.

“He loved it,” Hill Sr. said. “They’re very happy with him and his work ethic.”

The 20-year-old, taken in the sixth round of the June, 2009 draft, led the GCL Cards with 22 RBI, but batted just .216.

The piece ends on a more somber note as it explains the Cardinals outfielder’s younger brother, Zakary, is recovering from a broken neck incurred while playing high school football last month in Nevada.

1987 remembrance

Exactly 22 years ago, on October 25, 1987, I was one of 55,376 screaming people in attendance at the Metrodome as Minnesota won their first World Series championship at the expense of the Cardinals.

Behind the pitching of Frank Viola, the Twins prevailed by a 4-2 score in Game 7. It was the first seven-game Series in which each team won all their home games and would be the Cards’ last appearance in the October classic for almost 20 years.

After starting the season with five pairs of tandem starting pitchers, the St. Louis Cardinals’ A-level club, the Quad Cities River Bandits, have dropped the pairings down to four, effective this weekend.

In the process, the Midwest League club moved one pitcher down to Extended Spring Training, George Brown, and slid two others into the bullpen. They are Miguel Tapia and Andres Rosales. In addition, 2008 River Bandit then surprise retiree Josh Wilson is back, promoted from Extended Spring Training to take Brown’s place.

Bravo was promoted from EST one week ago when Chuckie Fick was bumped up to Palm Beach. With the arrival of Wilson, that tandem pairing has both Quad Cities newbies.

These pairings remained the same:

Adam Veres and Gary Daley

Kevin Thomas (pictured) and Hector Cardenas

These changed:

From Jonny Bravo and George Brown

To Bravo and Josh Wilson

From Miguel Tapia and Scott McGregor

And Andres Rosales and Arquimedes Nieto

To McGregor and Nieto

With Tapia and Rosales to relief

Wilson was to have his first tandem start of the season following Bravo on Friday, but the game was suspended in the second inning due to rain, to be resumed on Saturday. Veres/Daley take the hill for Saturday’s regularly-scheduled contest, then Thomas/Cardenas go on Sunday, the first pair to come off three days rest. In the previous five-pairing system, the latter turn would instead have been taken by Rosales/Nieto.

After a day off on Monday, Tuesday’s double-header at Peoria is driving a very minor adjustment, with both tandems getting a start. McGregor will take the mound in game one while his tandem partner, Nieto, will start in game two. The normal four-man rotation of Wilson/Bravo and so on will follow.

Following are the stats for the Quad Cities starters this season coming into Friday’s game ordered by ERA. “T1” etc. shows the new tandem pairings in order, with “BP” denoting those shifted to relief. “PB” is for Palm Beach and “EST” is for extended spring training.

2009 QC starters		W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	HB	BB	SO	WHIP
Adam Veres	T4	2	0	0.54	6	3	0	16.2	12	4	1	0	0	12	20	1.44
Kevin Thomas	T1	2	0	1.31	7	2	1	20.2	12	4	3	0	0	5	13	0.82
Arquimedes Nieto	T2	0	2	3.26	6	2	0	19.1	17	9	7	1	3	6	23	1.19
Andres Rosales	BP	2	1	4.08	6	2	0	17.2	14	8	8	2	3	11	18	1.42
Chuckie Fick	PB	0	2	4.24	4	3	0	17	21	9	8	1	0	4	13	1.47
Miguel Tapia	BP	0	2	5.03	7	3	0	19.2	20	13	11	2	0	9	21	1.47
Hector Cardenas	T1	2	1	5.40	5	3	1	18.1	21	17	11	1	0	5	14	1.42
George Brown	EST	0	2	6.16	8	3	0	19	21	16	13	1	1	10	14	1.63
Scott McGregor	T2	1	1	6.75	6	3	0	18.2	26	17	14	1	0	5	18	1.66
Gary Daley	T4	2	0	10.54	7	2	0	13.2	20	19	16	3	0	12	19	2.34
Jonny Bravo	T3	0	0	36.00	1	0	0	1	1	4	4	0	0	6	3	7.00
Josh Wilson	T3

For current rosters and up-to-date transactions at all levels of the Cardinals minor league system, don’t forget to check out the Roster Matrix.

On Friday, Colorado’s Brad Hawpe injured his hand when it was stepped on and spiked on a play at second base. (Note to Skip Schumaker: Please stop sliding head-first!) As a result, Hawpe, previously named a starting outfielder, bowed out of the World Baseball Classic.

Hawpe’s move was on the heels of Cleveland’s Grady Sizemore also suffering a injury that will keep him out of the WBC. With two of Davey Johnson’s starting outfielders out, do you suppose Ryan Ludwick regrets his decision to not join Team USA because he was not guaranteed a starting role?

Villone joins Mets

On Saturday, free agent left-handed reliever Ron Villone signed a minor league deal with a spring training invite from the New York Mets. Was it just coincidence the contract was announced the day after the Cardinals spanked the Mets staff for one run per inning?

It is a deal just like he signed with the Cardinals last spring. To make the Mets, Villone may require another break like he received last spring when Tyler Johnson couldn’t answer the bell.

Mulder still looking

With the Villone signing, only Mark Mulder remains unsigned from the group of six Cardinals free agent pitchers. The list included Braden Looper (Milwaukee), Jason Isringhausen (Tampa Bay), Russ Springer (Oakland), Randy Flores (Colorado), and Tyler Johnson (Seattle).

In January, ESPN’s Buster Olney wrote that Mulder could be a “hidden gem” among this year’s crop of free agents. Apparently the cost of diamonds is depressed as Mulder is still jobless. Returning to his initial club of Oakland is rumored once the lefty actually throws for scouts.

Choi gets NRI

A repeat of the embarrassing situation that resulted when Tony La Russa publicly complained about not having enough arms in camp to the point he floated the idea of borrowing pitchers from his team’s opponent was apparently averted when Hyang-Nam Choi was added to major league spring training.

The 37-year-old Korean was signed just last month. He previously pitched in the minors for Cleveland in 2006.

I’ve kept my Cardinals NRI list up to date, which notes seven additional pitchers since the original rosters were announced. With that, there are now 61 players in camp, which is just one away from the team’s average from 1996 through 2008.

Mortensen’s MRI was negative

Choi’s NRI was due to Clayton Mortensen’s MRI. OK, not exactly, but the former supplemental first rounder is on the sidelines indefinitely due to elbow discomfort. Choi was added to offer another arm.

Harris salutes Cards

13^th round draft pick Mitch Harris, a right-handed pitcher from Navy, signed a minor league deal with the Cardinals on Saturday. Currently on active duty and committed to four more years of the same, Harris and the Cardinals have to hope the Navy changes their policy sooner. Otherwise, Harris will have quite the challenge as a pushing-30 year old first-time professional.

17 “agree to terms”

The Cardinals “came to terms” on 2009 contracts with 17 players with less than three years of MLB service time. These players technically can negotiate, but realistically were obligated to take what was offered as long as they receive the major league minimum. That will change when they become arbitration eligible in a year or more down the road.

In a subscriber-only article at Scout.com on Saturday, I listed the service time of all 17 and forecasted when each will become arbitration eligible.

Spring training schedule update

On Saturday, I updated the master Cardinals spring training radio and television schedule to include additional XM satellite radio broadcasts. Keep checking back there all month long as more games are added to Gameday audio, XM and MLB.TV.

My opening day roster predictions

I went on record last week at Scout.com with my forecast for the opening day Cardinals roster (subscription required). Rather than list all 25, here are the players I have on the outside looking in:

Pitchers: Boggs, Hawskworth, Manning, Motte, Ostlund (NRI), Scherer

Infielders: T. Greene, Hoffpauir, Wallace (NRI)

Outfielders: Barton, Stavinoha, Rasmus (NRI)

Photo day

I’ve posted the results of 2009 photo day for the Cardinals pitchers/catchers and position players. If you’re not a Scout.com subscriber, you can still access the new photos from each individual player profile page.

Anyway, I had already heard that young job seekers trying to catch on with an organization at the minor league job fair and trade show were having tough sledding. (As an aside, working the Winter Meeting circuit is how Cardinals senior quantitative analyst Sig Mejdal started on his path to getting hired. More details here.)

Now, a Friday New York Times article provides examples of cutbacks at the minor league level, using the Cardinals as a poster child.

“In the St. Louis Cardinals’ minor league system, many players will wear last year’s uniforms. Buddy Bates, the organization’s minor league equipment manager, said it was difficult to find items to cut on the field because the teams still needed catcher’s equipment, helmets and baseballs. But, he said, reusing uniforms was something his organization could get away with.

“We’ll just fill in the things we need,” Bates said.”

I have an idea. Maybe they can pass the unis down from level to level. Can you imagine how proud an aspiring minor leaguer would be to have the opportunity to wear an old (…or shall I say, “pre-worn”) Albert Pujols or Chris Carpenter jersey?

If so, Bates and his cohorts might have to enhance their loss avoidance procedures, though. Maybe some of those job-seekers can hire on as security guards!