Here is a good example looking at how four main sources rolled out the news this week of the St. Louis Cardinals prospects selected to play in the Arizona Fall League.

Note the times and dates of the articles as well as the number of words devoted to Cardinals prospects. Articles are listed in time sequence of posting.

Tuesday, August 25

MiLB.com: 1:00 p.m. (CDT)

“Strasburg, top picks highlight AFL”

0 words (general AFL article did not mention any Cardinals, but rosters were posted elsewhere on site)

The Cardinal Nation: 1:28 p.m. (with a 2:30 p.m. update with individual capsules on all eight players)

“Jones Leads Eight Cards to Arizona Fall League”

1330 words

Future Redbirds blog: 1:48 p.m.

“Arizona Fall League 2009”

87 words

Wednesday, August 26

Post-Dispatch: 10:16 a.m.

“DG’s 10@10: The Cardinals’ Three-Headed Monster”

228 words (item number six in a multi-subject blog post)

The Cardinal Nation blog: 2:28 p.m.

“Cardinals early Arizona Fall League leftovers”

908 words

Post-Dispatch: 3:11 p.m.

“Eight Cardinals prospects to go to Arizona”

169 words (article)

Cardinals AFL coverage	Tuesday words	Wednesday words	Total words
MiLB.com	0	0	0
The Cardinal Nation/TCN blog	1330	908	2238
Future Redbirds	87	0	87
Post-Dispatch	0	397	397

So, there you have it. If you haven’t already, click on the article titles and check them out. Are they all equal in timing and depth of Cardinals-related content delivered?

Further, which one will be reporting live from Arizona for the seventh year in a row and which ones will be following box scores? And don’t forget our best-of-breed Cardinals Minor League Notebook, provided free seven days a week.

Sure, some articles on Scout.com are subscriber-only (the ones referenced here were not), but sometimes, you get what you pay for.

Think about it.