Cardinals infielder Jhonny Peralta has been pretty consistent over the past few seasons, but back in his Cleveland days he used to have a pattern in which he’d show up to camp a bit chunky some years, svelte in other years and his performance at the plate would improve or decline accordingly. It was kind of annoying for Indians fans, but they got used to it, even if they wondered what things would be like if he was consistently committed.

Things got better once he got to Detroit. He wasn’t always great, but he looked the same from year to year at least, so expectations were never such that Tigers fans, like Indians fans before them, felt as if he could, if everything broke just right, be an MVP candidate. There’s something to be said for predictability I suppose.

Maybe The Cardinal Way is rubbing off on him then, because after two very nice seasons, he’s poised for . . . something big:

https://twitter.com/Frank_Cusumano/status/700701755441553408

Check back in October and we’ll see how that went.