30 Teams in 30 Days: St. Louis Cardinals

For most of the 2004 season, the St. Louis Cardinals looked like the team to beat in all of baseball. They steamrolled through the National League Central division while most people, myself included thought they would place third at best in that division. The offense was just too much for teams to handle, and for the first half of the year the Cardinals got by with suspect pitching, but it caught up to them in the end.

Albert Pujols (.331, 46, 123) and Jim Edmonds (.301, 42, 111) had their standard seasons, but the biggest surprise came from third baseman Scott Rolen. Rolen has always been a nice player, and perennial All-Star threat, but last year he was the MVP of the National League and team. Rolen ended up batting .314 with 34 homers and 124 RBI, with most of that damage done before the All-Star break. The Cardinals also got solid contributions from Tony Womack, Reggie Sanders and Edgar Renteria, and added Larry Walker to the lineup before the playoffs,

The offense took three hits this off season when it lost Womack, Renteria, and backstop Mike Matheny. Matheny will be the biggest loss of the group. The loss of Womack hurts because he was the only “speed” guy they had on the team and lead off most of the year. Replacing Womack is Mark Grudzielanek. In limited action with the Cubs last year, Grudzielanek batted .307 and scored 32 runs. Backing up Grudzielanek is last years Rule 5 pick Hector Luna. Luna played in 83 games last year, but is still very raw, and not someone the Cardinals hope will see extended playing time this season.

Another Rookie from last year, Yadier Molina takes over as the starting catcher. Molina appeared in 51 games last season and batted .267 with an on base percentage of .329. Molina will be a very good catcher in this league, but probably not quite yet. Backing up Molina is former Ranger, Expo and Indian Einar Diaz. Diaz will bring them a quality veteran defensive catcher who can spell Molina every few days.

Filling the void left by Renteria at short is former Angel David Eckstein. Eckstein is a hustle guy who fits in great with this lineup and with their fans. He won’t hit a lot of home runs, but this club doesn’t need that, what he will do is get on base, steal some bases, and work hard in the field.

This offense really shouldn’t miss a beat, sure they do have those three new guys in their lineup, but Pujols, Rolen, Walker, Edmonds, and Reggie Sanders all return. Will the offense fall off a bit, maybe, but the Cardinals still have enough to go around, especially if former pitcher Rick Ankiel can contribute in the outfield. I won’t make any Ankiel jokes because I’m sure you already heard them all, and secondly because I feel bad for the guy. Ankiel always had a nice stroke, even as a pitcher. In the minors he averaged a home run every ten at-bats. If he can produce like that then he’ll be a solid bench guy for this team.

The pitching was this team’s Achilles heel last year. I won’t say it cost them the World Series (even though it may well have) because I honestly don’t think anyone was beating the Red Sox last year. One of the biggest “what ever happened to that guy” seasons was turned in by Matt Morris last year. Morris was once a promising young pitcher, with a great curve ball and the ace of the staff. He comes into spring training as the projected fifth starter after turning in a bad 2004 season. He did win 15 games, but a lot of that was due to his offense. Morris had an era of 4.72. His career era is 3.53.

Chris Carpenter was the best pitcher on this staff last year. Carpenter has always been a guy with good stuff, the only question was could he stay healthy. Last year he did, for the first time in his career. Carpenter went 15-5, with a 3.46 era and looks very good in the early going so far this year. Jeff Suppan and Jason Marquis are back in the rotation, but Woody Williams is gone. The loss of Williams would have hurt a ton had the Cardinals not brought in the guy they did.

Knowing they had to bolster their pitching staff, the Cardinals added a young, left handed ace pitcher in Mark Mulder. It cost them Kiko Caliero and some young prospects, including lefty Dan Heren, but it was worth it. Mark Mulder makes this team better than it was last year, even if the offense does fall off a bit.

The bullpen has it’s same cast of characters,. Jason Isringhausen is back closing games, and setting it up for him are still Julian Tavarez and Ray King. Caliero started to come on as a good set up guy last year, and Steve Kline signed with Baltimore. The Kline loss especially hurts now that Ankiel is moving to the outfield. Al Reyes was brought in from Tampa Bay, and Mike Myers from Seattle. Myers will now be looked at as the guy to replace Kline.

All in all this is still a very good team. I think they improved their team this season, but they won’t win as many games as they did last season (as strange as that sounds). The offense is still tough, and the rotation now has a good 1-2 punch of Mulder and Carpenter, and if Matt Morris can pitch more like his career record rather than last season’s the Cardinals have three good pitchers in their rotation.

5 Burning Questions

5. Yadier Molina
Mike Matheny was a great defensive catcher, and did a great job with pitching staffs. Can Yadier step in to replace Matheny, or will the change take it’s toll on the pitching staff?

4. Where’s the Catalyst?
Edgar Renteria and Tony Womack are gone, and they helped set the table. Can Mark Grudzielanek and David Eckstein do enough to admirably replace them? The transition from Renteria to Eckstein won’t be as rough as
that of Womack to Grudzielanek.

3. Bullpen
Besides Izzy, is there enough? Ray King is good at facing lefties and Julian Tavarez is often hit or miss. Are Mike Myers, Cal Eldred and Al Reyes good enough for Jason Isringhausen to rely on?

2. Carpenter and Morris
Can Matt Morris bounce back form an atrocious 2004 and give this team a second ace? Can Chris Carpenter stay healthy for two seasons in a row. I couldn’t believe he did it for one, so two may be too much to ask.

1. The Ace
Is Mark Mulder good enough to carry a staff by himself. In Oakland he was part of the big three, which meant no one out of the three had a ton of pressure place on them, they all shared it. In St. Louis big things are expected from him.

Fearless Predictions

Mark Mulder will win 20 games.
Chris Carpenter will once again have shoulder problems.
Matt Morris will win 18 games this season, and return to form.
The Cardinals will miss Tony Womack, but they’ll miss Mike Matheny a lot more.
The Cardinals will be temped to move Rick Ankiel back to pitching.
The bullpen will miss Steve Kline and Kiko Caliero a lot.
The Cardinals will finish in second place in the NL Central.