Strengths of the Cardinals

Over the next two weeks or so, I hope to go over the Cardinals strengths, weaknesses, Surprises, disappointments, farm system, and even give my idea of Cardinal Baseball in 5 years from now. Now, I’m going to start out with the strengths of the Redbirds.

The Outfield: The outfield situation is currently a logjam, with a total of 5 outfielders on the active roster, and 2 players waiting from the wings in Memphis. They have tremendous power (Ankiel, Ludwick, Duncan, Mather, Rasmus)*, outstanding highlight-reel play makers (Rasmus, Ankiel)*, and even decent speed (Barton, Rasmus, Schumaker)*.

The Starting Rotation: This is the key to the Redbird’s success so far this season. We all knew that Adam Wainwright would be his studly self after his outstanding second half last season, but who would have guessed that Todd Wellemeyer would be the May Pitcher of The Month? Also, did anybody else predict that Kyle Lohse would be on pace to set career highs in IP (approx. 202), ERA (3.78), and wins (16)? Coming in to this season, everyone predicted that the starting rotation would really kill this team’s chances at a playoff run in the weak NL Central. And Braden Looper, who was a starter for the first time in his career last season, is on pace for 20 wins and 198.1 IP! Hell, Wainwright is the “worst” out of these four so far this season, on pace for 15 wins, 252 IP, and 169 K’s. With Matt Clement’s recent stellar rehab outing and Chris Carpenter coming back around the Midsummer Classic, this team will definitely have a surplus near the July trade deadline and might be able to do what the Reds did with Lohse last season by flipping him to a serious contender for a B-level prospect. I’m not saying that the Redbirds will be sellers at the deadline, but with a surplus of starting pitchers and a lack of middle infielders, they should be pretty active around the deadline wheeling and dealing some players. The team also has a surplus of starting pitchers at AAA who are all hoping that someone on the big club goes down (Jaime Garcia, Anthony Reyes, P.J. Walters, and Mitchell Boggs). Let’s not forget Reyes, who has been butting heads with Manager Tony LaRussa and pitching coach Dave Duncan ever since he was called up way back in 2005. There have been rumors that he has been on the move for years now, and this year, freshman G.M. John Mozeliak looks to move him for a high asking price.

Young Relievers: Over the past several years, the team has drafted relievers by the bushel, and now most of those relievers are making an impact/soon to make an impact. Jason Isringhausen’s replacement is already up with the big club and blowing players away with the high heat. Hell, our best setup man only made it up to AA last season before an impressive spring training. As of June 5th, 7 players have made their Major League debut with the team, and the 4 of those who are relievers all figure to fit in to the team’s plan for the future.




* Listed in order of strongest/best/fastest first