News and Notes Cardinal Post

With spring coming to a close and the excitement of opening day just around the corner here is the situation the red birds find themselves in.

Pitchers:
Tomorrow the Cards will give a physical to right-handed starting pitcher Kyle Lohse. After that they are expected to sign him up and add him to the starting rotation.

The starting rotation is the soar spot for the Cards again this spring. It is the reason they are supposed to finish dead last in the National League this year, but I think if the cards fall just right we might be looking at a pretty stellar starting five. Before we can even dream of that we would need the following to happen:

*Carpenter to get healthy asap. He is ahead of schedule and he said he is feeling great.
*Mulder to get healthy asap. He, once again, is expected to be healthy by May. However, healthy and effective are two different things.
*Clement to get healthy asap. He does not have a return date yet, but his three bullpen sessions have been good. Dave Duncan thinks he has “turned the corner” and will be back sooner than later.
*Pineiro to get healthy asap. He is also coming along nicely and is expected to be ready for the start of the regular season.
*Lohse to do what Lohse does, eat up innings with slightly above average stuff. We’ll take what we can get, I think this could be our new Supan.
*Looper is holding up his end of the bargan as usual this spring. The reliever turned starter has been nothing but a blessing since coming to the Cardinals.
*Wainwright to be the man. If you don’t think he will be you should ask Carlos Beltran what he thinks.

If everyone heals up the way we hope they will, we’ll be just fine. Come July we’ll be ready to make a playoff run with Carpenter and Mulder who will only have a half of a season on their arms.


Lineup:
It is no secret that the Cardinals need to score runs. With the cut and pasted starting rotation that they will have going into the season they need to score and score often. Last season the Cardinals only had 690 RBI. That is the lowest total they’ve had since ’97 and the second lowest in the LaRussa era. They only hit 141 homeruns which ranked 13th in the National league. Tony took over a team that, the pervious year, rank 13th in homers and since then 2007 was the first year they have rank as low.

Don’t look now but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

*Pujols has a tear in a ligament in his elbow the size of my car. He is opting not to have it surgically repaired until the off season. In this injured state he only has 12 hits, 4 homeruns, 7 RBI in 30 at bats which gives him a .400 average and a .933 slugging % this spring. Yes, boys and girls he’s a full grown man!
*Troy Glaus look to be fitting in with the other kids nicely.
*Juan Gonzalez is having a spring that will make people question the Cardinals if he doesn’t break the opening day roster.
*Rick Ankiel is seeing the ball well and I think it’s safe to say that people are excited to see what he’s going to do this year.
*Chris Duncan has only played in 8 games this spring, but is expected to start the year in left field.
That leaves the “down and out” Cards with five players that could have a chance at hitting 30 homeruns this year.

*Skip Schumaker is having a great spring. Look for him to be in the leadoff spot come the 31st.
*My boy Brenden Ryan seems to be getting a look. He’s been in more games than any other SS contender.
*Adam Kennedy looks like he is shaking off his terrible performance of last season.
*Colby Rasmus will play a game at Busch this year, this much we know. When and where is still to be determined, but redbird nation is excited to see what he can bring.

Ludwick, Molina, Barton and a cast of others have been putting up nice springs and they all have a chance to make some noise this season.

See all of the spring stats here


Katie Notes:
*My favorite color is blue.
*I set off the fire alarm in my hotel at 3:30am while I was making quesadillas this week.