With the final Grapefruit League game being played as I type, the Cardinals have nearly answered all the lingering questions of the offseason following the World Series Championship. What about the outfield? What about the rotation? What about the bench? With numerous announcements over the past few days it seems the team has answered nearly every question that can be asked. Let's take a look...
Um, Jeff Suppan is gone, Jeff Weaver is gone, Jason Marquis is gone, and Mark Mulder is injured. What the hell do the Cardinals do?
Well, the rotation is set as of about a week ago. Chris Carpenter will obviously sport the number one role, but after that it's a crap shoot. Adam Wainwright, Anthony Reyes, Kip Wells, and Braden Looper will fill out the other four spots. Mulder will unavailable until at least June. Despite speculation that the 'Birds would use a four man rotation the first couple of weeks, it seems as though they will settle on a five man spin while allowing Carpenter to start every fifth day. This simply means that the other four will pitch but the rotation may not always work in turn.
On Monday, Looper showed flashes of brilliance against the Baltimore Orioles, holding the O's to four hits and no runs over 6 2/3 innings of work. Only two O's reached scoring position, a great sign for the Cardinals number five starter. 
On Sunday, in Carpenter's final tuneup, he became the first Cardinal to pitch seven innings this spring, allowing four hits and two walks in his shutout stint, also striking out five. 
And on Saturday, Wainwright gave the Cardinals another solid outing, turning in the best start by a Cardinal this spring, striking out six with no walks over six shutout innings. He fanned Marlins superstar Miguel Cabrera twice in his final Grapefruit League appearance. How does the outfield shape up for the start of the season?
Well, as I've been saying all along, the Cardinals finally announced that John Rodriguez will be joining Rick Ankiel in Triple A Memphis for now. JRod was optioned to Memphis earlier today to make room for Skip Schumaker, who starts on the big league roster for the second straight season. The concept behind this move is simple, Schumaker offers a better choice for backing up center fielder Jim Edmonds if Edmonds is unable to go the full nine early in the season. "We think (Rodriguez) is a big league player. It comes down to the uncertainty in center field," Tony La Russa said. "Skip is more of a natural center fielder. We all know how hard John worked. He's a better player now. It's going to pay off for him. It's a tough break. He's just got to deal with it and not get discouraged." Schumaker entered Wednesday leading the team with a .400 average in 45 at-bats and a .471 on-base percentage. 
Offseason speculation had the Cardinals trying to dish hard hitting, but shaky gloved outfielder Chris Duncan, but that never seemed to enter the great minds in the front office. Duncan will get his shot as an everyday left fielder batting in the two hole and, most likely, seeing phat fastballs batting in front of Albert Pujols and Scott Rolen. Jim Edmonds seems to be healthy and will be the opening day center fielder. On the right side, many questions remain. The job is Juan Encarnacion's when he gets healthy, but for now it seems he will start the season on the DL due to a sore wrist. This means the position will be platooned between Schumacker, So Taguchi, and Preston Wilson. Now that Josh Kinney is hurt and Braden Looper and Adam Wainwright are in the rotation, the bullpen has as many questions as the rotation did at the start of the offseason. What happens?
Despite all the Izzy-haters out there, he's back and it's a blessing. With Wainwright and Looper needed for the rotation and Josh Kinney out for the season with a split elbow, Isringhausen offers a solid, experienced foundation for the bullpen. He's coming back from offseason hip surgery and claims to be feeling better than ever. Thus far in the preseason, he sports a 1.50 era over the course of 6 innings pitched. Elsewhere in the bullpen, the 'Birds will sport six other relievers, lefthanders Tyler Johnson and Randy Flores; and righthanders Russ Springer, Brad Thompson and Ryan Franklin.
Recent speculation has the Cardinals looking to deal lefthander Ricardo Rincon. Rincon, owed $1.45 million this season as part of a two-year, $2.9 million contract signed in December 2005, failed to impress the Cardinals last season. He was tardy to camp because of visa complications, left soon thereafter to pitch for Mexico in the World Baseball Classic, then was sidelined in April with shoulder and elbow problems that required season-ending surgery.Other Notes:
Scott Spiezo and Aaron Miles will serve as the infield backups. The club reassigned infielder Jolbert Cabrera and reliever Kelvin Jimenez to minor-league camp while also optioning righthanded power arm Dennis Dove to Memphis.
*stltoday.com contributed to this article.
3 comments:
I think you will see Spiezio as part of that platoon in right. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see him out there on Sunday.
givemethat, you couldn't be more right. I actually had him mentioned in that outfield platoon but, for some reason, I was stupid and took him out and mentioned him only in the infield. The Cardinals website reports that he will serve primarily as a backup infielder, but I would presume he handles some outfield roles this season just as he did last year. And there was NOTHING wrong with Spiezo last year...no matter where he played.
At the beginning of the game today, the birds announcer said that today's lineup was the opening day lineup. Spiezio just happened to be in right.
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