The St. Louis Cardinals are coming off of a rather disappointing 2010 campaign that included giving up the lead in the NL Central over the final month of the season to miss the postseason.
St. Louis was fairly active in the offseason, notably acquiring Ryan Theriot and Lance Berkman. The Cardinals already own two of baseball’s best hitters in Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday. Let’s take a look at the starting lineup and starting rotation for St. Louis and make our MLB predictions on their 2011 season.
Projected Lineup
With Theriot expected to leadoff and Berkman projected to bat second in front of Pujols and Holliday, the Cardinals can expect to have one of the more potent 1-4 combos in baseball. A lot of that will depend on what the Cardinals get from Berkman, who struggled through an injury-plagued year in 2010.
Theriot is going to hit for a nice average which should result in a lot of runs, especially hitting in front of Pujols. Pujols can carry an offense all by himself with his ability to take it out of the park anytime he walks up to the batter's box. While Holliday isn't at the same level as Pujols, he has a ton of power and should continue to profit from hitting behind one of the best hitters in the league.
St. Louis is hoping that they will continue to see improvements from Colby Rasmus, Yadier Molina and David Freese. All three had pretty good years in 2010. Skip Shumaker was a bit of a disappointment last season, as he wasn't the same player offensively as he had been in years past. For St. Louis to compete in the National League this year, they need these four bats to contribute.
Projected Rotation
The loss of starter Adam Wainwright is a major blow, not only to the Cardinals' pitching staff, but to their chances of getting back to the playoffs this year. Wainwright nearly won the Cy Young award last season with a 1.04 WHIP, and you simply can't replace a player of his skill level.
It now becomes very important that veteran Chris Carpenter remains injury-free this year, something he has had a hard time doing over the last few seasons. Last year, Carpenter showed he was far from finished, winning 16 games with a 3.22 ERA and 1.18 WHIP in his 14th season.
The loss of Wainwright also puts a ton of pressure on Jake Westbrook, Jaime Garcia and Kyle Lohse, as they now have to be that much better for the Cardinals to still be a factor in the NL Central.
Westbrook came over from Cleveland in a midseason trade last year, and while he compiled just four games in 12 starts, he pitched well and could be in for a breakout season in St Louis.
Garcia won 13 games with an impressive 2.70 ERA and 1.32 WHIP as a rookie, and the Cardinals are expecting him to be even better this year.
Lohse didn't pitch well at all last year, going 4-8 with a 6.55 ERA, but there really isn't a lot St. Louis can do with Wainwright going down. P.J. Walters could end up taking the vacated spot in the rotation unless the Cardinals make a move for another starter.
2011 Prediction: 4th Place NL Central
The Cardinals are stacked at the top offensively and until the injury to Wainwright, their pitching staff was pretty strong at the top as well. The addition of Berkman, plus the improvements of young players like Colby Rasmus and Jaime Garcia, would have likely had St. Louis competing for the top spot in the NL Central this year. However, with the loss of Wainwright, we think the Cardinals will struggle to compete with the likes of Milwaukee, Chicago and Cincinnati. The Cardinals MLB odds to win the division are sure to drop now that their best pitcher is out for the season.
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