New York Nine

I realize Adam Kennedy is no longer on the team, but anytime I find a picture of a ballplayer making himself look foolish I can't help but seize the opportunity to make fun of it. Anyways, 2006 seems like a long time ago for the st louis cardinals, their star closer adam wainwright is now a promising young starter who's taking his bumps, and their stellar rotation is long gone, with even their ace Chris Carpenter being no sure thing anymore after an injury plagued 08'. For certain, since then there have been a lot of holes on the saint louis roster, but whether it be the bad economy or inability to find the right match saint louis did very little to improve what was already a rather mediocre team.


Arguably the biggest addition of the offseason was the trade for middling padres shortstop Khalil Greene. Honestly even middling is pretty kind to Greene who's coming off an absolutely putrid season of .213/.260/.339 i mean jesus christ how is he even a starter with those numbers? Granted he is a year removed from hitting 27 home runs and driving in 97 runs, i consider those numbers to be the exception rather than the rule, sporting a lifetime .304OBP; good hitters dont have on base-percentages of low .300s, sorry.


Aside from that blockbuster move there isnt a whole lot to like in the cardinals offseason, letting franchise leader in saves Jason Isringhausen walk, as well as valuable relievers Tyler Johnson and Russ Springer walk and signing the incomprable royce ring and his 8.60 ERA and lefty Trevor Miller to replace them. These moves are dubious at best, removing any remenant of any effective reliever in their place. that said, relievers are such a crap shoot, great one year and bad the next, that im sure duncan will be able to get something out of these guys, but whether they find someone to close the came remains to be seen.


If I were Albert Pujols I would not be too happy about the Cardinals decision to do nothing this offseason and neither should cardinals fans. I give them a D for this offseason letting some valuable guys walk while doing nothing to make them better. As it stands Pujols has basically no protection in the lineup and is looking at a season full of being walked a whole lot. Of course Shumaker and Ankiel at times showed to be effective hitters and the hot propsect Colby Rasmus seems to be close to hitting the big time none of these guys has a proven track record for you to be able to bet on it. Of course stranger things have happened and indeed the Cardinals stayed in contention without having much at all in the talent department, but with the cubs looking as formidable as ever I think its highly unlikely that they do.