Official Thread of the St. Louis Cardinals

[vol stuck in irishcountry]

I am not a Cardinal fan...I am a diehard Cubs fan. But I very much enjoyed being at that game the night that they clinched. That city became one very large open air bar!

It is a beautiful ballpark and I am sure I will catch more Cards games next season since they are so close to our football offices in Springfield.

 

[tclowers23]

I am not a Cardinal fan...I am a diehard Cubs fan.

I'm sorry.

 

[tidwell]

Merry Christmas, Cardinals fans!

Jeff Suppan has signed with the Brewers.

Thanks for the nice postseason performances and good luck in your battle for 4th place in the divison, Jeff!

 

[hvwarrior58]

Who does STL have pitching next year? Suppan and Marquis are gone and Weaver is on the market. Ya'll have Carp, but who else?

 

[tidwell]

Mulder should be coming back healthy, and Wainwright is moving to the starting rotation.

That's it as far as I know at this point.

 

[hvwarrior58]

Ahhh, my Cubs are still trying to figure out our rotation. So far we have Zambrano, Lilly, Hill, and Marquis. I think we are banking on Prior being ready which is stupid. That spot will likely go to another AA or AAA pitcher. At least we've shored up our lineup.

 

[tidwell]

Did I hear that Wood is going to be the closer, or at least relegated to being a reliever?

I forgot about Reyes for the Cardinals, so if they can re-sign Weaver they'll have 5 there.

 

[hvwarrior58]

Yeah, they are giving him a shot at closer and definitely bullpen. He won't be given another shot at starting. We have the 4 slots filled for sure and the last is filled with Prior/Miller/25 young pitchers. Our lineup should be solid though.

1b-Lee
2b-DeRosa
SS-Izturis
3b-Ramirez
C-Barrett
LF-Murton
CF-Soriano
RF-Jones

The OF most likely won't end up that way. There are tons of rumors swirling around and it seems evident that we will likely either land a CF and/or a corner OF. The CF would likely be Ryan Church or Rocco Baldelli. The corner seems to be Cliff Floyd. Jones and Murton are on the market.

 

[tidwell]

Definitely a nice lineup.

The only thing I can remember about the Cardinals lineup is Adam Kennedy was signed to be the second basemen. Wish they could've got some power-hitting outfielders or something. Edmonds isn't getting any younger, either.

 

[tclowers23]

Who does STL have pitching next year? Suppan and Marquis are gone and Weaver is on the market. Ya'll have Carp, but who else?

Probable Rotation
Chris Carpenter
Kip Wells
Anthony Reyes
Adam Wainwright

5th starter possibilities: Jeff Weaver*, Brad Thompson, Braden Looper, Also a possibility of a trade to get a 5th starter

 

[tidwell]

Oh yeah, how could I forget Kip Wells?

Why don't you have Mulder in the rotation, tc?

 

[tidwell]

Aha, Mulder is a free agent, I see. Be kinda hard to include him in thr probable rotation when he isn't officially on the team.

Man, when a sport ends, I completely shut it off. I probably shouldn't be discussing this stuff. :lol:

 

[tidwell]

St. Louis, Texas, Cleveland, and Arizona seem to be in the Mulder sweepstakes...

The Mulder offers - Rumors - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

 

[tidwell]

5th starter possibilities: Jeff Weaver*, Brad Thompson, Braden Looper, Also a possibility of a trade to get a 5th starter

Man, I hadn't heard anything about Looper starting, but it looks possible...

Looper may start - Rumors - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

St. Louis Cardinals' pitching coach Dave Duncan feels very strongly that reliever Braden Looper has all the assets it takes to be a quality starter.

I hope so, since he doesn't have the assets it takes to be a quality reliever or closer.

 

[tclowers23]

Yeah, it doesn't even look like Mulder will pitch until July, so he won't even be ready for the first half of the season. I think Mulder ends up in his home-state of Arizona.

Duncan and La Russa think both Looper and Thompson could be quality No. 5 starters. IMO, I think they need to either bring back Dream Weaver or trade for someone. Then again, Looper couldn't do much worse than Marquis.

 

[tidwell]

No doubt... I dunno who the Cardinals will have get to replace Marquis as the retarded little step-brother of the rotation.

Gotta re-sign Weaver at this point. He's at least a known quantity.

 

[hvwarrior58]

The Cubs big issue will be rounding out the rotation, defense, and staying healthy.

 

[tclowers23]

The Cubs big issue will be rounding out the rotation, defense, and staying healthy.

Has anything changed?

 

[tidwell]

Well, let's see.

Signed Mulder to a 2 year deal that's really only a 1.5 year deal since he can't start pitching until the middle of the 2007 season.

Signed Preston Wilson to a 1 year deal.

Jeff Weaver signed with the Mariners... boo.

 

[tclowers23]

Yeah, so the rotation until Mulder gets healthy will probably look like this:

Chris Carpenter
Kip Wells
Anthony Reyes
Adam Wainwright
Ryan Franklin

Opening Day Lineup:

SS- David Eckstein
RF- Chris Duncan
1B- Albert Pujols
3B- Scott Rolen
CF- Jim Edmonds
C- Yadier Molina
LF- Juan Encarnacion
2B- Adam Kennedy
P- Chris Carpenter

What you think, Tidwell?

 

[tidwell]

I think I want Mulder to come bakc full strength ASAP.

I wouldn't mind seeing Kennedy in the two-spot in the lineup. Seems like he'd be a good #2 hitter. I know the Angels put him at the bottom of their order so he could be like another lead-off man.

 

[OrangeEmpire]

 

[vader]

Suck!

 

[tclowers23]

Rick Ankiel has been a beast so far this spring. Looks like he'll start out in AAA-Memphis though.

 

[tidwell]

Good for Rick.

That'd be something if he could make it back as a position player after the awful ending of his pitching career.