Odds and Sods

Though having the third worst record for a playoff team in the history of baseball (83-7 and nearly blowing an 8 1/2 game lead on Sep. 20th, the Cardinals were the last team standing, beating the Tigers 4-1 to earn their 10th World Series title.

Starting Pitching

The Cardinals rotation looks to be a bit of a mess coming into 2007. They were much maligned going into the playoffs last year, and this group looks even worse after losing Jeff Suppan, Jeff Weaver, and Jason Marquis to free agency.

Chris Carpenter remains the ace, after another stellar season last year (15-8 3.09 ERA). Beyond that, however, the starting situation appears to be an enormous black hole.

Kip Wells was a highly regarded Pirates prospect, but had an ERA over 6 last season and has a combined 15-30 record over the past 3 seasons. Anthony Reyes proved dominant in the playoffs, but had an ERA above 5 in the regular season. Adam Wainwright was a reliable closer, replacing injured Jason Isringhausen, but hasn’t proven yet that he can handle the rotation. Ditto for ex-Mets and Marlins closer Braden Looper, who wil be making the conversion to the rotation to fill out the 5th spot. LaRussa limped into the playoffs with his rotation last year and fooled us all, but St. Louis’ starting pitching just looks plain bad.

Bullpen

The Bullpen could be a bit of a question mark as well. Jason Isringhausen is healthy, but his stats from last year should be a bit worrisome. He blew 10 saves in 43 opportunities. His walk-strikeout ratio rose significantly (38-52) as opposed to (27-51) and (18-41) the previous two seasons. He also gave up 10 HR, though he had only given up 11 combined in the previous three seasons. At 35, they will have to hope last season was a hiccup rather than a pattern.

Ricardo Rincon should be a decent veteran arm if healthy, and youngster Brad Thompson has been pretty good in his first two seasons and will hope for more of the same.

They need Adam Wainwright to help stabilize the rotation, so the pen will rely upon Isringhausen. If he is good and can stay healthy, they should be fine. If not, the bullpen could be another liability.

Lineup

As with last season, the lineup will revolve completely around Albert Pujols. We here at Odds and Sods still have yet to discover the reason why any team would bother pitching to him. Left-Fielder Chris Duncan should be an exciting bat next year, he hit 22 HR in only 280 at bats last year. They still have a veteran nucleus with Scott Rolen, Jim Edmonds, and former Angels double play combo Adam Kennedy and David Eckstein, but they have gotten a year older and not necessarily a year better. The lineup will be decent and score some runs.

The Scuttlebutt

Manager Tony LaRussa was arrested last week for drunk driving, but this is St. Louis. The fans and media will be too busy thinking of rainbows and flowers, coming up with cutesy nicknames for their players, and stroking Joe Buck’s ego to focus on any real controversy.

Outlook:Stagnant

In the Darwinian world of Major League Baseball, staying pat is a death sentence. Despite winning the World Series last year, the Cards won a mere 83 games during the regular season, and can’t expect that to be enough to get them in in 2007. Not only have they not improved, but they have quite possibly gotten worse. “They are the Cardinals” is the only real argument for them being a contender this season.