PALM BEACH CARDINALS

NOTE: I somehow forgot to mention that Ankiel is at AA Tennessee, mostly so Yadi Molina, who caught him during his 2001 tenure in Johnson City, can be his caddy. We'll be keeping an eye on him, and yes I liked the move to let him air it out at AA for awhile and he seems in good spirits about it.

If there's a team where the organization thinks much of its future may be, it is in Palm Beach, as that is where the majority of the players from last year's Midwest League Champion Peoria Chiefs have gone. Palm Beach will be playing in "The Rog" also known as Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida, where the Cards have spring training. They won their opener 3-0 last night in what was undoubetdly the best news of the first night of minor league games for Cardinal fans. That's because the winning pitcher for Palm Beach was Chris Narveson, the young lefty who had Tommy John surgery in 2001. He didn't come back until last summer and it was more about getting his stuff back rather than stats. He had advanced to High-A in 2001 and was doing very well when he went under the knife, another in a long line of Cardinal pitching prospects that have had major arm problems. Now he's back in High-A and he pitched seven scoreless innings last night, walking one and striking out five while allowing only three hits. He's a four-pitch pitcher with good command and a good fastball. In a perfect world, he'll dominate the Florida State league and then join the Tennessee rotation in midseason. Despite missing time with the injury, he'll still pitch this entire season at the age of 21. What a great start though.

The pitching staff will also include Peoria's best pitchers down the stretch a year ago, Justin Pope and Tyler Johnson. Pope was a first rounder in 2001 and he knows how to pitch, simply put. He throws a good slider and change and has a decent fastball. His advanced approach to setting up batters and his excellent command allowed him to dominate at Peoria, and the Cardinals expect more of the same in High A this season. Everyone is hoping that he can breeze through High A hitters and then go get tested at AA some time this season. Johnson, another lefty, is apparently on the DL, I'll try to see what I can find out about that. His out pitch is a slurve that was unhittable in Peoria last year.

Rick Asadoorian, Chris Duncan, Tim Lemon, Gabe Johnson, and Shaun Boyd, are all starting position players from Peoria last year. Asadoorian is fast and a great defender but still has to become a better hitter to have a shot at the big time. Duncan, son of the Dave Duncan, is still a bit of a mystery. In what is knd of strange to me, the Cardinals after already having sent Duncan to High A one time for a short stint, elected to keep him in Low A for a third year despite him murdering the ball in 300 at bats there in 2001. And he responded by not having nearly as good of a season. He strikes out a ton and he plays terrible defense, but he won't be 22 until May so he's still on the radar. Lemon is the one of the bunch with the least chance to do anything, but he's a passable hitter and has been designated to stay with the group as they move their way up through the minors. Gabe Johnson is a catcher-turned-third baseman who busted out a bit last year. He hit twenty-six dingers and showed improved strike-zone judgment. He doesn't hit for average and his defense is a bit shoddy, but power and patience are something the farm doesn't have a lot of, and he could become useful, even if just as a trading deaadline chit.

Boyd is the best prospect of the bunch. He still needs a lot of work defensively at second, but he is improving and he is one of the most advanced hitters in the system. He hit .313 with 12 homers and drew 54 walks last year, making him kind of the anti-Vina. The Cards seem much more content to move position players up one step, one season at a time, but if Vina has another poor offensive year and it looks like the Cards won't keep him, Boyd could find himself on the fast track.

Alvin Morrow and Albert Rodgers both spent time in Peoria last year but will probably be career minor-leaguers. The shortstop in the opener was some kid named Milko Jaramillo that I don't really know anything about but he was 2-5 with 2 rbi. Boyd was also 2-5.

If you didn't know much about the farm system before, it should be fairly clear now that what real the Cards have in the minors mostly lies in the pitching, and most of it is still a ways from the bigs. Hence the Cards ranking near the bottom of the organizational rankings. Going into the 2002 season Baseball America had them dead last, and they moved up two spots to no. 28 this season. I would rank them about 25 or 26 because they do have a lot of young pitching. But they are trying to deepen the system and obviously something's working, as the big club has won lots of games the past three years and Albert Pujols, a product of the system is the new Ted Williams. (Albert Ballgame just doesn't have the same ring to it, but who cares?). And don't forget about farm product Matt Morris, his three-run homer he allowed to Royce Clayton notwithstanding.

Okay, hand's starting to hurt again. I may dump in a little about the Peoria team later, but I don't know much about those guys yet. Time to get geared up (drink beer) for the game.

FINAL FOUR!!!!

As I stare out my office window at the Superdome, I see the fans of Marquette, Kansas, Texas, and Syracuse milling about as the teams practice on this beautiful Friday, wishing my Illini were here. But alas, no such luck, and so I am rooting for Kansas and Roy Williams, and then I am rooting for Roy to stay at Kansas so they don't come U of I's wonderful coach, Bill Self.

All right, let's talk about the Tennessee Smokies, the Cardinals new AA affiliate, who won their first game last night 6-5 in eleven innings. This team includes many players from a not-so-good High A Potomac team last year, but there are a few guys who leapfrogged here from Peoria, notably John Nelson and Yadi Molina. Nelson played shortstop at Peoria last year and did well, but he was 23 and probably should have been in Potomac. My thinking is that he probably was there to help ensure a Midwest league title, which he did. He is now the starter at AA and went 2 for 4 with a walk in the opener. Molina's stock has continued to rise as he has continued to show improvement with the bat and continued his wonderful catching defensively. On top of that, all indications are that his birthdate is real, meaning that he's only 21. He's skipping High-A because of the lack of other catching prospects in the system. The Cardianls are assuming that they'll need him sooner than later and that could be as early as some time next year. They even thought about bringing him up to the big league roster to start the season when Girardi went down, before wisely choosing not to. Hopefully Eli is okay enough to start playing again soon so Matheny can get a day off.

One guy from Potomac who is here is Skip Schumaker, a centerfielder from California who had a pretty decent year in 2002. He hits for average and can run and at least has a chance of continuing the trek upward. The guys responsible for the big hits (homers) last night were Dennis Abreu and Jesse Roman. Abreu is unheard of and Roman has only been noticed a little because the only position he can play is first, and he doesn't hit ideally for the position. He's short for first base and he will be 24 in a couple of weeks. He hit the game winning dinger in the 11th last night.

What should make Tennessee better than Potomac was last year is the pitching staff. Cheyenne Janke is staying here after a pretty decent 2002, which is a surprise. He is now 26 and may be losing any chance he has to contribute on the major-league level. Dan Haren is here after dominating A ball. He was a second-round pick in 2001 and he split time between Peoria and Potomac last year, finishing the season as the Cards #1 prospect according to Baseball America. He will likely pitch the full season at AA at the age of 22. Rhett Parrott will start the season in Double-A where he finished last year with 9 good starts after moving up from Potomac. He could get the call to Memphis if he pitches really well. He is 23 and was the starter last night. He allowed four runs in the first, two earned, but then settled down and pitched four more scoreless innings, walking three and striking out 6. Nick Stocks is also in this rotation, but he has largely been a disappointment because of injuries. He was in AA in 2001 before he got hurt and spent 2002 back in A-ball (and still hurt). He is now 24 and fading fast on Cardinals organizational lists. He needs to have a big year if he's ever going anywhere. Tennessee will be the righthanders joint to start the season as all of these guys are righties. B.R. Cook has been a starter for the past two seasons in AA but he came into relieve last night and got the win. I'm not sure if he's making the switch to the pen or not, but like I said, this is his third year in AA, and that doesn't bode well for his future. I think Stocks is starting tonight. I'll be back later to talk about the Cards new high-A affiliate in the Florida State League, the Palm Beach Cardinals.

OPENING NIGHT IN THE MINORS

Last night was the first game for four Cardinal affiliates. The AAA Memphis Redbirds lost 3-2 to Albuquerque (Dodgers). Nerio Rodrgiuez pitched well, allowing two runs on six hits over six innings. The runs came on a homer with two outs in the sixth. Rodriguez is a guy who could help out in St. Louis both as a reliever or a starter if needed. He pitched a few innings with the big club last year. The offense only had six hits, five of them coming from AAA veterans Mike Peeples and Todd Dunwoody. The only position player "prospects" that have much of a chance of doing anything in St. Louis in the future are 1B John Gall and OF Dee Haynes. The Cards farms system is bereft of position players for the most part. Gall is a good hitter, having hit over .300 the last couple seasons. But first base typically is a position for players who were dynamite hitters in the minors. Gall doesn't walk enough to be considered a sure-thing good hitter in the majors and it'll be a lot easier for the Cards to slide Pujols over to first and get another leftfielder after Tino leaves. Haynes had an eye-opening first half last season in AA but he cooled off in the second half and it's looking more and more like a fluke as he struggled in Spring Training and didn't even get to play in last night's opener. If he does play well at AAA, he'll get the at-bats, not Peeples. Haynes is another poor bet to be an impact player in St. Louis because of his poor plate discipline and poor fielding. If he has a future with the Cards or any major-league team, it will probably be as a bat off the bench. He'll play at the age of 25 all season, as will Gall, who turned 25 on Wednesday.

There probably isn't a lot of cause for excitement among the starting pitchers in Memphis either, but the Cards have several relievers who will be in St. Louis at some point this year (and possibly should be already). Matt Duff and Gabe Molina are both in that bullpen, as is Scotty Layfield, who has been under the radar and could be a solid major-league releiver. Duff can be dominant when he throws strikes, but that has been a problem since his brief call-up last summer. Molina I've already talked about. He gave up the winning run in last night's game. Layfield is 26 and has been very tough, if a little too old, at High A and AA the last two seasons. He's a fastball-slider power pitcher and if he is good at AAA, he is cheap option in the bullpen in coming years. Then of course, there's Crudale. He was so good in St. Louis last year and the Cards need him to return to that form. He did get lit up in Spring Training, but I was still very surprised that they sent him down, given his fifty very good innings in the majors last year. Hopefully he is close to recovery and we see him in St. Louis sometime soon.

The one arm in Memphis that everyone is buzzing about is that of Jimmy Journell, a University of Illinois alum, just like me. (GO ILLINI!) Journell was a major hot prospect at this time last year. Seeing how dominant he had been at High A was exciting, and he had been 23, which isn't too too old. He also had pitched one game at AA in 2001 and threw a 7-inning no-hitter. So there was a lot of expectations, which cooled a bit after an injury-plagued 2002. The good news was that when he pitched last season he was good, and that he made it Triple-A. In 103 1/3 innings between AA and AAA he allowed 88 hits and had an ERA of around three, with 98 k's and 36 walks. Clearly, he has the stuff to be a major-league starter, and is more ready than anyone else in the organization to contribute to the big club's success. The issue is health. If he didn't have so many injury problems, he'd be talked about a lot more as a future star. He throws gas and has a nasty slider. He makes his first start of the season tonight for Memphis. It'll be interesting to see what happens if he shows he's fully healthy and starts dominating at AAA. He drew rave reviews this spring in a couple of brief outings.

Also of note at AAA is Kevin Ohme, a journeyman lefty reliever who had a great spring training. The Cards have a lot of lefties, so he might not get a chance. I'll talk about AA Tennessee in a while.

Yo, I'm slowly figuring out how to make my page cooler, but it will take a while. I'm linked to on "Only Baseball Matters" a weblog that is very cool that you should check out. And hopefully people may actually now come to my site and I can stop pretending to post this stuff to someone besides myself. Anyhow, I've put a few links over on the side. Baseball Primer has their Cards preview up. I'll report on the minor leagues a bit tomorrow. The STROS are coming to town, and Brett Tomko will make his Cardinal debut against new Astro Brian Moehler.

El-Dread

Hopefully we've just seen the last workings of Cal Eldred in a St. Louis Cardinal Uniform. Eldred, in the space of about ten pitches, turned what was another breezy win for the Cards into a nail-biter. For the second time in the series, Eldred came into the game with the bases empty and at least a four-run lead, and proceeded to get the tying run to the plate in a hurry. Actually, Steve Kline allowed a single in relief of Eldred which brought up the tying run, but you could hardly blame Kline, who had zero time to warm up because he had to get in so fast to save Eldred from another batter. Kline put out the fire and the Cards won 6-4, completing the sweep of the Brewers and starting 3-0 for the first time since 2000. But it would have been nice to save Kliner for the Astros series. Today would've been three straight days off. Eldred's numbers this year. 7 batters faced, two homers, a double, and three singles. one-third of an inning pitched and five earned runs. The dinger today was courtesy of Royce Clayton again, another three-run job for the new power source in the 8 spot.

What a weird series. Eddie Perez and Royce Clayton, two of the worst offensive players in the league, each hit two homers. Clayton hits two three-run homers for Christ's sakes. And in between, the brewers go scoreless for fifteen straight innings. Yep, Garrett Stephenson was very good today, pitching 6 1/3 and giving up one run on four hits. The run came by way of his last batter, Perez. Fassero pitched another scoreless 2/3 of an inning and Russ Springer looked good for the second straight outing, pitching a scoreless eighth. Then Tony decided to give Eldred another chance. He got Jeffrey Hammonds to ground out, which is the only thing keeping his ERA from being infinity after two appearances. But then it was Monday all over again. I think that even to the most modest baseball fan it would seem to be pretty obvious that Eldred is not cut out for bullpen work. And given that the Cards have Calero, Hermanson, and Jimmy Journell who can all start, I think they might as well cut Eldred, who may be able to help some clubs out as a starter if he can get himself straightened out.

The offense had another good day. Albert had a two-run blast and an rbi double. Rolen had a 2-run single, and Edgar went deep for the first time this year. Add to that another sterling effort by the starter and it's a satisfied Cardinal Nation out there, provided that Cal Eldred won't be taking the hill any time soon. This isn't like the Andy Benes situation of 2001 where we couldn't cut or send him to the minors or we would have to eat tons of money. I don't think he really deserves another chance in a game right now. Of course what I think means dick so we'll see what happens.

Well, now it's on to Houston. The minor league season starts tonight. Maybe I'll talk a bit about AAA Memphis tomorrow. That's all for now. First place baby!!!

Before the game gets going today. I wanted to make a comment about how last night's game is a perfect example of Spring Training stats being totally meaningless in many cases. Woody was dominant, and the offense that so many were worried about after the Cards puny offensive output to finish ST has murdered the ball two games in a row. Some of the Chicken Little's and all of the message board trolls out there have slowed their roll for now, I can't wait to see what happens when we lose a game.

I haven't mentioned anything non-baseball on this blog yet, but here goes. Here's to America's continued ass-kicking of the Saddam Hussein regime and his loyals. I'm rootin for ya boys. Go Cards and God Bless the USA!

THE WOODMAN COMETH

2-0 baby, and it couldn't feel any better. Cardinal fans everywhere were watching with baited breath last night (or listening, in my case), wondering how Woody Williams would fare in his first start of the season. Would he be looking hurt? Would he be the same pitcher that got shelled in Spring Training? Well, Cardinal Nation breathed a huge sigh of relief when the redhead silenced the Brewers to the tune of 6 2/3 scorless innings en route to a 7-0 Redbird victory. Williams didn't even allow a hit until Eduardo Perez naarowly missed Eric Young's gapper and it went for a triple. Mike Matheny, new longer hairdo and all, went 3-4 with 2 RBI, which is really good to see, and Tony managed to get everyone in the bullpen who didn't work on Monday into the game, with another one-batter performance for Jeff Fassero also included. It was 5 pitchers combining on the shutout. I wonder what the record is for most pitchers to combine on a shutout? Anyway, Lance Painter came in and retired the last batter in the seventh. Kiko Calero made his major-league debut and got a couple of outs before loading the bases, then Fassero came in and bailed him out by getting John Vander Wal to pop out to end the eighth. Dustin Hermanson worked a scoreless ninth and the fireworks went off.

Last night would have been a great night to be at the park. It was very warm for an early April game and the Cards were in control the whole way. I probably would have been pretty loaded and pretty poor by the time it was over with. Day game is scheduled for today with the weather expected to be beautiful again. I love day games during the week. Baseball was meant to be played during the day. It gives me something to do at work, too.

Garrett Stephenson will go for the Cards against Matt Kinney, who will be making his first National League start. Kinney spent his career in and out of the minors with the Minnesota Twins organization before being traded to Milwaukee in the offseason. He's a big righty who doesn't have much stuff and pretty much has to get by with knowing how to pitch, which the jury is still out on. He ought to be a good matchup for the Cards bats, but you never can tell when you're talking about just one game. For example, last night's pitcher for th Brewers, Glendon Rusch, has pitched very well against the Cards. He is one of those soft-tossing lefties that seem to give the Cards fits. However, the righthanders tore him up last night. Renteria had 3 hits, Matheny had 3 hits, Perez had a 2-run double. Albert and Scotty both had 2 hits and RBI doubles. I felt good about getting some runs off Rusch even though he has always pitched well against the Cards because it didn't look like he had thrown much in Spring Training. He hadn't pitched in a game for over two weeks and that might have made a difference.

The Cards have never faced Kinney, though Tino (who doubled last night) and Palmeiro have both faced him. Palmeiro is 3-7 against him so he could play right today with Eli in center and Edmonds sitting. Jimmy was 0-3 last night but apparently just missed a three-run dong in the first inning when it sliced foul. Of the few Brewers that have faced Stephenson, none have fared particularly well. Royce Clayton, Eric Young (who has been on fire the first two games of this series), Richie Sexson, and Jeffrey Hammonds have gone a combined 6-33 against Stephenson. First pitch, 12:10. I'll return later.

Hey! Scroll Down past my first comments from yesterday to read about the rotation. I posted that today but it says it was posted yesterday for some reason. Let's talk about the bullpen and then enough of this preview crap, it is making my hands hurt.

Dave Veres and Rick White, two vital cogs in last years bullpen, have been jettisoned. Joey Hamilton and Al Levine, the team's two name free agent signings this offseason, both were cut. Jason Isringhausen is on the DL for the time being. What does that leave the Cards with? Nerves and Non-Roster Invitees. Hello Cal Eldred, Lance Painter, and Russ Springer, and Kiko Calero, all of whom were afterthought signings in the offseason as Cards fans waited for a more significant acquisition. Welcome back, Dustin Hermanson, after a nightmarish season in Boston that saw him pitch only 22 innings because of injuries. 4/7 of the current bullpen did not throw a pitch in the majors last year. Eldred has been out of baseball for almost two full seasons, Painter sat out last year following arm surgery, same with Springer, and Calero is a career minor leaguer. And Hermanson missed most of last year too. The only holdovers at the present time are Steve kline and Jeff Fassero, and they are the two that went unscathed through opening day.

Springer, the best righty in camp, came on in the 8th and looked good, striking out two, but he also gave up a flukish homerun to Eddie Perez that hit the foul pole just over the top of the wall in left field. However, his performance looked like mastery next to Eldred's. After Fassero started the 9th by getting a groundout, I assumed Tony would just leave him in, and I liked the move. Fassero closed for the first six weeks for the Cubs in 2001 and has the experience. But with the Cards up 11-7, TLR decided this was the perfect time to get Eldred, who has always been a starter, a chance to work at relieving with no pressure. 4 run lead, two outs to get, the perfect time. Well, I was not real happy with the move, as I figured maybe we would at least be able to get through Opening Day without as Post-Dispatch columnist Jeff Gordon calls it, "the nightly parade of a thousand relievers" But I wasn't too steamed until Eldred came in and promptly gave up a double to Eric Young, a mammoth homer to Richie Sexson that everyone could see coming from a mile away, and a single to Keith Ginter. All three hits were absolutely smoked, and Eldred had absolutely nothing behind or on his pitches. For all I've heard about his good stuff, it is very apparent that he is not comfortable working in relief, that he needs more time to ready himself. Will he be able to adjust? I don't know, but if not, the Cards have other options. The Eldred story is a good story, and I'd love to see the guy do well, but if he can't hack it in the bullpen, send him to Mephis and use him as insurance in case a starter goes down.

Kline came in and finished the game off, getting Jeffrey Hammonds to line out and then striking out Wes Helms. Clearly, TLR isn't ready to put Hermanson into a game when it's on the line, as he and Kline were both warming up and he sent Kline in to pitch to two righthanders. I think Hermanson can be a valuable guy in the middle innings. His last appearance as a Cardinals was Game 4 of the 2001 NLDS, where he came on and retired all nine batters he faced. We need a guy who can go three innings every few days and hopefully that's what Hermy will bring. He likes it in St. Louis and I think that could help him this season.

We didn't get to see Painter or Calero on Monday. Painter was good enough in the spring that the Cards kept him as a third lefty in the pen (drawing plenty of snickers from some statheads I'm sure, but how many other options did they have?) and sent Rick Ankiel to AA-Tennessee. He has been an effective reliever when used in the right way. He didn't give up a run for like the first month of 1999 when he was a Cardinal, but they eventually put him into the rotation and he suffered. If his outings are kept short and sweet, I won't worry about him. Calero was one of those mignor-league free agent signings that only the obsessed among us notice in the offseason. BP had it has one of their top 5 minor-league free agent signings of the offseason. The bottom line is that Kiko Calero has been good at every level he has pitched at. He isn'nt getting a shot with the Royals because well, they're the Royals. If you're not 22 or 23 with a high risk and high upside, they're not interested. The Cards had already sent him to minor-league camp where he was expected to be the ace at Memphis, but after a few late-inning meltdowns, he was called back. He was flawless working out of the bullpen and so here he is, on the Opening Day major league roster. It remains to be seen what role he'll fill, but I hope Tony isn't afraid to use him because he looks like he knows how to pitch.

Mike Crudale figured to be the top righty setup man this season but after a good start in Jupiter, he totally lost it, finishing with an astronomical ERA before being sent to minor-league camp to work on his mechanics. From all reports, he seems to have recovered and could be getting a quick call-up if someone (Eldred) struggles. Ankiel was beter this spring. He had two really bad outings which hurt his small sample-size stats, but he didn't allow a run in over half of his appearances and had good control most of the time. The Cards are making a smart move by sending him to AA where Yadi Molina will catch him. If he continues to improve, he could see time in the majors before all is said and done this season. But the pressure for him to be in St. Louis will not be there, as the Cardinals have plenty of lefty relievers.

One guy who I do hope to see in St. Louis at some point is Gabe Molina. He had one bad outing in the Spring that hurt his numbers but overall he was pretty good. He was tough last year in a his short stint with the big club, pitched well in Winter Ball and I believe that he will definitely be in the bullpen at some point in St. Louis.

Izzy, we need you NOW. He pitched again last night, this time to the Bradley University Braves baseball team. He gave up a homerun off the foul pole to BU's best power hitter, and then signed the ball "Thanks for Screwing Up My Day, Nice Swing, Jason Isringhausen" Thought that was pretty funny. It looks like Izzy is still feeling his way, but he's pitching pain free and that's good. I'm hoping he'll be back in two weeks. By the way, Simo pitched the other six innings of the game, giving up no runs and striking out eight. Yes it is a college team, but Simo looks ready to pick up where he left off last year, as at least an average starter, which is better than what a lot of teams have in the five hole of the rotation. The fact that he pitched last night confirms that he will start Sunday against Roy Oswalt. Good luck there.

Okay, there you have it. I've typed all of the previewing that I'm doing. To sum up, the offense will be great and the pitching will have to hold it together. I think the defense could play a major role in our success this year. That's all for now. I'll be back later today to talk about tonight's game and other random baseball and non-baseball musings.

continuing the 2003 preview with a look at THE PITCHING STAFF. Cards are BACK IN ACTION today with a 7:10 pm slate against the brew crew. I'm trying to integrate my comments about opening Day in with the rest of the previews, in case you haven't noticed.

The STARTING ROTATION wasn't set until late in Spring Training and it hasn't exactly been something to write home to Mama about. Matt Morris is the undisputed ace of the staff, yesterday was his second consecutive opening day start. He was a lot better on Opening Day 2002, as Monday he gave up five earned runs in seven innings, including homers by Royce Clayton and Eric Young. Royce Clayton? Eric Young? Matty Mo, say it ain't so! The pair had combined for 142 homers in over 10,000 AB's going into yesterday. Roughly, they average a dinger once every 70 AB's with Clayton hitting them almost 50 percent more often then Young. Allowing homers to these fools on the same day might be enough to send some borderline pitchers back to Triple-A. Morris said he had opening-day nerves and boy, I hope he's right. He hasn't really pitched that well this spring and his velocity hasn't been where it was in 2001, not to the point where he can be so over-agressive and get roughed up a bit like he did Monday (actually I watched portions of the game on tape last night and his velocity looked better than I expected). I'm keeping my fingers crossed because the Cards need Morris if they are going to win anything this year. When he's on, he throws two different fastballs plus one of the nastiest curves out there. We'll be watching closely, he is scheduled to start against the Astros on Sunday. Morris threw 106 pitches yesterday.

Woody Williams is the #2 starter, scheduled to go today against lefty Glendon Rusch. Woody has been a new pitcher since he came to the Cards in the 2001 swap for Ray Lankford. The problem is that he was also a hurt pitcher for the majority of last year. He has allowed more than three runs I think just twice, maybe three times in his 28 starts as a Redbird. Last year, he hurt his oblique muscle in the second inning of his first start and was off and on the rest of the season. He took it really easy on his side this Spring and as a result got hammered. But he claimed that he was figuring out how to pitch without risking injury and that he felt good about it. He pitched six scoreless innings on Friday against the Cards high-A team. Nothing to get too excited about, but he should be ready to go today, especially if the Brewers punchless lineup remembers who they are. Walt panicked and gave Woody $13 million for two years, one of the few really bloated contracts handed out this offseason. It was a terrible risk for a pitcher who had such injury problems last season, but at least the problems weren't arm related. Still, it hurt the Cards payroll flexibility and they really need Woody to deliver this year and stay off the DL. When he has been healthy, he has been dominant as a Cardinal.

After losing Chuck Finley (maybe) and Andy Benes, Walt decided he needed another innings guy, and the Cards traded the inconsistent Luther Hackman to the Padres for Brett Tomko. Tomko is one of those enigmatic pitchers, who will look all-world one outing, and terrible the next. He was among the top 10 in flakiest starters in the National League on Baseball Prospectus' website (actually I think Morris was too). Anyway, Duncan thinks there is something he can do with this guy. He was more of the same in Spring Training. He had some outings where got hit pretty hard, and he had some outings where he didn't hardly get hit at all. It seemed to be more of the latter, which is a good thing. Tomko can easily win 15 games with the run support and defense he'll have in St. Louis. He'll be taking the ball on Friday against Houston, a tough first test for the new acquisition. He has 4.46 ERA in his career compared to a league average of 4.26 over that span. He has only been under the league average during his rookie season.

Garrett Stephenson is the fourth starter. This dude is weird. He makes all of these quotes in the paper and i'm not really sure what he means by some of them. In Spring Training it was that he wouldn't be surprised to be traded. On Saturday, it was that he was letting the AAA team hit the ball (they beat the Cards 6-3, Stephenson allowed five runs in five innings.) TLR was none too pleased by this revelation, saying he would have told Stephenson to pitch a practice game if that was his attitude. Whatever the case, Stephenson is starting tomorrow's day game against the Brewers, a good move because he seems to pitch better during the day. When healthy, Stephenson has been a league-average pitcher, or slightly better. He doesn't walk many and he fools guy with his off-speed stuff. Last year, he wasn't healthy, and his walk rate showed it. He walked 25 batters in 45 innings. He pronounced himself healthy going into Spring Training and pitched quite well for the most part, with his walk rate dropping back to it's previous low levels. He'll git hit occasionally, but the Cards can deal with that as long as he is consistently going deep into ballgames, something he did not do last year. He pitched five scoreless innings against the D-Backs late in the season but was left off the playoff roster. I think he feels he's got something to prove this season. Another injury risk, but he has looked fine so far in 2003.

Jason Simontacchi was one of the feel-good stories of 2002. An independent-leaguer who had played baseball in Italy and in several major league farm systems, finally got a shot with the Cards last year and did pretty darn well. He went 11-5 with a 3.91 ERA. Was it a fluke? Possibly, especially considering he walked 54 and struck out 72 in 143 innings, and was also somewhat hit lucky. But he has a knack for putting the ball right where he wants to and that could lead to him sticking for a few years. He certainly kept doing the same thing in Spring Training, not missing many bats, but not giving up many hits either. We'll see if this can continue. There have only been a few pitchers that have had sustained success when they have peripherals like Simontacchi, at least when you look compared to the league average. I mean, back in the day, very few pitchers, struck guys out. Things are different now. Simo will be getting his first start on Sunday, I beleive, unless TLR decides he wants to give Morris an extra day of rest, which is doubtful.

Chuck Finley is still a possibility to return. The Cards can't sign him until May 1 but he's still out there, and if another team signed him ,they would have to give the Cards a high-draft choice as compensation since St. Louis offered him arbitration. He could be a rotation stabilizer. He'd be the only lefty and we know he's a workhorse. We'll wait and see how that situation develops. Chris Carpenter I'm not sold on yet. When I saw that the Cards signed Carpenter, who can't pitch until July at the earliest, I was excited at first. But I then thought about it and looked at his stats and he didn't look that great. I guess I need to remember that he did pitch in the American League and that he had ERA's in the low 4's in the height of the Homerun/Offense Era of 98-99. He's a big guy but not really a power pitcher. Maybe he'll be able to throw harder after he comes back, who knows. It's a mystery if the Cards will get anything out of him this season but if they did he'd be a great addition at the trading deadline and the Cards wouldn't even have to give anything up for him. His career ERA is right around league average.

WOO-HOO!!!! CARDS WIN!! CARDS WIN!! Well, it wasn't pretty but it's a win on Opening Day and that's all you can ask for. I was on a plane for the majority of the game, racing home as the Cards rallied to take the lead, and turning on the TV just in time to see the celebration form Rolen's dinger. Then I go to watch one of those patented Tony LaRussa three reliever ninth innnings that we all love so much. I'll talk more about the game later today but I want to continue with a review of the team that will probably become more abbreviated as it goes along.

THE OUTFIELD should be one of the best in all of baseball when it is all there and fully healthy. LEFT FIELDER Albert Pujols is on okay young player. Riiiiiiggghhhtttt. Albert Pujols is A STUD. He is coming off possibly the best two opening seasons in baseball history and he might also be my idol if I had one. How can a guy so young be so good. Well, a lot of people don't believe that he really turned 23 in January, they are thinking more like 26. I like to believe the former, because it's good for the Cardinals and because I have had more evidence for it than I have for the latter. However old he is Albert is just an incredible hitter. He pounds the ball to all fields, he walks at a good rate, he much tougher to strike out than most guys with his power, and he' s a smart baserunner, as well as extremely versatile defensively. His arm is good enough when combined with his accuracy to play left field for now, and a trip to First Base could be in his future. If you're a Cardinal fan, there's nothing more exciting than thinking about he fact that Albert will be a Cardinals for at least the next four years, and hopefully about ten more after that.

Albert's numbers pretty much dipped across the board last year, but by a very small amount. 3 homers, 3 rbi's, 15 points of BA and sixty or so points of OPS. On the other hand his walks and runs scored went up. Face it, it's hard to follow up a season lik he had in 2001. 271 runs created in his first two years in the Big Leagues. Just stay healthy dog. Albert was 1-3 with 2 BB's and an RBI single yesterday. We'll talk more about his second walk later.

Mr. Jim Edmonds was alive and well in CENTER FIELD yesterday, much to the delight of Cardinal Nation. He singled in the fifth and was pinch run for by Kerry "Reading Rainbow" Robinson. Edmonds Home Run and RBI numbers were down last year, partially due to a stint on the DL. But those who watched the Cards and know baseball know that Jim might have had his best year offensively last year when he was in the lineup, at least in an overall sense. His OBP of .420 was a career best, 89 points above the league average. He created only five fewer runs and made twenty-six fewer outs than in 2001, in 32 fewer AB's. Even compare it to his bust out season of 2000. In 2002, he created fourteen fewer runs and made 41 fewer outs in 67 fewer plate appearances than 2000. 2000 looks better, but in 2000 the league average OBP was 20 points higher, and the league average SLG was 32 points higher. So Jimmy Jack had his best year ever in comparison to the rest of the league in 2002. In fact, he might have been the third best offensive player in the NL (behind Bonds and Giles) for most of the season, granting Guererro and Sosa might have gotten him by the end. Either way, the Cardinals have the best offensive center fielder in the National League. The only better one in baseball is Bernie Williams. And I've got both of them on my fantasy team. (My fantasy team kicks ass). Here's hoping to a speedy recovery from any lingering calf ailments. I wouldn't be surprised to see Edmonds sit on Wednesday, since I think the Cards will be facing Glendon Rusch, a lefty, and so he can have two full days to rest his calf.

RIGHT FIELD is a total clusterfuck right now. The starter in the absence of J.D. Drew is Eli Marrero, who is also the backup catcher due to the injury to Joe Girardi. By the way, I wanted to clarify that I am not happy that Joe Girardi is hurt. I would never want anyone to be hurt. But I think him not being on the Cardinals roster makes them a better team and I think that it is time for Joe Girardi to retire. He seems like a great guy and no Cardinals fan will ever forget what he did on the day Daryl Kile died, but if the injury is career threatening, don't come back Joe. Enjoy your money and your World Series rings. We'll see how much time Eli gets behind the plate while this situation is resolved.

Ah yes, Eli. Eli has a very interesting and intriguing skill set. He can catch or play center field. He hit eighteen homers and stole fourteen bases last year. And he can catch. It's very odd. Eli had the year that many Cards fans had been waitng for since he was real young. Thyroid Cancer held him back, but he busted out a bit last year. He helped the Cards at several positions. If only he could take a walk. Eli's biggest problem is that he swings at everything. Doesn't he see how great walking is. Yesterday after he had made outs the first three times at the plate ,including 2 k's, he decided he'd take a walk. Look what happened, RALLY TIME. Getting on base via the walk is every bit as good as a single, some times better, because the pitcher has to throw more pitches. If Eli could discipline himself at the plate better he'd be looking at an .850 OPS. He actually got over the 1BB per 10 AB's hump last year, but if he didn't swing at so much of the breaking crap he did, he would have had 20 extra BB's or else his batting average would have gone way up. Keep at it Eli, and try to avoid colliding with Fernando like yesterday. We need you.

I don't really want to talk much about J.D. Drew right now just because it makes me nauseous. All I can say is that if he really doesn't play regularly until June, and he puts on the same performance as in 2002, I hope he is happy with his new team in 2004. This guy has teased us for too long. What we saw for the first half of 2001 was Mickey Mantle's second coming. Since then it's been morel lik Mickey Mouse. There has been talk about activating him and using him sparingly in mid-to-late April. I doubt it will happen, not given Drew's history, and the way TLR likes to deal with injury. Yes, I bought a J.D. Drew jersey at the height of DREEEWWWW hysteria in 2001. It's a nice-looking jersey, I just wish it had a different name on the back. I hope J.D. makes me change my tune sometime this season.

Welcome to St. Louis, Orlando Palmeiro. Nice triple yesterday. Well, we finally got a bench guy that I really like in Palmeiro. He can play both corners in the outfield he hits .300 every year and he draws walks. No power to speak of, but any guy that gets on base can be useful as a spare part. It's nice to have a lefty bat on the bench that can actually hit.

Yes, that means I'm dissing Kerry Robinson, who looks incredibly similar to Lavar Burton, hence the Reading Rainbow reference earlier. K-Rob simply cannot hit major league pitching well enough to play for this team. I just don't like what he brings to the table, namely, nothing, other than speed. But speed is only used well when you're actually on base, not sprinting back to the dugout after another out. Yesterday, though, K-Rob laid down a Whiteyball style bunt that drove in the go ahead run and apparently he made a great catch in center. Way to go Kerry, but I still hope you get sent to the minors when Drew returns. Had Alex Ochoa decided to stay with the team it would've been Bye-Bye Kerry. The Cards would've been a lot better off guaranteeing Ochoa money than Joey Hamilton. Anyhow, Kerry may still get his ticket to Memphis when Drew returns, but for now he has the 25th spot over So Taguchi. Taguchi had a better spring hitting the ball than last, much better, but K-Rob is faster and a better bunter and though Taguchi has made some great defensive plays and has that great reputation with the glove, he also made some shoddy fielding plays this Spring. So may still get his chance to be on the bench this season. After all, we're paying him a million bucks this year and next. Whoops on that one Walt.

Mmm-Kay enough for now, I'll get to the pitching staff in all its fragility later.