2008 St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals come in to 2008 with a roster that barely resembles that of the team that won the World Series just two year ago. While injuries didn’t help their chances of repeating in 2007, they still managed to finish third in the Central. The Cardinals are trying to ease into a transition of bringing in young talent to get rid of the old. They traded away CF Jim Edmonds to the Padres and 3B Scott Rolen to Toronto. The team also lost their spark plug in SS David Eckstein who will play along side Rolen in Toronto. The team answered the problem at third bring in Troy Glaus in the Rolen trade. They signed veteran SS Cesar Izturis to fill in for Eckstein. While the offense brought in some new faces, the pitching staff is just hoping that they can get starters Mark Mulder and Chris Carpenter back in time to make a run at the division. 2008 should see its ups and downs, but overall it should be a better year than 2007.

Pitching:

How this unit performs before they get Mulder back in May and Carpenter back around July will most likely determine the success of their season. The team will count on former relievers Adam Wainwright and Braden Looper to lead the unit to start the year. We believe that Wainwright is the real deal and will only get better with experience. Looper on the other hand we aren’t so sure. He did win 12 games, but he posted an ERA around 4.94. We will be surprised if Looper is able to repeat his 12-win season in 2008. Veteran Joel Pineiro should be the number 3 starter when the season rolls around. The team is hoping that the signing of Matt Clement will work out and he is able to return from injury and pitch like he did with the Cubs and Red Sox. The team is also hoping promising young prospect Anthony Reyes can bounce back from an awful 2007 where he went 2 – 14. The bullpen is still led by veteran closer Jason Isringhausen, who had a solid 2007 saving 32 games. Ryan Franklin and Russ Springer will be the key guys coming into to hold onto the lead in 7th and 8th innings. When the team gets their two big horses back by the middle of the season it will be interesting to see how this unit shakes up.

Offense:

When you have 1B Albert Pujols in the middle of your lineup you know that he will find a way to put runs on the board. Pujols is one of the best hitters in baseball, maybe only second to Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez. The team found gold in former pitcher now outfielder Rick Ankiel. Ankiel had 11 HR and 39 RBIs in just 47 games. The team is hoping RF Chris Duncan can improve his numbers from 2007 after having season-ending surgery to repair a sports hernia. 3B Glaus should improve on the numbers put up by Rolen last season. 2B Adam Kennedy will have to back bounce from his worst year at the plate. The team is still trying to figure out what they are going to do to replace Edmonds in center. They are hoping the young very talented Colby Rasmus will be able to take over by seasons end. Until he is ready look for the team to move Ankiel to center and have a few different players share duties in RF.

Defense:

While they won’t be able to replace the Gold Glove ability of Edmonds in center and Rolen at third, they still have one of the best defense catchers in Yadier Molina and first basemen Albert Pujols. Molina threw out 54% of base stealers last year before going down with a knee injury. Izturis is known to have a good glove at short, but where the team will lack most is in replacing the glove of Edmonds.

Prediction:

While this team has a lot of the keys in what you look for in winning teams, pitching and defense is what wins games. We just don’t think they will have enough pitching to still be in contention when they get their aces back and in full strength. We like the Cardinals to finish 4th in the Central, but don’t be surprise if this team is back and on top the division in 2009.

2008 St. Louis Cardinals Odds to Win World Series 50 – 1

For every team’s odds head over to Sportsbook.com and check them out. You can also go to Sportsbook.com to look at the odds for teams to win their division or league pennant. Feel free to leave any comments in the comment section.

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