2008 St Louis Cardinals: A lot to hate but still some to Love

Look I am an eternal optimist, but, the outlook for my hometown team The St. Louis Cardinals is less than exhilarating.  Their pitching staff looks very broken down at the moment.  

There are question marks all over the field like: How will the middle infield perform? Which Troy Glas will show up to play? How healthy is Pujols' elbow? How will Ankiel adjust throughout the season to pitching? When will Colby Rasmus be brought up?

But despite all this negativity, there still are some rays of hope for this team. When Colby does get called up, it will immediately reenergize the fan base. If he does well, then he could be crowned a saint.  Even if Pujols' elbow is still hurting him, he hasn't shown that much this spring, and that’s great news for our most dangerous hitter. 

Yadier Molina has a new contract and is always a force behind home plate.  But lately he has been a force at the dish as well as behind it. Adam Wainwright also has a new contract and looks poised for another double digit win season.  The 26 year-old right hander will be relied upon heavily this season—especially with most of our starting staff on the shelf until mid April at least.  And last but not least, most of our bullpen is coming back, and relief pitching was one of our biggest strengths from last season.

I predict the Cardinals will finish with a record between .500 and 10 games below.