2011 MLB Preview: Why The St. Louis Cardinals Will Not Be As Good As Expected
The Cardinals were widely expected to win the National League Central last season. The acquisition of Matt Holliday was expected to provide some pop for the lineup and protect Pujols well - which he did. A fully recovered Chris Carpenter was predicted to be back to his old Cy Young form - which he was. There were many reasons why the Cardinals should have shown a better record in the standings, yet they weren't able to beat out the Reds for the division crown.
There is reason to believe that the Cardinals might be back at the top of the division this year, however I have some very reasonable arguments that show they may not be up to full potential and that distractions and problems in the lineup could arise.
300 Million Dollar Baby: Albert Pujols
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Does Albert Pujols deserve a contract for 10 years and $300 million? Does anyone in the history of sports deserve that kind of money? My answer is no, but some are certainly willing to argue that there are people out there. Not only the amount of money Albert’s asking for, but for 10 years? Pujols has a bad forearm and is likely going to get hurt in at least two of those seasons. Also, the money makes him nearly impossible to trade. No team is going to want that type of money coming into their system. I think in this case, Pujols is to blame for the negotiation problems. If he can’t accept $250 million for 10 years fine, go somewhere else. Destroy the game of baseball and let the Yankees or Red Sox or Dodgers sign him.
The reason that this is going to be a problem is how much it could affect the way Pujols plays. Imagine if he is unable to sign a trade before tomorrow at noon, or possibly Thursday according to new speculations. If he finishes this season with the Cardinals and intends on going elsewhere, he will receive so much hatred. Fans will jeer and murmur. There will be whispers in the clubhouse amongst his team mates. Rumor mills will buzz of his name and on-line blogs will be spitting out false facts right and left.
Every other morning edition of SportsCenter will mention potential money he’ll receive or potential teams he will go to. Lots of respect will be lost from Pujols if he can’t accept making $25 million – or less – per year, which is about $24.9 million more than the average person has. He’s being incredibly greedy and is clearly unaware that players exist such as Joey Votto, winning the NL MVP over Pujols last year and made $500 thousand; there is Josh Hamilton who was the best player in the American League last year, and he just signed a contract in which he will bring in $12 million per year – just over a third of what Pujols is asking. He needs to think about those numbers then maybe he’ll reconsider asking for this unhealthy amount of money.
The Money They Spent... and The Money They Didn't Spend
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Are you kidding me St. Louis? You just picked up Lance Berkman? Lance Berkman batted .248 last season with the Yankees and Astros. The Cardinals have the best first baseman in the past decade who they’re having trouble signing – so why are they signing liabilities like Berkman? Berkman can’t play defense for his life, especially now that the Cards are trying to switch him to right field. Why right field? Across the outfield, left to right respectively, they should be expecting to play Holliday, Rasmus, Jay. All three of them will be big contributors to the offense, maybe even bigger than Berkman. There is nowhere for the guy to play and chances are he won’t even be able to play in 82 games considering how injury prone he is and due to the fact that he likely won’t even start.
Ryan Theriot is a different story. They traded him to get some middle of the infield offense but I still don’t think he is a very important addition – not much over last year’s Schumaker and Ryan. Why are they picking up all these not-so-good veterans when they could have resigned and kept Ludwick. Had they have done this, they could have played Ludwick at first base – traded Pujols for 5 top notch prospects – and still had the money to pick up Derek Jeter for the $50 million he is asking for over 3 years. That entire contract is how much Pujols is asking for in two years. Especially considering the age of the Cardinals pitching staff – if I were them I’d have gone for pitching prospects rather than Theriot.
The National League Central
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Believe it or not, this is one of the largest reasons the Cardinals will come up far more empty handed then they are being predicted to. The Cincinnati Reds, likely the Cardinals’ biggest competition, went more than 4 games over .500 last year against all NL Central teams besides the Cardinals. St. Louis, on the other hand, went over .500 against just two teams – the Reds and Pirates. It seems like they went 0-9 in their last 3 series against Pittsburgh to close out the year. The problem is, you cannot win a division by doing this. Expect the Reds and Brewers and Cubs to be even more competitive this year. How do the Cardinals expect to win the Central crown then?
The Brewers pitching added an ace and a strong second starter to go along with Yovani Gallardo. The entire Reds rotation has matured – and Arroyo has now been given the job as the ace, making him a leader of the team. Aroldis Chapman will be up the entire season – good luck hitting him Berkman. The Cubs added Matt Garza. J.A. Happ will face the Cardinals far more times than he did last year. The pitching in the division will add to the struggles that the Cardinals are already having against the rest of the Central.
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