UCB Project: February/March Roundtable

""What are you most looking forward to in the season to come?"
"

Believe me, I'm excited to see a full year of Pujols &Holliday. I can't wait to watch Waino and Carp mow down lineup afterlineup again. But the kids will have a lot of my attention in 2010.

Mike (Stan Musial's Stance): I'm excited to see how Holliday uses his contract and NLDS Game 2 gaffeto motivate himself.  I think he'll have a monster year in 2010.  I'mexcited to see Rasmus settle down and play like the All-Star he canbe.  To see Wainwright freeze someone with a curve ball, Carpenterdominate, Lohse find himself, and how many hats I throw at the radiolistening to Brad Penny labor through 5 innings.

In short, I'm ready to start the season and NL Central title defense.  It promises to be an interesting year for Cardinal fans.

Jeff (5 O'Clock Blogger): I think I'm most eager to see Colby Rasmus take the Great Leap Forward.He'd always produced during the minor leagues, and from Strauss'arcticle from a few days ago it seems he was overwhelmed for much oflast season.

Now that that's past and that he seems to have a betterhandle on the extracurriculars, he can go back to just playing ball.He'll be a fun player to watch. Plus, I picked him as one of my keepersin my fantasy league, so I have a vested interest in his success. :^)

Justin (Intangiball): Thestarting rotation excites me as much as anything. While the lineup issomething of a known quantity, every member of the rotation offers someintrigue. Can Carpenter stay healthy? Will Wainwright build off of hisamazing Cy Young bid? Which side of the Penny is going to turn up? CanLohse find his 2008 form? And of course, who and what can we expect onthe fifth day? (cough..cough..Jamie..cough)

Butmost of all I'm just looking forward to sunny days at the ballpark. Forall of our in depth analysis and stat surfing, it's just a hell of agood time to watch it all unfold.

Travis (Fredbird Follys): I think what I'm most looking forward to is a season where our only arguement for being a contender was having Albert Pujols.

 

Last year was such a big question mark with us wondering ifCarpenter would be healthy enough to see an inning, Wainwright keepingit up all year, Joel Pinero finding his stride, a repeat from Ludwickand we were all kinda wondering who the kid in center field was.

 

Now we have the rotation, we have the bats, we have the talent. Let's go take some names.

 

I'm looking forward to my first summer living in St. Louis andseeing a lot of games at Busch Stadium. I'll probably tell my freakingrandkids about this summer because "I saw back in 2010 when AlbertPujols and Matt Holliday kicked the living [crap--sorry, Travis!] out of every singleteam on a baseball field." (I'll probably be a foul mouthed old geezer)

 

That and beer. I'm really forward to kicking back with an ice coldBudweiser and THEN watching Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday kick theliving [crap] out of everyone who steps onto a baseball field.

Pip (Fungoes): I'm most looking forward to Cardinal fans supporting the organization thisyear. I say that a bit tongue-in-cheek, but talent-wise this is thebest team the Cardinals have had since the 2004-2005 group, andpossibly better. Whether it pans out in the long-term, the Hollidaydeal showed that ownership is committed to winning, so I hope fans willremember that when the team hits a losing streak, if Carpenter misseshalf the season with another injury or if the team gets swept in thefirst-round of Selig Roulette again.

I thank all these guys for putting up with me and giving such great answers.  I've said before one of the things I love about baseball is the daily-ness of it.  I look forward to going home from work, turning on FSN, and watching Pujols and Holliday and Rasmus in the lineup and Carpenter, Wainwright and (hopefully) Garcia in the rotation.  There's going to be a lot to enjoy this year and I can't wait to get to it.