With Spring Training wrapping up today and our St. Louis Cardinals heading west to Arizona to take on the Diamondbacks on Opening Day, I thought it would be the perfect time to discuss what we are going to be looking forward to this season.

Matt Carpenter

Here we go!

5. Who will step up? Year after year, it’s never obvious. Last season it was Lance Lynn, Daniel Descalso and Pete Kozma. The year before it was Chris Carpenter, Lance Berkman and David Freese. Every year, someone takes your breath away with how well they step up to the challenge of playing for this team. It’s a beautiful thing! My bets on who steps it up? Obviously? Matt Carpenter. He worked hard this off season to become as versatile as possible in the field in order to get his bat in the line up. You have to admire a player willing to do whatever it takes. But I do think we will be wow’d by several members of this team.

4. Pete Kozma and the Shortstop Conundrum. He won the starting job after kicking it into high gear last season after Rafael Furcal went down. And he just kept it up in the Spring. No matter what the arm chair GMs say, Pete has earned this opportunity and I am pleased that he is getting it.  Let’s let the guy play and prove himself worthy or not before we trade off Matt Adams and Shelby Miller for Troy Tulowitzki — an arm chair  trade proposition that still blows my mind. Some people are super crazy! So… Give him the chance. He’s proven he has quite the bat. He can field and has range. We will know pretty quickly if the Cardinals are needing a drastic change. Descalso is a decent back up and Ryan Jackson and Greg Garcia are going to be excellent options at some point. I know some folks just want the future to be now though… But. Let’s not do that, OK! » Continue reading “Real Baseball? Hooray! It’s Just Days Away”

With March Madness in full effect this weekend it means only one thing. Yes, basketball of course. But it also means that opening day is just around the corner in Major League Baseball and we get to see just how well our beloved St. Louis Cardinals are going to do this season.

Yay!

With that said. There were a ton of questions we all had going into Spring Training that we hoped would be answered by now. What questions have been answered? What questions remain? Let’s discuss!

* Pitching? Chris Carpenter is out. Jaime Garcia is doing much better than I expected … not amazing but he’s doing better than last season. Adam Wainwright is the ace and is looking for a big pay day before the season starts. Lance Lynn and Jake Westbrook are slim and, for some of you, arguably pitching effectively. The remaining question has been the final spot in the starting rotation being battled out by Shelby Miller and Joe Kelly. Good problem to have but things look to be tipping toward Shelby getting the job and Joe going to the bullpen for long relief. The option of Joe and Trevor Rosenthal in long relief is amazing. There are good options in the minors too with John Gast, Seth Maness and Michael Wacha. The St. Louis Cardinals have pitching. So many options. And for that I am pleased. It’s a problem we haven’t been blessed with in a long time.

* Middle Infield? So Rafael Furcal is out after having Tommy John surgery. Pete Kozma is the projected starting shortstop. Matt Carpenter and his bat are the expected second baseman and will share time with Daniel Descalso. Daniel is quite versatile and will be able to help out not only at second, but can back up David Freese at third and Kozma at short. The fan base seems to want there to either be another veteran presence at short or go ahead and have inconsistent-as-hell Ryan Jackson and top prospects Greg Garcia  and  Kolten Wong available RIGHT NOW. It will be smart in the long run to have Garcia and Wong in Memphis getting at bats. And Jackson too for that matter. Maybe they will be able to trade for a veteran shortstop to help with Kozma. But… let’s let Kozma have a chance. Please!  » Continue reading “What Questions Remain With 10 Days Til Opener”

Rafael Furcal

On Thursday several of the questions we as St. Louis Cardinals fans had were answered. With those answers came more questions, though. Let’s discuss!

Rafael Furcal. Last fall, we all remember Furcal hurt the ligament in his elbow on his throwing arm. This paved the way for a pretty impressive final month and equally impressive postseason for Pete Kozma. Furcal decided that he wanted to avoid surgery and opted instead to rest and let the ligament heal on its own.

Well. You know how well that usually goes.

That’s right.

Not well at all.

Furcal is going to have Tommy John surgery under the care of Dr. James Andrews. It has been reported that a position player can recover from this surgery in eight months. So, Furcal is going to miss all of the 2013 season. … Guess what? Had he went ahead with the  surgery in the fall he could have been ready for play by early to mid season. But, by waiting, he does have a full season and then some to recover. … This was the final year of a two year contract. So. That’s. Great. Right? Yeah!

So this does leave us with the question of who plays shortstop. Obviously, Kozma has earned a shot. But, just as suspected, the armchair general managers of Twitter and the Interwebs have all the answers!

Get this straight! » Continue reading “Questions Answered And More Arise”

Every week, it seems, Wednesday rolls around and here we are talking about Rafael Furcal again. Trouble is, ever since last August the things we’ve had to say about him haven’t been terribly pleasant. Torn ligament. Opting for a surgery-free recovery method. Slow healing process. Should be 100%. Isn’t 100%. Not even 50%. Now there’s a bone spur. Can’t throw. Can’t hit. More pain and inflammation. Shut down completely, seeking Dr. Andrews’s opinion on how to proceed.

Opening day? Doubtful. The 2013 season? Honestly? Questionable.

Here’s the latest from John Mozeliak himself:

Mozeliak said it was his understanding now that surgery won’t necessarily be recommended this time either. But he didn’t want to speculate until the second opinion, beyond that of Dr. George Paletta, the Cardinals’ medical supervisor, had been offered.

“We’ve sent many players to Andrews who don’t have surgery,” said Mozeliak.

But, he said, “Furcal’s situation is up in the air. We don’t know the answer as we sit here on March 4. I can envision us by mid- to late week that we’ll have some finality of direction where we’re going. Right now, we’re in that great area of unknown.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m not such a fan of this “unknown” he speaks of …

What isn’t unknown is this — Furcal is out of the equation now, and potentially for the long haul. If he does end up having surgery, his season is done. If he doesn’t heal enough to feel like he can pick up a baseball without his elbow swelling up, his season is also done. I’m not aiming for doom and gloom here, but there is a very real possibility we don’t see Furcal spend any kind of significant time on the field in 2013. Basically, if he is healthy, it’s a bonus.

Not long ago (but long enough that baseball was still just a conversation about the near future), I was talking with some baseball fans about what the Cardinals needed most this year to give themselves the best chance of winning. As many others have, I pointed to the middle infield, claiming Furcal was the key piece to the Cardinals puzzle. Not that, per se, the team would live or die based on his ability to play, but that, without doubt, his presence — or lack thereof — would dictate how the team could operate.

To keep a long story relatively short, I went on to explain (keep in mind, this was pre-Cedeno) how you could move the pieces around to fill Furcal’s void: Pete Kozma ended 2012 at short stop and could “fill in” (permanently) there again, but he’s relatively unproven. You could move Matt Carpenter to second, and slide Daniel Descalso to short, at the expense of second base defense for that of a quick glove at short. Or, you take a risk on Ryan Jackson who is entirely unproven, and, frankly, doesn’t seem to have the trust of the club. But, if he can’t hack it, and Matty Carp isn’t settled and Dirty Dan has to man second … you get Pete Kozma.

My friend, who sat back and watched the other grizzled baseball guys react to that logic, was quite impressed with my “point-A-to-point-B,” if-then hypothesis.

Impressed or not, you still end up with Pete Kozma. » Continue reading “Furcal Is Out. Is Kozma In?”

As the St. Louis Cardinals enjoy their first of three days off during spring training 2013, just one request for all of us who are fans of the team.

RELAX.

So many stressed out Cards fans these days, especially over shortstop. (Not that this provides any solution, but this was interesting.) I do agree — the options are not good. But, really, Colorado is not going to trade Troy Tulowitzki for Matt Adams straight up — no matter what those on Twitter say. And why not just trust Mo and Matheny to make the right decisions? Isn’t that their job?

Then there are those who live and mostly die with every pitch during spring training, sure that terrible things are ahead because of how things go in any particular game. Plus there’s the more positive hysteria (is that possible?) of wanting to be sure Oscar and Wacha make the team right now because the team will certainly be doomed without them.

It’s still 27 days until Opening Day. Just under four weeks — meaning quite a while still.

RELAX.

… and what do we know? In a nutshell, Furcal’s still hurt, Waino’s still good, the youngins have potential, and spring ball still doesn’t mean much.

It’s funny how desperately we yearn for this time of year. The fact that baseball is being played makes us all feel like the world is back in order. But, then things play out to one extreme or the other, and the desire to know how the season will end lends itself to over (or, in some cases, under) reacting.

And that’s okay. It’s just how we, as passionate baseball fans, attempt to process the emotion attached to it all.

The reality, though, is that we can tell some things from these early games. Not what October might look like, necessarily, but we can see the beginnings of promise. Or, at least we can tell ourselves that’s what we’re seeing a whole four games in!

Just for fun, though, let’s look at those first four spring games by the numbers. » Continue reading “Spring Cardinals: Four Games In …”

It doesn’t matter snow is on the ground in the Midwest and the calendar says February. Yesterday at noon, St. Louis Cardinals baseball was on the radio.

The four months since Game Seven of the 2012 National League Championship Series — the last time the Cardinals played — seemed interminable. Yes, watching stored 2012 games from my DVR and 2011 postseason games on DVD helped fill some of that time. But it was beyond time for real baseball.

Or spring training baseball, anyway, which is real as far as the actual game being played by actual professional baseball players even though the results don’t count for anything — bad or good.

Which is why what really mattered was hearing John Rooney read off the Cardinals lineup filled with the familiar names of our old pals — Jay, Descalso (and knowing how to pronounce it), Holliday, Beltran, Yadi, Freese, Adams, Kozma, Rosenthal. Yes, Ty Wigginton also was included … it is 2013 now, after all, and a few changes occurred since October 2012.

And then it was “the voice of the Cardinals,” as Rooney always introduces Mike Shannon to start the game, and he was in his mid-season form already — chuckling away — as he described what was happening on the field at Roger Dean Stadium. Of course it was hard to follow at times. That’s what makes Mike Shannon enjoyable to hear.

» Continue reading “The Sweet Sounds Of Cardinals Baseball”

The talk of the spring — much like the offseason — has been the question mark hanging over the Cardinals’ middle infield. The focus, though, has been on second base. With Matt Carpenter attempting to learn the position, and Daniel Descalso once again fighting for the every-day job, the story is the most intriguing of training camp thus far.

However, what about the other piece of that middle infield?

We’ve gone from “Rafael Furcal will be 100% by spring!” to “We don’t really know when he’ll see any meaningful playing time.”

So far this spring, Furcal has been more than cautious. They’ve been more than careful. And, from the outside, it sure looks like they’re anything but confident. There’s good reason for that, of course. Namely, he can’t throw a ball. At least not anywhere near 100%.

According to Jenifer Langosch,

Furcal continues to participate in most of the team’s defensive drills. When it comes time to throw, he’ll either hold the ball or throw it at less-than-max effort.

Now, I know it’s early. And that he proved last season he doesn’t really need a good spring to be ready to go on Opening Day. But, I’d be lying if I said the forced positivity made me feel better about it all. Even the fact that Ozzie Smith was at camp, hoping to “advise” Furcal on how to change his fielding technique to accommodate the elbow trouble, only makes me feel minimally better.

Oh, and then there’s the fact that the Cards made a concerted effort to sign Marco Scutaro over the offseason, with John Mozeliak recently making comments about how Scutaro could play short stop if necessary. » Continue reading “The Domino Effect: Rafael Furcal”

We all knew it was coming. In fact, most people agreed it was a fair deal for both parties. If the Cardinals and Skip Schumaker could both be helped by a trade …

That doesn’t make the reality easier to grasp. I know, I’m looking at it through the emotions of a Cardinals fan who grows to love every guy that wears the uniform. Especially one like Skip who plays the game the right way, works hard, does whatever he’s asked, strengthens the clubhouse resolve and unity, and makes a difference in the community.

Baseball is a business, yes, but one that inevitably toys with the emotions. This prospective deal has been on the table since the end of the season, really. Where did Skip fit into the 2013 blueprint? Any way you slice it, he hardly fit at all. So when I saw the internet buzzing last night with the news that, pending a physical today, Skip Schumaker will be heading to LA and sporting Dodger blue, it was an odd thing to try to handle.

Schumaker has spent his entire nine-year career in St. Louis. He’s been present for two World Series victories, and five total playoff runs. There was, perhaps, no bigger moment for Skip than the RBI double that scored Rafael Furcal to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead in Game 5 of the 2011 NLDS. Yes, that game. That season. That at-bat. Ten pitches, and the biggest hit of his life? Probably.

It’s that kind of memory that makes it hard to let Schumaker go. But, his place with the Cardinals was limited. And even as a backup at second base and center field, he’ll likely see more playing time with the Dodgers. That’s all he wanted when his manager approached John Mozeliak about a potential trade. He didn’t want out of St. Louis, necessarily. He just wanted on to the field.

He appears to be getting more than that, though. This move will be a homecoming of sorts for the Schumakers, as Skip is from Southern California. Plus, Mark McGwire is there. Long-time friends, Schumaker and McGwire have worked together for years. If you’re going to have a new team, it’s definitely a plus to have a familiar face along for the ride. » Continue reading “SoCal Bound — Schumaker Traded To LA”

Last week, Cardinal Nation seemed to get an early gift to be extra thankful for — Rafael Furcal, 100 percent healed.

According to Derrick Goold, John Mozeliak saw results of the latest MRI that led him to believe the veteran short stop will be ready to go without hesitation, come spring training.

How secure is Rafael Furcal’s place in the 2013 middle infield?

The encouraging news the Cardinals received last week about Rafael Furcal’s right elbow was confirmed Monday by a scan taken of the shortstop’s injured arm, general manager John Mozeliak told a national radio show.

After returning to his offseason home from the Dominican Republic, Furcal met with medical staff in Florida for an MRI scan of his elbow and its torn ligament Monday.

“His ligament looked completely healed,” Mozeliak told “Inside Pitch” on Sirius XM radio. “Right now there’s no reason to think he won’t be ready to go and expect a full year out of him. It’s a little bit of a relief for us.”

Sounds great, right? “Completely healed” sounds fantastic. And yet I found myself struggling to be excited. Honestly, I was struggling to even be “relieved.” Early predictions of mint-condition ligaments, especially without the surgery that tends to be required for a full recovery, are a little less than reliable most times.

So, I was cautious. Skeptical. Hesitant to emotionally buy into Furcal as the 2013 everyday short stop.

But, the great thing about the staff here at Aerys is that many of our talented writers have backgrounds in fields other than sports writing. If you’re a football fan, you’ve hopefully seen the work of Melanie Friedlander at Aerys Offsides. Her “House Call” pieces are a great example of the infusion of her medical background and her sports knowledge! » Continue reading “The Doctor Says: Rafael Furcal”