The Biggest Concern in 2009

What is the biggest concern for the Cardinals in the 2009 season? Many feel that it is Skip Schumaker making the conversion from an above average outfielder to a second baseman. The Skip Experiment is coming along, but some fans, deservedly so, still lack the optimism needed in order to see how successful we can be if Skip is successful in this transition. Some others might feel it is our situation in the bullpen and who will be tabbed as our "closer". This, for me, is the second biggest concern due to the fact of how many blown saves we have had in the past two seasons and how much that has affected our regular season succes. If we would have cut the amount of blown saves that we had last year in half, we would have been drinking champagne and Bud Light in October. The other biggest concern is our starting pitching which basically hinges on the health of Chris Carpenter. This has only become an issue since he has returned and has shown us that he can still pitch and can still be successful. This is where I have casted my vote (I have yet to vote on the poll on the left hand side though). I hope Chris Carpenter does not feel the weight of the world on his shoulders, but a lot of our success hinges on his health. If he stays healthy and pitches the way he is capable of pitching, we are a very successful ball club with the ability to do major damage in the playoffs (i.e. 2004, 2005 and 2006). If he is not healthy and he misses starts on a consistent basis, we are unsuccessful and we have to depend on our bullpen, which equals disaster (i.e. 2007, 2008). This has been another downfall for the Cardinals the past couple of years. With the inconsistency of our starting pitching to reach six innings, we have had to rely on our bullpen pitchers for three to four innings per game which does a lot of wear and tear on them throughout the course of a six month season. I guess you could say that about any team, but after our results the last two years, we need to let up on our guys in the bullpen if we want to go deep into the regular season, as well as the postseason.

I have analyzed our issues. In order they go:

Least Concern - We lost two potential back up plans to play second base in Aaron Miles and Felipe Lopez to free agency. If Skip fails at second base, we can always go in house or acquire a second baseman via trade which is very possible due to the fact that we could escape this situation with minimal damage to our farm system. Has Skip been our number one option all along? I would assume so as seeing that the front office was OK with how things were unfolding in the offseason.

Second Biggest Concern - In regards to the closers role, we have many capable, young pitchers that could fill this role. If Perez cannot close for awhile due to injuries, Motte could step in and get the job done. We can also call on Josh Kinney or Kyle McClellan (who is more suited for long relief or as a set up man). Then we have Ryan Franklin who I hope we only resort to in dire need of a closer. We have many options here, but to have a reliable "closer" would be huge for us because that has been our achilles heel the past two seasons. As previously stated, if we cut our blown saves by a minimum of ten games, we are playing in October.

Biggest Concern - Chris Carpenters health remains number one in my book. We do not have a back up plan if Carp goes down. We can only hope that our starting pitching did what it did last year in his absense. We cannot replace him unless we acquire another ace via trade (i.e. Roy "Doc" Halladay), but that would require giving up many top prospects, as well as losing everyday players (I dont even want to imagine what they would ask for). This would be our last option due to the fact that a trade for an ace to replace Carp would absolutely deplete our farm system. Hence, being the biggest concern for the '09 season.

This Spring Training for Carp has been absolutely encouraging. I think the fact that he has pitched fourteen consecutive innings without letting up a run speaks for itself. Hopefully Carp can continue his success into the regular season which would make us a very dangerous ball club in the early going. If he stays healthy he has the ability to add another ten to fifteen wins for us (maybe even more). If you add that to our potent offense everybody will be watching us and saying that we are the team to beat, which is totally in the realm of possibility for the 2009 St. Louis Cardinals.