So, we are about a month out from Opening Day and I was kicking around some ideas about the projected starting lineup. Some of you have probably seen some games already, so I would like to know how you guys feel about what our starting lineup should look like. My main interests reside at SS, 2B, 3B and Colby Rasmus. How is Khalil Greene looking? The people out here in San Diego are P.O.'d that Khalil Greene was traded. He was easily THE fan favorite out here. I am very excited and optimistic about our OF's. A lot of pop out there and great defense to add on top of that.
P - Carpenter
C - Molina
1B - Pujols
2B - ??
3B - ??
SS - Greene
LF - Ludwick
CF - Ankiel
RF - Rasmus/Duncan/??
I want Carpenter as our Opening Day starter. He is too good to put at a number 2, but so is Wainwright. I know Wainwright was a little shaky on his first start of the spring, but hey, its spring training for a reason. Carpenter seems like he is on the right track to a healthy season. No more crossing our fingers Cardinals fans, its time we start over and have a renewed confidence in him.
I know that Schumaker has been playing second base and Mather has been trying a little third base. I live in San Diego and I havent seen these guys play yet. What are you opinions about them at these positions? Especially Schumaker. Mather sounds like he is holding his own at 3rd especially with what TLR said about Wallace yesterday. He simply said that he will not make the team this year. Also, I have never seen Rasmus play, but I certainly have heard of his abilities over the last two or three years. Is he capable of obtaining a starting OF position? Opening Day starter? A source that I have who has played against the Cardinals in Spring Training said that Rasmus could be a 30 home run guy.
Give me your thoughts Cardinal Nation. We are only one month away.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
First, I would just like to say that I found your blog a response on M. Leach's blog and I liked what I saw, so now I'll follow yours as well. I'll let you know what I think, as a die hard Cardinal fan like yourself.
ReplyDeleteI think that if Carpenter is going to be the opening day starter, he will have to do two things: 1) pitch lights out for the entire ST, and 2) stay healthy! And by what I mean by staying healthy is that he has NO hangups whatsoever. If anything happens to Carp in ST, Tony is going to go with Waino for the Opening Day starter. Carp may be the ace of the Cards for the rest of the season, but if he's not ready in Tony's eyes, then he won't be pitching on April 6th.
The rest of your spots that are already filled in look good except for the Rasmus line. I don't see him making the big league club, especially after how he's been hitting and fielding early on in ST. Yes, he's a slow starter, but he's going to have to be a slow starter in AAA and be moved up once he starts hitting again, IMO. That moves C. Duncan in that spot (obviously move Luddy to RF and Dunc in LF).
As for the third base situation, you can probably pencil Mather in there while Glaus is recovering from surgery. Mather made three fine plays in the field the other day, and he has already proven that he can hit well enough from the 3B position. After Glaus is up, Mather will serve as both a 3B backup and an outfielder to platoon with Duncan.
Second base is a little trickier. Schu is holding his own there, but I would like to see him get some more time in the field before I consider it a done deal. The only thing that I am thinking of is; who else is going to go there? I don't ever see Brendan Ryan making the big league club for an extended period of time, so who else does that leave? Brian Barden? Someone is going to have to platoon for Schu because we need someone to hit lefties for the year from 2B. This one is going to be fun to watch, not.
Anyways, nice post, and I'll look forward to hear what you have to say from my response.
-Jason
Haha, my post is longer than your actual blog!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the response Jason, I appreciate it. I am just very curious about how the season will start. Since this is my first ever spring away from STL, I feel like I dont have a great feel on how things are going like I would if I were in STL. Anyway,yes Carpenter is suspect to injury, but it seems like he is back on track (2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB and 1 SO from todays game vs. Mets). And I agree. I think that TLR will keep Carp back instead of throwing him out there for Opening Day if he is not ready. We always have Wainwright.
ReplyDeleteFor the 2B, I feel like this is another TLR trick that he will pull out of his bag and that it will ultimately work. I agree. I think Skip needs a little more time, but from what I have seen/heard, he is a great athlete and he should be able to make the transfer to 2B. We have too much of a surplus in the OF which isnt bad especially if we use that to our advantage and make a trade and get great talent in return.
Lastly, I am happy that Mather is doing good (1 E today) because his offense will help us tons. I have always liked him and I always thought that he should be in the lineup.
Thanks again for your post. Hope to hear from you soon. Also, whats the deal with Khalil?
Roons, good posts so far. I agree with most of the stuff you said, although I could definitely see Wainwright starting opening day, just cause I don't know that you want a guy coming off a major injury out there with the opening day emotions, even a veteran like Carp. Otherwise, I've been a big Mather fan, as long as he can continue to shorten his swing (although pretty much anyone has a shorter swing than Glaus). Once again, not quite sure what management was thinking going into camp without a real option at second base. I think Skip can make the transition, and it would be great if he started to hit leftys, but once again we find ourselves in a situation where we as fans are having to say "well if this happens" and "well if that happens then we'll be ok". Really at this level and with the support that the Cardinals get we shouldn't have to go into a season without a legitimate second baseman. That's not a knock on Skip, I think he'll certainly be able to play the position, and I hope it works out for us and I'm proven wrong. Seriously, though, we're a big league club with the second most World Series titles ever and we can't bring someone who has big league (or even AAA, although I may be wrong about that, with Law School I don't have time to do the research on the Cards I used to) infield experience in as our projected starter? You can always move people from the infield to the outfield, but switching the opposite way generally takes more time, and as I see it should probably not be an experiment that a big league club undertakes going into spring training. Just when I thought the revolving door at second couldn't get any stranger we try this out. Enough ranting, great blog, I'll follow it as much as I can, and I'm hoping for big things this year for the Cards. If Skip can work out we're looking very solid.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun, huh Colin? Most anything you post pre-season ends up being six of one, half-a-dozen of another. Interesting perspectives.
ReplyDeleteI like toying with lineups. Hey, if La Russa can change them 140 times a season, why can't we?
Schu's going to get the 2B spot, because TLR still has nightmares of of last season, where the team had to rely on outscoring the opponents. Lefty-righty with Schu? Watch and see if he doesn't get platooned between the outfield and infield once the dreams of a solid stick at every position begin to fade into the reality of a season versus tough foes.
Someone mentioned Mather for 3B. I like that call.
Ludwick in RF.
Rasmus may not go north after all, but that's okay, because those big OF contracts will come around again and when they do, Raz will stick.
Don't be surprised to see Ryan as utility man. (He can play defense.) Otherwise, Thurston may get that job. (Thurston's not the future, but TLR likes seasoned vets.)
Gotta go, Colin. Looks like you're off to a great start.
If you want to be a guest on the UCB Radio Hour, let me know.
If you want TV time, let me know. CNTV could use about 5 Cards vloggers. Josh from Redbirds Row is going to do something with that. Or, whatever TV show you might like.
And oh yeah, if you want on the Cardinal Nation Ticker, let me know. You can embed almost any of this stuff on these Blogger sites.
chetthejet
I'll build on what chet said and say that if you are interested in the United Cardinal Bloggers group, e-mail me at cardinal70 at gmail.
ReplyDeleteI can't see any way that Wainwright isn't the opening day starter, though. Carp's not done anything in the last two years, basically, and I'm pretty sure TLR looks at the OD start as an honor.
Still, I'm getting pretty excited about this team!