St. Louis Cardinals 2004 Season Preview

by James Floto

Over the years, the St. Louis Cardinals have put some pretty good teams together. There was Rogers Hornsby back in the '20s, then the truly great Dizzy Dean, Pepper Martin and Co., the Gas House Gang of the Depression. Then in the '40s they had another mini-dynasty, headed by Stan Musial. They weren't too good in the '50s, but went to several World Series in the '60s, led by one of the greatest pitchers ever, Bob Gibson. Then came the "Fleetbirds" of the '80s, followed for a few years with McGwire in the '90s. Now, with Albert Pujols off to one of the greatest starts of any career (.334,.412 OBP, .613 SLG, 114 homers and 381 RBI in three years), the Cards may be off on another great run.

Like many teams this year, the current Redbirds have one component--in their case, hitting--that is extraordinarily strong, the other--here, Cardinal pitching--with so many questions that you wonder if they will still be in the race by the break.

For years, the Yanks had four, even five solid pitchers to depend on--last year Clemens, Pettitte, Mussina, Wells, and Jeff Weaver. Now they have Mussina, Kevin Brown, Javier Vasquez and Contreras. The A's have had an incredible pitching staff (Hudson, Zito, Mulder, and during the the second half of last year, young rookie Rich Harden.) Then, of course, there are the Cubs. With the addition of Maddux to Wood, Prior, Zambrano and Clement, they are going to be hard to stop.

With the Cards it's the run producers. How about an infield that can drive in 400 runs? If you add the 67 runs that newcomer Marlon Anderson drove in for the Phillies last year to the 124 that Pujols produced, plus 104 for Scotty Rolen and 100 by Edgar Reneria, you have an infield that amssed 395 RBI last year.

Then, when you get to the outfield, you have Jim Edmonds in center and newly arrived Reggie Sanders, each of whom are capable of 100 ribbies. Young speedster Kerry Robinson, an '85-style Cardinal and So Taguchi, a veteran platoon player from Japan will likely split time in right.

As for the eighth starter, one of the most underrated catchers, if not all-around players--is Mike Matheny, the veteran backstop. Catchers are especially important to manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach David Duncan, both former catchers. Matheny is a master defensive catcher and a supreme handler of pitchers. He is limited as a hitter but on a team full of Pujols and Edmonds, Renteria, Rolens and Reggie Sanders, they'll settle for the occasional homer and the excellent defensive work.

As for the staff, Matt Morris was heading for elite status among pitchers until he was biten by the injury bug. If he and #2 pitcher Woody Williams, with his 90 MPH fastball and big breaking curve, who took up the slack for Morris, finishing second in the NL with 18 wins, can reamin healthy, they are in good shape at top of the rotation. But after that there are problems. #3 is Chris Carpenter who hasn't had a full season in three years. Jason Marquis has shown excellent stuff and pitched some remarkable games but he is unsteady . The sleeper of the staff mght be he surprising answer to the trivia question "Which Redbird was one of only two pitcher to compile 200 innings each of the past five years?" It's Jeff Suppan, who went 13-11 with two clubs but if nothing else he can provide some relief for a bullpen that is likely to see a lot of work.

The pen wasn't about much in '03, but closer Jason Isringhausen is back to full strength. Lefty Ray King pitched 80 games for Atlanta and he will be joining southpaw Jeff Fassero, one of the few firemen La Russa trusted. As for righties, there's reliable old horse Cal Eldred, but because he has so many miles under his belt, he can't pitch on successive days. The rest of the pen consists of Jason Simontachi, who looked like a star-in-training early on and may be available for spot starting; Julian Tavarez, who is another one that pitches like a dream when he's on but has had a long string of ups and downs; and Mike Lincoln, who was traded from the Pirates. If a team with a bullpen like the Pirates casts somebody off, you have to wonder.

So there they are, the 2004 Cards. The Redbirds have been at or near the top of the NL Central for much of La Russa's reign in St. Louis, but this year, between the Cubs and their truly awesome rotation, along with Slammin' Sammy, Moises, and Derek Lee, and the Astros, with new starters Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens added to Roy Oswalt and Wade Miller, and even if Bagwell and Biggio are showing their age, they still have Lance Berkman, Jeff Kent, Richardo Hidalgo and Brad Ausmus, in all, a strong team.

So is this the middle of another great Cardinal dynasty or just a decent team with Albert Pujols? There are a lot of fascinating questions and it is going to be a very complex year in old St. Looie.