Key Offseason Additions: Jedd Gyorko, Mike Leake, Brayan Pena, Jonathan Broxton, Seung-hwan Oh
Key Offseason Subtractions: Jason Heyward, John Lackey, Mark Reynolds
The Rotation:
The St. Louis Cardinals will be losing two big pieces from their rotation from a year ago as John Lackey left as a free agent and Lance Lynn will miss all of 2016 after having Tommy John surgery.
On the bright side, ace Adam Wainwright should be healthy and ready to sit atop the rotation once again. Michael Wacha should fill in nicely behind him as a number-two starter. Jamie Garcia and Mike Leake, the Cardinals’ one splash signing this offseason, will fill in the three and four spots, while Carlos Martinez rounds out the rotation.
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This pitching staff should once again be a dominant force in the National League as they led all of baseball with a 2.99 ERA last year.
Wainwright is the key. If he can come back from injury and be the ace he’s been throughout his career then the Cardinals will be just fine. If not, it could be a mediocre season for the Cardinals rotation, but they got it done last year without him so there’s no reason to doubt they can do it again.
Waiting in the wings if someone goes down or struggles in the rotation are Tim Cooney and Marco Gonzales. Tyler Lyons also received some starts in the rotation last year, so the Cardinals have depth if it’s needed.
This should once again be a very good Cardinals pitching staff that will rival any rotation in the National League.
The Lineup:
Jason Heyward is a key loss to this lineup as he carried the offense at times last year, especially when Matt Holiday was injured, and the Cardinals really didn’t do anything to replace that production. Instead, they’re hoping youngsters Stephen Piscotty and Randal Grichuk are able to take over in right field and center respectively to pick up the slack.
The infield will essentially stay the same with Matt Carpenter at third base, Jhonny Peralta at shortstop and Kolten Wong at second. First base could become a platoon situation between Brandon Moss and Matt Adams. Jon Jay was traded for Jedd Gyorko to give some depth in the infield as he can fill in at second or third. He’ll also add some pop off the bench.
Yadier Molina struggled through some injuries last year and at age 33 he could be in a decline. Veteran catcher Brayan Pena was brought in to back him up this year.
Per usual, Matt Holliday will play in left field and bat in the middle of what should be a very solid offensive lineup, especially if Piscotty and Grichuk continue to develop as major league hitters.
Projected Opening Day Lineup:
- 3B Matt Carpenter
- RF Stephen Piscotty
- LF Matt Holliday
- SS Johnny Peralta
- 1B Brandon Moss
- C Yadier Molina
- CF Randal Grichuk
- 2B Kolten Wong
- Pitcher’s Spot
The Bullpen:
Despite constant criticism throughout his career as the Cardinals closer, Trevor Rosenthal finished 2015 with the second most saves in baseball with 48 and an ERA of 2.10. Bridging the gap to Rosenthal will once again be Kevin Siegrist and Seth Maness. Those two combined for 157 appearances last year, 138 innings and 48 holds.
The Cardinals signed Jonathan Broxton in the offseason to a two-year deal to help fill in the back of the bullpen, and they’re hoping Jordan Walden will be healthy this year as well to give Siegrist and Maness a break.
Just those names alone make this a very scary bullpen to face. They finished last season with the third best bullpen ERA in the league at 2.82.
On top of that the Redbirds also brought in Korean right-hander Seung-hwan Oh to help fortify the bullpen.
With this group of veterans expect the Cardinals to once again be dominant at the back-end of games in 2016.
Competitions:
As has been the case for the Cardinals camp for several years now, they are pretty set going into spring training. They did a good job of filling what little needs they had in the offseason, mainly by adding bullpen and bench depth.
The only competition in the lineup this spring might be at first base if someone pulls away and becomes the everyday starter. Otherwise, players will just be competing for bench spots.
The rotation is set as well unless they have an injury during spring training, which seems to be the norm for the Cardinals with Wainwright and Chris Carpenter going down in back-to-back years.
The Cardinals also addressed their bullpen issues in the offseason locking up those spots as well, so if you like a good spring training competition there won’t be much excitement in the Cardinals camp this Spring.
One interesting non-roster invitee to watch during spring training is former first round pick Luke Weaver who posted a 1.62 ERA in High-A last year. He’s still over a year away from the big leagues, but it should be fun to see what he does against major league competition.
Next: Yankees Spring Training Preview
Pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report on February 17, while the rest of the team will join them on February 22 before playing their first Grapefruit League game on March 3 against the Marlins.