5 Reasons The St. Louis Cardinals Won’t Make The Playoffs In 2016

5. Injury and Depth Concerns

Outside of the absence of starting pitcher Lance Lynn, there are other reasons to be concerned about the health and what-ifs on this roster.

Outfielder Matt Holliday is perpetually a play away from hitting the disabled list, and being without him for an extended period of time would not only be a drain on this team’s offensive potential but it would significantly hurt its depth.

While having Brandon Moss or Tommy Pham fill in would actually represent an upgrade over Holliday defensively, Moss playing in left field would eliminate his ability to platoon with Matt Adams against left-handers.

There are also other injury concerns in the starting rotation. Adam Wainwright is coming off a 2015 season, which was almost completely lost to injury. The injury bug has also bitten Jamie Garcia and Michael Wacha, making Marco Gonzales and Mike Leake a potential front-end to this rotation if injuries strike the other three hurlers.

The other half of St. Louis’ battery is also a question mark. The Cardinals have bought some insurance against Yadier Molina spending more time on the disabled list by bringing in catcher Brayan Pena, but Pena doesn’t have the history with St. Louis’ pitching staff that Molina does.

Next: 4. Nothing Was Done to Improve Mediocre Offense