Yeah I know, haven’t written a blog in a while.  Haven’t heard anybody complaining or telling me that it has been missed.  Things that make you go hmmmm.

Let’s see what has happened with our beloved St. Louis Cardinals this spring.  They got great new batting practice hats; they are going to wear red hats on the road during the season; they may not have a sure thing at shortstop.  Wait, you didn’t hear about that last thing?  Well you see, SS Rafael Furcal had this elbow thing bothering him last year.  GM John Mozeliak tried to get a few people in the winter to come to the Cardinals, and settled on Ronny Cedeno.  So SS options for the Cardinals could be Cedeno, Pete Kozma, and Ryan Jackson.  I don’t think Matt Carpenter has taken any grounders at SS so I would rule him out.

Cards new BP hats

Oh yeah.  You did hear that Chris Carpenter probably won’t pitch all year, right? Oh and now Ace Adam Wainwright is going into his walk season without a contract.  Jaime (whiny) Garcia is complaining about being sore. Lance Lynn states matter of factly that he is a starter and not a relief pitcher.  Oh and even former Cardinal Kyle Lohse still remains unsigned.

First baseman Allen Craig may be getting closer to playing in the field.  Carlos Beltran, Yadier Molina, Fernando Salas, and Mitchell Boggs are out doing the World Baseball Classic. (Side Note)  Hurray to fellow Cardinal Blogger Kelsey Shea Weinrich for being selected to be the Team USA representative in the MLBFanCave.  You can find more about her and her blog here.  

There’s this guy in camp, this hot prospect that the Cardinals have, that is having a darn good spring. I knew he might be ready this year when they signed Beltran to the two year deal before last season.  Oscar Tavares might be ‘stuck’ in AAA Memphis getting at bats down there and only be called up if and when Beltran or Matt Holliday go on the disabled list.  Yet the Cardinals will have Shelby Miller, Trevor Rosenthal, Joe Kelly and who knows who continue to battle for the 5^th starting pitcher spot hoping they don’t struggle.  I believe early thoughts have it as Shelby Miller’s spot to lose, but we shall see; more than one may make the rotation if others are hurt.

Oh back to Matt Carpenter. I am not sure he will be the starting 2B when the season starts.  There’s this other kid that I hope plays his way into a starting job there.  That would be Kolten Wong.  I think he has ‘Chuck Knoblauch” 2B stability written all over him.  Don’t write off Daniel Descalso either, but to me he is better suited with Carpenter on the bench.  I also don’t know how you leave Matt Adams off the team.

This is clearly Mike Matheny and John Mozeliak’s team now.  They are working on every aspect of the game in the spring.  Willie McGee, Ozzie Smith, Jim Edmonds, and others were brought into camp this spring to teach.  John Mabry replaces Mark McGwire as hitting coach and Yadier Molina’s older brother Bengie takes over the assistant hitting coach’s duties.  More people Matheny wanted to help make it his team.

I am excited for this team to start the season.  I am curious to see how this spring training will turn out and I hope you all are too!