Spring has Sprung ... Finally

I don't know about you all, but I am loving this weather right now!! Oh wait, sorry I am in Jupiter Fla., the Spring Training home of our Cardinals. I have fallen behind once again on my blogs and I have recently realized I never finished my New Year New Pieces article. I will throw in my two cents about the infield competition and who I think has the edge (if any).

The signing of our new shortstop Jhonny Peralta was a shock to some and I was one of them. Don't get me wrong here, I think he will be a solid player and I would have been happy to see Ozzie Smith in his fragile old age lace up the spikes again before wanting to see Pete Kozma start again. With that said, I questioned the move because it seemed like we took the easy way out once again. In this scenario we have lots of outfielders and several power arms to possibly make a trade for our shortstop. There were several rumors and most of the teams wanted more than what the Cardinal brass was willing to give up. As it turns out, it was probably a wise choice not to trade.

As far as the 50 game suspension Peralta took last season for his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal is concerned, time will tell on a few things. I am a huge fan of the Cardinals and think that as long as he puts out his full effort and works hard he will be well received in St Louis. We are a very knowledgable fan base and I think he will have a fresh start here. On the flip side of that, if he can't hit his weight and isn't much help on the defensive side then he will have an uphill climb to win the fans over during the next four years of his big contract. My guess is he will do just fine as our new shortstop and will be a nice addition to help fill the void of losing Carlos Beltran.

With Matt Carpenter moving to third base, this creates a big competition at second base, one I look forward to watching. Rookie Kolten Wong is favored to win the spot, however at the end of last season he had a rough time in his limited at bats. Now stop right there, I know what you are thinking. Yes he got picked off first base to end Game 4 in the World Series but if he hadn't and Beltran struck out you would have forgotten all about Wong even being on base, right? Ok, now we can go back to the upside of our rookie, he has hit at all levels to this point, has speed and is a quality defender. I watched him play a little at AA Springfield and I liked what I saw, as did people that know a lot more than me, namely the scouts. One of many things I like about the Cardinals, they typically don't just hand a job to a rookie without having proved himself, thus enter another veteran addition Mark Ellis. Ellis was the second baseman for the Dodgers last year and he will be challenging Wong for the starting job. Truth be known Ellis is probably already expected to be the back up but he will keep Wong working hard to earn the job and if he slacks then Ellis will be the starter. Expect to see these two alternate during the season, where Ellis will bat against southpaw starters.

With the updated version of our club, it looks like GM John Mozeliak once again used his crystal ball to forsee LHP Jaime Garcia going down with a sore shoulder and so he kept our pitching depth strong by not trading arms in the off season. He also did a nice job by finding a good second baseman in Ellis to fill in if Wong goes wrong. (Yeah I went there.) As I have said previously, the Cards have a very solid team and should do very well on paper. But as lots of commentators like to say, the game isn't played on paper so we shall see. I like our new additions and also that we are still strong in a few areas where we can trade from as a need arises. We have lots of good competition in the starting rotation, the outfield, second base, even our bullpen might have a few trying to get the last spot at the end of spring training. This is going to be an exciting month to see some baseball. I hope you all give me some feedback on your thoughts or questions.