St. Louis Cardinals

Losses: IF Troy Glaus, P Joel Pineiro, UT Mark DeRosa, OF Rick Ankiel, OF Chris Duncan, SS Khalil Greene, P Todd Wellemeyer, P John Smoltz, P Blaine Boyer

Gains: IF Felipe Lopez, P Brad Penny, P Dennys Reyes

Analysis: It's tough to say that the Cardinals had a great winter, with the amount of players that left St. Louis. Fortunately for them, the Cardinals were one of the deeper teams in the Major Leagues last season, struggling to find playing time for players like Troy Glaus and Rick Ankiel last fall. Glaus may be healthy, but there's no longer a job for him here. Young David Freese will get a chance to prove his Major League worth. Joel Pineiro, Todd Wellemeyer and John Smoltz (when he signs) will try to compound upon the improvements they made under Dave Duncan's tutelage, while the Cardinals bring in Brad Penny, who perhaps under Duncan can return to the force he once was in Los Angeles (his 2006 All-Star performance is still one of the most impressive baseball performances APT has ever witnessed). Mark DeRosa moves on to yet another team and another position. Ankiel and Chris Duncan could not perform enough to win one of the starting outfield jobs and Khalil Greene will try to rediscover himself in another city. With Brad Penny, the Cardinals bring in Dennys Reyes to provide Left-handed help in the pen, and Felipe Lopez (who should have found a good starting job somewhere) to add depth as Brendan Ryan recovers from injury. The most important move the Cardinals made this off-season: bringing back Tony LaRussa and, the magician, Dave Duncan. For that, they get an A.

More moves: The Cardinals roster is fairly solid. They could use a little more depth in the outfield, though Skip Schumaker could always slide back to a corner OF with Felipe Lopez taking over 2B. I would look for a possible move there, however, and I wouldn't be surprised if they found an idea for 3B in case Freese doesn't pan out, (perhaps Hank Blaylock on a minor league deal), but again Felipe Lopez is an option there. Maybe they'll even shout out John Smoltz and bring him back part of the way into the season.

2010 Thoughts: The Cardinals start with Four Players. We'll begin with two of those gentelman and their spot at the top of the rotation. Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright finished 2nd and 3rd in the Cy Young race last season (APT would've voted for Carpenter), Wainwright breaking out with 19 wins and Carpenter returning to form after injury. That one 2 is as good as anyone out there. Brad Penny should move in as solid #3. He seemed to find his way when he was picked up by the Giants last summer, after struggling in Boston, and I think he's back to good. The Kyles at the end of the rotation (Lohse and McClellan) will be what determines just HOW good the pitching is. Lohse has had success with Dave Duncan, and should likely produce a solid effort. McClellan comes out of the Cardinal bullpen to take the 5th starter job, so we'll have to see what he offers and if the Cardinals don't bring in some competition. The line-up IS Albert Pujols. The Cardinals build themselves around the still young 1st baseman. They finally found a first-mate that their happy with in Matt Holliday, who had a lot of success after coming over from Oakland. Ryan Ludwick, who has been a strong contributor to the Pujolses supplements production, and the steadily productive Yadier Molina can clean up what's left. To get on in front of the Triple-Crown threat, the Cardinals will count on the continued growth of Colby Rasmus and Skip Schumacher. In a National League, which, outside of the Phillies, lacks tremendous lineup depth, the Cardinals are as good as most. The bullpen will continue to work with Ryan Franklin as the closer. Although he does so without over-impressing anyone, Franklin continues to get the job done, so you cannot consider him a weakness. Trever Miller and Dennys Reyes have been getting lefties out a long time, and Jason Motte continues to harness that great fastball of his. The bullpen doesn't look overwhelming, but certainly has all the pieces.

Prediction: The Cardinals are the class of the NL Central. That is apparent. How far they go is the question. We'll tackle that later on this spring.

-APT