Yesterday I reviewed what the Brewers had been up to. Mostly rebuilding the bullpen with ex-Pirates. Today I'll look at the Cards, who present a very different picture. They scored a lot of runs and gave up relatively few. In fact their 117 run differential was 36 runs larger than the Reds', Still the Cardinals finished second. Go figure.
Team |
Won |
Lost |
RS |
RA |
Reds |
97 |
65 |
669 |
588 |
Cards |
88 |
74 |
765 |
648 |
Brewers |
83 |
79 |
776 |
733 |
Pirates |
79 |
83 |
651 |
674 |
Cubs |
61 |
101 |
613 |
759 |
As you can see, the Cardinals didn't do much this winter. They signed Randy Choate, a field goal kicker, er LOGY. He'll be 40 when his contract expires, and he figures to have 150 appearances totaling 70 innings. For a good team, that could be huge. The Cards also signed Ty Wigginton. I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that he will be more productive than Jamie Romak. Henry Alvarado is 16, so he shouldn't have any bearing on the situation. Alex Reyes is two years older, so ditto.
Cardinals |
|
|
|
|
Player |
Type |
Years |
Value |
Date |
Minor |
|
|
12/19/2012 |
|
Ty Wigginton |
Signed |
2 |
$5.000MM |
12/14/2012 |
Alex Reyes |
IFA |
|
$0.950MM |
12/13/2012 |
Trade |
|
12/12/2012 |
||
Randy Choate |
Signed |
3 |
$7.500MM |
12/05/2012 |
Jamie Romak |
Minor |
|
|
11/20/2012 |
Minor |
|
|
11/17/2012 |
|
Minor |
|
|
11/13/2012 |
|
Henry Alvarado |
IFA |
|
$0.150MM |
11/01/2012 |
One big difference between the Cards and the rest of the NL Central is that the Cards have a great minor league system, arguably the best in baseball. Is Oscar Taveras the next great Cardinals star? To quote John Sickels, "Seems like it to me."
Passing the Cards won't be easy. Might they sign Lohse? I don't think so.