Why the St. Louis Cardinals will not make the playoffs in 2008.

To all St. Louis Cardinals' fans out there, this message is for you;

You should be terrified about the Cardinals chances at getting into the playoffs next year. I know that it is early but the winter meetings have already come and gone and they managed to make one move. They signed free agent shortstop Cesar Izturis to a one year deal. Because of this signing, they were forced to part ways with fan favorite David Eckstein. A lot of you people believe that this was a stupid move. Letting go of Eckstein was not a stupid move. He was a second baseman who had played shortstop his entire career. He was a "gritty" player who played as many games as he could (I tend to get sarcastic a lot). The truth is he missed 30+ games in 2007 and even more in 2006. He won the World Series MVP off of four hits. Don't think that the loss of Eckstein is the real problem though.

Going into this offseason, the Cardinals' main concern was starting pitching. While there are still question marks to whether or not Chris Carpenter or Mark Mulder will be healthy, the Cardinals are struggling to find that fifth pitcher. Most teams have a problem finding that fifth starter because they have six starting candidates. The Cardinals don't even have five candidates (Thanks to Justin McClary for that piece of Info). They had the chance to acquire Chris Capuano from the Brewers for Scott Rolen but General Manager John Mozeliak declined that trade. There would be a possibility that they could acquire Erik Bedard from the Orioles but that would involve giving up Star prospect Colby Rasmus packaged with a few other prospects. That is something that the Cardinals are just not willing to do. Mark Prior is another starting pitcher that the Cardinals are looking into (as if they need another injury risk on their team).

While starting pitching remains a question mark, the Cardinals' offense appears to be taking some blows itself. With the departure of Jim Edmonds, the Cardinals are left with no permanent starting outfield. It is currently a matter of shifting Rick Ankiel, Ryan Ludwick, and Skip Shumaker between right field and center field (because Chris Duncan is a set Left Fielder). Pujols, Duncan, and Ankiel have pretty good power, but Albert is the only one that doen't have the tendency to strike out a lot. With a full season under both players' belts, Duncan and Ankiel are likely to combine for 300 or more strikeouts. This is not healthy for the teams offense.

The two bright spots (and yes, there are bright spots) are the defense and the bullpen of the Cardinals. The defense of the entire team looks great and the bullpen has a deadly 7th, 8th, and 9th inning staff (not to mention some decent middle relievers).

In conclusion (finally), all I am saying is that if the Cardinals don't make any moves now, They will be looking at a fourth or fifth place finish in the division.