| 2005 Overview: | | | | lefty reliever Ray King to the Rockies and |
| | | | lost Julian Tavarez who signed a two-year |
| The 2005 Cardinals were led by one of the | | | | deal with the Red Sox. |
| greatest offensive player's in baseball, | | | | |
| Albert Pujols (.330 41 117). Joined by | | | | The Cardinals did find a decent hitter and a |
| outfielders Jim Edmonds (.263 29 89), Reggie | | | | replacement outfielder in Juan Encarnacion |
| Sanders (.271 21 54) and Larry Walker (.289 | | | | (.287 16 76) from Florida and also picked up |
| 15 82), Pujols and company assembled a | | | | Larry Bigbie (.239 in 90 games splitting time |
| regular season winning record of 100-62. | | | | between Colorado and Baltimore) from the |
| During the playoffs, the St. Louis Cardinals | | | | Rockies in the trade for King. The pitching |
| lost in 6 games to the Astros. Tony's | | | | staff sought upgrades for 2006 by adding free |
| Larussa's team performed well in the | | | | agent starter Sidney Ponson (7-11 6.21) and |
| postseason, first by sweeping the Padres in 4 | | | | former Mets closer Braden Looper (4-7 3.94) |
| straight games and then with Pujols providing | | | | as well as Ricardo Rincon (1-1 4.34). |
| some memorable extra inning heroics in game 5 | | | | |
| of the LCS against Houston. Albert's mammoth | | | | 2006 Analysis: |
| homerun helped keep the series alive forcing | | | | |
| a game 6 back in St. Louis. Unfortunately St. | | | | The Cardinals made several off season free |
| Louis couldn't manage another win to force a | | | | agent signings for the 2006 season but |
| game seven and Houston was able to make it to | | | | nothing terribly significant. The biggest |
| their first World Series appearance in team | | | | hope for 2006 is for Scott Rolen to be |
| history. | | | | healthy again so he can contribute. Rolen |
| | | | only appeared in 56 games in 2005 and will be |
| The pitching in 2005 was led by Chris | | | | called upon to patch up the hole left by the |
| Carpenter (21-5 2.83), Mark Mulder (16-8 | | | | departure of Sanders and Walker. But any |
| 3.64) and Matt Morris (14-10 4.11). Closer | | | | lineup with Pujols and Edmonds should do just |
| Jason Isringhausen (1-2 2.14 39 saves) also | | | | fine. Expect to see free agent Junior Spivey |
| performed well, closing 39 of 43 save | | | | (.232 7 24) compete for the 2nd base job as |
| opportunities in 2005. | | | | the replacement for Grudzielanek. |
| | | | |
| Off Season Moves: | | | | Ponson may not have much left in the tank but |
| | | | the 1 million dollars the Cardinals paid to |
| The Cardinals lost a good portion of their | | | | find out is certainly worth the risk. The |
| offensive production during the off-season as | | | | bullpen picked up two decent arms in Looper |
| Reggie Sanders signed with Kansas City and | | | | and Rincon. Looper blew a bunch of games for |
| Larry Walker retired. Second baseman Mark | | | | the Mets but the Cardinals are hoping he'll |
| Grudzielanek also departed to Kansas City | | | | produce in a setup role for Isringhausen. |
| while third baseman Abraham Nunez signed with | | | | Expect Carpenter to have another productive |
| the Phillies. Starter Matt Morris signed a | | | | year as the starting rotation will remain |
| lucrative 3-year deal with San Francisco for | | | | mostly unchanged from 2005. |
| $27 million and the Cardinals also traded | | | | |