2006 St. Louis Cardinals Preview

2005 Overview:the Rockies and lost Julian Tavarez who signed a
The 2005 Cardinals were led by one of the greatesttwo-year deal with the Red Sox.
offensive player's in baseball, Albert Pujols (.330 41 117).The Cardinals did find a decent hitter and a
Joined by outfielders Jim Edmonds (.263 29 89),replacement outfielder in Juan Encarnacion (.287 16 76)
Reggie Sanders (.271 21 54) and Larry Walker (.289 15from Florida and also picked up Larry Bigbie (.239 in 90
82), Pujols and company assembled a regular seasongames splitting time between Colorado and Baltimore)
winning record of 100-62. During the playoffs, the St.from the Rockies in the trade for King. The pitching
Louis Cardinals lost in 6 games to the Astros. Tony'sstaff sought upgrades for 2006 by adding free agent
Larussa's team performed well in the postseason, firststarter Sidney Ponson (7-11 6.21) and former Mets
by sweeping the Padres in 4 straight games and thencloser Braden Looper (4-7 3.94) as well as Ricardo
with Pujols providing some memorable extra inningRincon (1-1 4.34).
heroics in game 5 of the LCS against Houston. Albert's2006 Analysis:
mammoth homerun helped keep the series aliveThe Cardinals made several off season free agent
forcing a game 6 back in St. Louis. Unfortunately St.signings for the 2006 season but nothing terribly
Louis couldn't manage another win to force a gamesignificant. The biggest hope for 2006 is for Scott
seven and Houston was able to make it to their firstRolen to be healthy again so he can contribute. Rolen
World Series appearance in team history.only appeared in 56 games in 2005 and will be called
The pitching in 2005 was led by Chris Carpenter (21-5upon to patch up the hole left by the departure of
2.83), Mark Mulder (16-8 3.64) and Matt Morris (14-10Sanders and Walker. But any lineup with Pujols and
4.11). Closer Jason Isringhausen (1-2 2.14 39 saves) alsoEdmonds should do just fine. Expect to see free agent
performed well, closing 39 of 43 save opportunities inJunior Spivey (.232 7 24) compete for the 2nd base
2005.job as the replacement for Grudzielanek.
Off Season Moves:Ponson may not have much left in the tank but the 1
The Cardinals lost a good portion of their offensivemillion dollars the Cardinals paid to find out is certainly
production during the off-season as Reggie Sandersworth the risk. The bullpen picked up two decent arms
signed with Kansas City and Larry Walker retired.in Looper and Rincon. Looper blew a bunch of games
Second baseman Mark Grudzielanek also departed tofor the Mets but the Cardinals are hoping he'll produce
Kansas City while third baseman Abraham Nunezin a setup role for Isringhausen. Expect Carpenter to
signed with the Phillies. Starter Matt Morris signed ahave another productive year as the starting rotation
lucrative 3-year deal with San Francisco for $27 millionwill remain mostly unchanged from 2005.
and the Cardinals also traded lefty reliever Ray King to