Well, we are one week into the 2013 baseball season. What do we know yet, if anything?
5 Things We KNOW We Know
1. Yadier Molina is
the best catcher in baseball. Buster
Posey is very good, and he’s a monster hitter, but Yadi is the complete package. It’s a safe bet that he will win the Gold
Glove behind the plate and bat .300.
2. Matt Holliday is
batting .182 so far. And Albert Pujols
is only batting .211 for the Angels. It
won’t end up that way. If there’s
anything I’m certain of, it’s that you don’t have to worry about Matt Holliday,
or El Hombre. There is nothing to see
here . . . move along . . . these are not the droids you are looking for.
3. Trevor Rosenthal
can throw hard. And he is here to
stay. If Jason Motte is out for an
extended period, Rosie might end up closing out some games.
4. The 1-5 Pittsburgh
Pirates will finish under .500. Book
it. Every year. Since 1992.
Sorry, but it’s a safe bet.
5. And finally, we
are certain that the Houston Astros suck.
No really, they are horrible.
Historically bad. In 6 games,
they’ve struck out 75 times . . . that is 12.5 Ks per game. Seriously.
Brett Wallace, the former Cardinals’ phenom that was traded to Oakland back in the Matt
Holliday trade, has 17 at bats AND 13 STRIKEOUTS.
5 Things We THINK
We Know
1. Adam Wainwright
will be a stud. He might not dominate
every game. He might not win 20
games. He might not win a Cy Young. But he might do all three. He is throwing harder than last year and he’s
now 2 years removed from his elbow surgery.
He’s back and he’ll be just fine.
2. Jaime Garcia seems
to be healthy as well. He passed every
spring test and his first start was sound, if not great. If he’s healthy between the ears, and he’s
showing maturity signs there as well, he can be one of the best lefties in the
league.
3. Matt Carpenter is
a player. He transformed himself into a
second baseman; and he’s proven he can do almost anything except pitch and
catch. He’s a professional hitter; he
battles every pitch and never throws an at-bat away, even against left handers.
4. The Dodgers will
dethrone the Giants in the NL West this year; and the Angels will knock the
Rangers (and Athletics) off the top of the AL West.
5. The Cubs are
mathematically eliminated from the NL Central race. Well, not quite, but I’m sure it’s
close. Any day now. (Note: Clip and save and recopy this into any
year’s season opening blog)
5 Things We HOPE
We Know
1. We hope that
injuries don’t become an oft repeated headline of the season for the Cardinals. David Freese looks like he’ll be back in the
lineup for today’s home opener, but we don’t know when Motte will be back in
the closer role. Right now, the Birds
have enough depth to ride these early injuries out, but no team can survive
repeated hits to their 25 man roster.
2. Petey the Kid Kozma
looks like he belongs. In spite of his
.236 career average over 6 minor league seasons, he has risen above it all and
settled in at the major league level. He
just looks comfortable; not at all phased about this whole major league
thing. He’s not going to be a career
.350 hitter in the majors, but he looks like he wants to stay, and he looks
like he wants to hit.
3. Shelby Miller has
the maturity (now) and the talent to stick.
Both he and the Cardinals hope that he’s thrown his last minor league
pitch. It might be interesting to watch
the Rookie of the Year race in the NL this season. St.
Louis might have multiple players on the ballots.
4. This might be the
best bench the Cards have had in awhile.
Once Freese is back in the lineup, either Daniel Descalso or Matt
Carpenter will be on the bench and they have both been Mr. Clutch in late
innings for the past 2 years. Shane
Robinson can deliver pinch hits against anyone; he has no fear. Ty Wiggington looked lost this spring, but he
started at 3B Sunday and had 3 hits; perhaps he’ll be the right handed threat
we need. And Matt Adams can flat out
rake; he could start at first base for a lot of major league teams.
5. This team will
contend in the NL Central. Their offense
tends to be spastic (see below) and their bullpen as usual is in flux (see
below), but they have a good mix of veterans and young talent, and Mike Matheny
has them believing in themselves. They
may win the division (I’m predicting they do), or just a wild card, or maybe
neither. But as I said last week,
they’ll be there in the end.
5 Things We Hope
We DON’T Know
1. The Cardinals’
feast or famine offense seems to be back.
It’s early of course, but in 3 of their games Dr. Jekyll has cranked out
14, 9, and 6 runs. And in the other 3
games, Mr. Hyde has been limited to just 0, 1, and 2 runs. Whiplash.
2. The Reds are still
good. They’re not going away quietly. Their starting pitching has been good. Their bats roughed up Stephen Strasburg on
Sunday, and Aroldis Chapman has 2 saves and 7 strikeouts in 4 innings of work. If
the Cardinals want to compete in the Central Division, they’re going to have to
earn it. It should be an interesting
series at Busch the next 3 days.
3. Fernando Salas
looks beatable this spring. Opponents
are sitting on Joe Kelly’s fastball. Mitchell
Boggs is out of his comfort zone as the temporary closer. I’m not sure Edward Mujica can duplicate his
7th inning success from last year.
Rosenthal is great; but overall the bullpen has me very nervous.
4. Derek Jeter is
nearing the end. His ankle is healing
slower than the Yankees hoped. The
pinstripes are old and weak and they miss their captain. Not a lot of people will lose sleep if the
Yankees finish 4th or 5th in their division and miss the
playoffs. But if Jeter can’t bounce back
and produce at an all star level, it will be baseball’s loss.
5. The Washington Nationals
will win the World Series. Hope I’m
wrong. They have the best rotation in
baseball and a deep lineup. They’ll beat
the Detroit Tigers.