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Still led by the ever-fiery catcher Yadier Molina, the St. Louis Cardinals have a chance to be the best team in an uber-competitive National League Central divisional battle in 2019, after missing the playoffs last season.
For the Cardinals, their season was ultimately ended when they played the Milwaukee Brewers at Busch Stadium late in the year last season, where the Brewers clinched a playoff berth and celebrated in the Cardinals visitors locker room. On the contrary, the birds had to deal with another playoff-less season that saw the franchise move on from long-time manager Mike Matheny.
Realizing that in order to compete in what is shaping up to be the NL’s best division for the 2019 season, the Cardinals went out and made some big moves, trading for franchise cornerstone Paul Goldschmidt and signing lefty reliever Andrew Miller in an act to help shore up the back end of their bullpen.
By bringing both players into the fold, the team has ultimately decided on contending this season after faltering last year, and the moves of Goldschmidt and Miller should be just the beginning, as the team still has a few holes to take care of before being ready and set for the season.
While spring training will help iron out some depth pieces, the team needs to determine if Carlos Martinez will remain in the starting rotation like he was for most of last season or if he is going to move full time into the bullpen, where he seemed to finish out 2018. More integral to the team’s success if placed into the rotation, the flamethrower and enigmatic presence on this team will need to have a dedicated role when the season opens up under manager Mike Shildt.
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Along with determining where Martinez fits into the team’s plans, finding good chunks of playing time for Matt Carpenter now after being displaced from first base with the Goldschmidt trade will be important too. While he has the experience to play the vast majority of his time at the hot corner, Jedd Gyorko would become the team’s utility man and come off the bench in that case.
Gyorko could slide over to second, but Kolten Wong already plays there and is the team’s best option there, and Gyorko would not displace Paul DeJong from shortstop either, so Gyorko looks to be the odd man out. However, a good insurance policy in case of injury, Gyorko will look to reinvent himself as a platoon, off-the-bench pinch hitting option for the Cardinals in 2019.
Finally, the team needs to determine the bullpen look, as Miller will join youngster Jordan Hicks at the backend of their pen, with other arms there to help bridge the gap. Pitchers like Brett Cecil, Luke Gregerson, Dominic Leone, John Brebbia and Chasen Shreve, among others, will be looking to fight for time out of the bullpen, adding up to being a very strong staff.
While a bit of a disappointing result during the 2018 season, the Cardinals responded well to rough patches and the firing of their manager throughout the year, coming close to making the playoffs. The 2019 squad is full of big-time potential, and they have a good chance at making some big-time noise in the league this upcoming season.
