Originally <a href='/showthread.php?p=21420024'>posted</a> on 03/18/2014:


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St Louis Cardinals Over 91.5 (-110)
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for those that know me, its well known that im a diehard Cardinal fan.


Have not been as excited for an upcoming season as I am this year


This team has depth,depth, and a lil sprinkle of depth to top it off.


Last years record was 97-65, but this was fueled by an unprecedented .330 team batting average


with runners in scoring position . Wanted to make note of that stat right from the get-go since I know


that it will be virtually impossible for Cardinals to compete with that stat this upcoming year.


To achieve a record of 92-70, that kind of historic clutch batting will not be needed anyways.


22 games over .500 compared to 32 games over is a huge jump, thankfully the oddsmakers are not asking of that.




Offense



This team lost their leading home run hitter in Beltran. But, did anyone really expect Beltran to produce


the same numbers across the board this season anyways?


With the signing of Peralta(tainted or not) this gives the Cardinals 5 starters


who had at least a .300 average and .350 OBP last year.


The addition of speedster Bourjous and a full season from


Kolten Wong should provide a speed threat that the Cards lacked bigtime last year


This lineup has a ton of scoring potential throughout




1. Matt Carpenter - led NL with 55 doubles last year and hit .318 with a .392 OBP. Has a keen eye of the strike zone




2. Kolten Wong- some serious upside to this kid. Career .300 hitter in minors, will be feisty on the basepaths




3. Matt Holliday- What can ya say, in his 4 seasons as a Redbird he has averaged .303 BA , 25 homers, and 94 RBI.




4. Allen "Clutch" Craig- led all of MLB with .454 BA with runners in scoring position . Perfect clean up hitter.




5. Yadi Molina - heart and soul of this team. Hardly ever strikes out. Continues to improve offensively




6. Matt Adams-can hit the ball hard as fukk, decent contact rate for power hitter 27-30 homers wouldnt surprise me




7. Jhonny Peralta - top 3 best hitting shortstops in baseball, helluva luxury to have this guy as your number 7 hitter




8. Peter Bourjos- line drive hitter whos only goal is to get on base. Could be first Card to steal 40 bases in a while



You can shuffle that lineup many dif ways depending on whos pitching that day and not skip a beat.


this team could lead the NL in runs once again, especially if Bourjos and Wong have an above average OBP


Wong is hitting .400 this spring and has showcased a impressive slugging percentage






Pitching


Hate to mention the word "depth" again , but the Cardinals pitching core are DurrtyNDepth


There are 7 pitchers that can bring the ball to the plate at 95 + mph.



Rotation


Ace. Adam Wainright - Cy Young runner up, won 19 games
last year led all pitchers in innings pitched. Has 5 reliable pitches


2. Michael Wacha- almost had 2 no hitters b2b -
one of them in the post season,won his first 4 postseason starts,A++ changeup


3. Lance Lynn -leads all NL pitchers with 33 wins over the last 2 seasons,
logged 200 innings as well. Great K rates per 9 IP


4. Shelby Miller- won 15 games last year, Rookie of the year finalist, and holds a 2.94 career ERA so far.


5. Joe Kelly- 95 mph fastball (that sounds faster when it hits the catchers mitt)
and a above average changeup. 2.69 era last year




The crafty left hander Jamie Garcia was slated to be in the rotation but he is going to be around a month late to the dance.


As much as I like Kelly, we need that lefty in our rotation.


That rotation is filled with young arms. The post season experience will prove to be valuable going into this season.



Bullpen

a team is only as good as their bullpen, and the Cardinals bullpen is very talented.


The Cardinals had one of the more reliable squads in relief duty last year.


and they will be bringing back the core guys that made that happen.


Carlos Martinez will continue to throw that 97 mph fastball,


and throws a changeup well enough that it would earn him a starting spot in most rotations.


Seth Maness compiled a 2.32 ERA and led all relievers in inducing double plays, with 18 twin killings.


They have 2 lefty specialists in the veteran Randy Choate 2.29 ERA and Kevin Siegrist.


Siegrist had a spectacular 0.45 ERA in 2013 and struck out 51 batters in under 40 innings pitched


Jason Motte is all but fully recovered , in 2012 ,he led the NL in saves before getting hurt.


He carries with him 3 fastballs that run between 93- and 97 mph . Great set up guy to have coming in before Rosenthal


The Closer will be Trevor Rosenthal. He mowed through every batter he faced.

Only 23 and the sky is the limit for this kid.


His ceiling is just as high as any other elite closer in the game.


The combo of starters who can pitch deep into a game handing the ball over to these set up pitchers, who then


hand the ball over to the godlike Rosenthal in the 9th, will be a treat to watch





Defense



Defensively, the Cardinals will be around the same as last year. Kozma had better range then Peralta


but Peralta is better at the fundamentals after making the play on the ball. Kozma seemed to make so many


boneheaded plays out there, Peralta makes the plays you are suppose to ,as well as a powerful and very accurate arm


throwing across the diamond. The addition of Bourjos is more then welcomed, combining Jays poor performance


towards the end of last season, and the fact that Bourjos is one of the best outfielders in baseball defensively.


This is going to be a big plus and relief on the Cardinals pitching staff


Bourjos is Jim Edmonds with added speed out there in center.


Holliday and Craig will gladly accept(as well as need) the added range Bourjos provides .


As seamlessly as Carpenter stepped into the role at 2nd,


the move to 3rd base this season should not be a problem, since that is the position he is familiar with anyways.


Molina continues to be the best defensive catcher in baseball, and Wong has been touted for his defense in the minors


Having the steady fielding Mark Ellis along with the defensive wiz Daniel Descalso as your backup infielders farther proves the depth .


As far as the outfield backups, John Jay is better then most teams 4th outfielders , and Oscar Taveras is the 3rd rated


prospect in the majors. Its been said, that Taveras is already the best pure hitter on the Cardinals.





Final Thoughts:

Glancing around the rest of the NL Central, it does not look as if anyone improved besides the Cardinals.

The postseason experience from last year will prove huge this season, I think .


Cardinals have always been a team that plays scrappy all the way till the end, and that is the kind of team


when want to back when choosing an over in a season wins total, and considering the grueling 162 games in a season


the last 10 games can be critical to a total cashing. So the trust in them playing hard throughout only


adds to my belief in them eclipsing the 91 wins they are slated at.

Good luck if you choose to make this play as well





Cardinals over 91.5 wins -110 7 units $280 wins $254.55