St. Louis Cardinals News 2021 Cardinals News

Top Cardinals News Stories of 2021

Can Paul Goldschmidt Turn This Offense Up A Notch?

Paul Goldschmidt has been a premier first base option in Arizona for the last ten years or so. He will now be hitting in St. Louis where his power was needed. This offense was good, but Goldschmidt is going to upgrade them. He isn’t going to steal many bases anymore but overall his production with his bat is what they were after. Adding in names like Marcell Ozuna and Matt Carpenter around him, their production should also be on the rise. Despite being a heavy right-handed heavy lineup, this team struggled a bit against left-handed pitching. Adding Goldschmidt into the mix will certainly help in that department. The one downside with Goldschmidt is that he struggled with high velocity fastballs last season. He came around late in the year, but this might be a trend to keep an eye on. Either way he is going to be a big part of the order, and adding in another 30 HR hitter with potential for 100 RBI is going to do any offense some good.

How Will The Andrew Miller Signing Change The Bullpen?

Andrew Miller has been a quality bullpen arm in Cleveland the last few seasons and St Louis made a great add getting him in the offseason. Miller isn’t all what he used to be but still is an above average lefty out of the bullpen. At the moment Miller is slated to be the closer, but you have to imagine Jordan Hicks gets in on the mix as well. If Miller comes up against a heavy right-handed ninth inning, Hicks might be asked to get the job done. This isn’t unusual for some teams now, and Miller had this scenario a few times while in Cleveland. Hicks is a flame throwing right-hander, and will balance out Miller very nicely in the bullpen.

Where Does The Rotation Rank Among The Rest Of The Majors?

Because the Cardinals do not have a Cy Young candidate name their rotation may not stand out to many, but they have deep rotation with above average names. Carlos Martinez has been the ace of the staff, but there are some young names on the rise in St. Louis. Jack Flaherty is a very talented young arm, and expected to take another step forwards in his career. He is projected for over 200 strikeouts, and his strikeout stuff last season lived up to the hype. Miles Mikolas came over from the Asian leagues where he found an insane amount of control which helped his overall game. He is going to eat a lot of innings, and find himself around a low three ERA. Mikolas really is the gel of this rotation in our opinion because of his ability to remain consistent and healthy. John Gant and Adam Wainwright are the backend guys, and of course Wainwright is not the guy he once was, so some depth in the middle of the year wouldn’t be a bad way to look at things.