Finally some good news from the St. Louis Cardinals can be reported. Pitcher Chris Carpenter is ready to return to the roster after being sidelined two starts with a hamstring injury. The 2005 Cy Young winner will return on Wednesday and continue to be a critical piece of a struggling Cardinal bullpen this year. The most notable cause of struggle will be the loss of Adam Wainwright as he will miss the entire 2011 season after suffering an elbow injury that required surgery to repair. Last year, Wainwright finished second in N.L. Cy Young balloting next to Philadelphia's Roy Halliday.
Another noteworthy contest facing the Cards this year is not agreeing to a contract with club superstar Albert Pujols. Despite not agreeing to a contract, Pujols and the Cardinals have one year left to decide if he is worth the $300 Million price tag he is asking for. From a franchising and branding perspective, he is worth every penny. Statistically, he is Hall of Fame bound. That being said, he is also one injury away from being worth fractions of that price. How this will play into the kind of season we can expect from the team is to be determined. Pujols will continue to show up and do what he does best regardless and he made that clear on Day #1 of spring training. When questioned by reporters as to why he would even show up without a contract in place Pujols responded, " I respect my team too much". It looks like business as usual this year in the Cardinal clubhouse, but they are going to have to make adjustments to the line-up and avoid the contract/trade speculation that will surface all season.
It will be interesting to see how this Pujols thing plays out over the season. Thus far they have always been reasonably competitive with Pujols in the lineup. But what if they tank this year?
ReplyDeleteJust pay the man his money! If you are looking for a sure thing in baseball, you can't ask for much more than Pujols. Seems like a bit of a dropped ball paying Holliday $120 million a year ago and then not being able to get a deal done with your best player.
ReplyDeleteIs Pujols worth a $180 million more than Holliday though?
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