St. Louis will Rule in NL Central

[bama45]

St. Louis should rule the NL Central in 2002. Acquiring first baseman Tino Martinez was an excellent idea. He adds more power and leadership to a team that will need it with McGwire gone. Albert Pujols should have another great year unless the sophomore jinx hits him. Still that leaves power hitting Jim Edmonds and young J.D. Drew to do their thing. I like this team's chances in 2002, even if Chicago did get Moises Alou.

[Baseball Guru]

I totally agree here...
St. Louis IMO, is one of the stronger teams in the whole NL....
Don't forget that they picked up a bonefied closer in Izzy....

[KingFish]

May be the continued success of their starting pitching. Have to hope that Morris and Kile can once again post up excellent numbers. The pen is solid giving LaRussa a lot of options. The key may be Stephenson returning healthy. Is he getting there? Inquiring minds want to know!

If Stephenson is ready to go it would give the Cards three Class A type starters. With that pen and a more than adequeate offense bolstered by the arrival of Martinez they will certainly be a force to be reckoned with. :biggrinpa

[bear]

I wonder!!!!!
Maybe I'm just being negative, but I am not about to award the Cards the NL Central quite yet! I have some seriuos questions about their starting pitching, to start. Is there a rock, someone about whom there is no doubt? No, no, no.We've all seen Kile's evil twin pitch and it's a scary sight. We know Morris had a spectacular year, but isn't there an injury risk hiding out there somewhere? Woody Williams is as old as Kingfish, for heavens sake! I am not gonna bet he doesn't lose his stuff this year. Ankiel? Puh-lease! Stephenson, Kingfish, is a stiff who could not even contribute to the Phils when they were simply dreadful! Stottlemire has a torn rotator cuff, opting to try to "rehab"it--can't be done, I can tell you first hand, and I don't throw baseballs 90 MPH like he does! Bud Smith you say? Have you ever heard of a sophomore jinx? And I was not too sold on his staying power last year, either. All in all, do not pay for your World Series tix quite yet!:ohno:

[KingFish]

Their success or lack of it in the coming season will be dictated by how well their starting pitching will do. Without it, it will be entertaining but not very rewarding. With it, I can see Series rings being handed out at the end of the long struggle.