Surprises For The Cardinals

Written by: Matt Wilson on 29th May 2010

Surprises For The Cardinals | read this item

When the St. Louis Cardinals dealt their best prospect, 3B Brett Wallace, to the Oakland A’s last summer for Matt Holliday, it built a lot of excitement for their fans. Matt Holliday went on a tear. Yet, the season ended well short of expectations.

When the Birds landed Matt Holliday as a free agent this offseason (7/$120M) it brought lots of confidence to the organization. It re-established the protection for Pujols in the line-up. Coupled with one of the top pitching staffs in the National League, the Cards became odds on favorite to win the Central Division and in some minds became the second best team behind the back-to-back pennant winning Phillies.

With St. Louis, baseball followers mostly knew what they were getting. It’s now approaching Memorial Day and the Cardinals sit at the top of their division. Their offense seems to be sluggish at times but has produced, their pitching is brilliant, and their defense has been solid. Let’s take a look at some of the unexpected happenings with this team thus far into the 2010 season.

Brendan Ryan’s disappearing act
While Ryan has never been a guy they have counted on for offense, the one thing they do expect from him is great defense. This season, he’s providing neither.

In 105 games last season, Ryan made 8 errors. He was quickly earning a reputation as one of the better gloves in the league. Through just 34 games this season, the shortstop has already committed 7 errors. He may have spoiled fans with his outstanding defense last year, but I think the Birds expect him to play much better in the field. His ability to reach via the walk is up (10% this year verses 5.6% last year) but he’s striking out a lot more (14.4% last season to 23.7% this year). He’s batting .203 and the current everyday shortstop is Felipe Lopez.

Albert Pujols the free swinger
Since I like to end on a positive note, let’s get the rest of the negative out of the way. I can’t believe I just headlined a sentenced with Pujols’ name and a negative connotation. It’s really weird to watch Albert swing the bat right now. We are witnessing perhaps the worst slump of his career. The words slump and Albert just don’t go together. Pujols hit two bombs on opening day and another two in a game the next series. All were projected the crazy numbers of home runs he would hit. Now, everyone is wondering, “What’s going on with Albert?”

In his last 22 games, he has a .256 average, one homerun and 10 RBI. It is not really the slowed production that is that concerning. Instead, it is the way he looks at the plate that is bothersome. Albert is striking out a higher clip; he’s swinging at pitches outside the zone more than usual (29.6% of the time, compared to his career average of 19.6%) and he’s not making contact with balls inside the zone like he’s shown over his career. Lately, he seems to be calmer at the plate and might be figuring some things out but he still has lots of folks wondering for the first time if something just ain’t right. It’s really not fair because he is still producing above average numbers but that is what you get when you are the best hitter in the game.

David Freese the RBI machine
With a slight drop off from their top hitter, the 27-year-old rookie third basemen has been a pleasant surprise. He had two errors in one inning at Milwaukee and early on had some people wondering about his glove. Since that time, Freese has dazzled on the diamond. His ability to turn in great barehanded plays has been exciting to watch.

Even greater than his glove is the knack he has for batting in runs. He especially rises to the occasion when there are two outs. His 28 RBI is only slightly behind Pujols for the team lead.

Jaime Garcia with a Bob Gibson like ERA
How about Jaime? Three seasons ago, Garcia was the top arm in the Cardinal’s minor league system and ranked 70^th on Baseball America’s top 100-prospect list. Injuries then de-railed his path to the majors. To think that this guy started out in third place in the spring training battle for the final spot in the rotation seems crazy now. He has been nails all season and currently stands at a 1.14 ERA. While his strikeout numbers will not compare with Gibson, his ERA might remind some of the 1.12 ERA from the 1968 season. I do not think we will see Garcia remain close to this but a guy who has a 60% ground ball rate should continue to throw quality starts and could finish the year with an ERA south of 3. With Lohse and Penny floundering and injured, Garcia is very impressive as the rotations current number three.

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Topics: Albert Pujols, Brendan Ryan, Brett Wallace, Disappearing Act, Excitement, Felipe Lopez, Followers, Free Agent, Free Swinger, Gloves, Matt Holliday, Memorial Day, Pennant, Phillies, Shortstop, St. Louis Cardinals, Staffs, Surprises, Top Pitching, Unexpected Happenings