Well, There's Always Next Season...

By JP

It's been a few days since the St. Louis Cardinals lost the World Series in 6 games to the Boston Red Sox. Frustrating? Yep. But, unlike the Chicago Cubs, the Cardinals have a bright future ahead of them and will likely be right back in the thick of things next season.

The Cardinals lost the WS because they failed at the one thing they did better than anyone else all season and better than any team for the last 30 SEASONS; they failed to score with runners in scoring position. It seemed like almost every game the Cards, at least once, had the bases loaded with one out or no outs and failed to score. The Red Sox pitched well, but the Cards were not facing Greg Maddox, John Smoltz, and Tom Glavine (future Hall of Famers). Several times I saw David Freese get up to bat with runners in scoring position only to pop out on the infield or to strike out. Same with Pete Kozma and Kozma's defense cost the Cardinals several runs. Now, it was NOT their fault that the Cardinals lost the world series, but they certainly didn't help. At all.

So, what was the point of mentioning that about Freese and Kozma? Simply, I doubt they will be on the Cardinals Opening Day roster in 2014. Honestly, Freese hasn't done much of anything since the NLCS and WS in 2011 and Kozma hasn't lived up to the hype he had when he was in the Minor Leagues. I like David Freese and I appreciate what he did in 2011, but, unfortunately, professional sports is a "what have you done for me lately" business and Freese and Kozma haven't done anything for the Cardinals lately.

Now, the free agents are Carlos Beltran, Chris Carpenter, Rafael Furcal, and Edward Mujica. The Cards already decline their part of Jake Westbrook's mutual option making him a free agent as well. I suspect that Carp will retire and Furcal and Mujica are gone. I would love to see Beltran stay, but I don't think the Cardinals are going to want to pay him what he's going to want. He has been very healthy the last two seasons (something that he hadn't been previously and scared off many teams two seasons ago when he was previously a free agent) and he has been very productive. The Cards can offer him a one year qualifying offer of $14.1 million, but to be honest I think Beltran will seek more money elsewhere. He has had interest in the Yankees in the past and it could be mutual this off season. Also, the Cardinals could use Allen Craig in right and Matt Adams at first base.

With Furcal, Carp, and (possibly?) Beltran off the books, the Cardinals are going to have quite a bit of money coming off the books. If Freese and Kozma are both gone, then it's possible for Matt Carpenter to move back to 3rd base and the Cards could go after a free agent or make a trade for a short stop and a 2nd baseman.

The Cardinals will have Adam Wainwright, Michael Wacha, Shelby Miller, Joe Kelly, Lance Lynn and (maybe) Jaime Garcia. I know that's six names, so it's possible that Garcia could start in the bullpen coming off a season ending injury early in the 2013 season. So, Spring Training will have some stiff competition among the starting rotation.

This off season is going to be very interesting, but the Cardinals look to be in pretty good shape, save for a couple of holes to fill and decisions to make. I will keep you updated as I learn more.