I know many of you will disagree with me on this but I think the Cards may surprise us this year. I see a younger more invigorated group this spring. The pitching might just end up better than most expect. Reyes pitched great yesterday and they say Mulder looks impressive and may be back sooner than originally planned. There may be hope yet this year for all us Redbird fans!

I sure hope so! Go Cards!

Cards and Wainwright beat Mets and Santana while Pujols and Juan Gonz go deep. Pitching and hitting looking good so far for the Birds!

Spring Training is not going well so far.

Personally, I think the Cardinals and their fans will have it tough this season. The organization is not willing to spend money where there is no value for the dollar, and the free agency market did not have a lot to offer this winter.

2008 depends on the rotation, and it does not appear to be shaping up very well.

They maybe younger but I just do not see this team doing much. Maybe they will be the 2007 Colorado Rockies. Who would have thought that team would be any good?

If Reyes can relax and just pitch, that will be a huge plus for the Cards. I just look back over the years and see that LaRussa and Duncan have not been that successful with young pitchers with high expectations.

The Cardinals have their first back to back ST wins.

I can kind of see your analogy in the sense that nobody really expected the Rockies to be great....however they had a SOLID young pitching staff and one of the best pens in the NL. They played the best team defense of any team in the history of major league baseball and had a MVP Candidate in Holliday and an ROY candidate in Tulowitzki not to mention several key young players like Hawpe and Atkins, . They weren't in rebuilding mode and while they weren't expected to win last year they were projected by most to be serious contenders for many years to come. The cards, on the other hand ARE in rebuilding mode, except they refuse to rebuild. They don't have the farm system to continue keeping their hands in their pockets during the offseason. After Rasmus it is alarmingly bare. Pujols is injured...bad, Rasmus will struggle, Glaus is on the decline and their infield is basically just patched together. Their pitching staff is absolutely putrid save Wainwright and anybody that argues otherwise obviously hasn't watched much baseball other than on channel 11.

Cardsfan..there were several quality players who changed teams this winter that could have helped the cards whether through free agency or via trade.

Cards will finish 13 games behind the 1st place Cubs

Yes, the Rockies were loaded with young talent last year but how many times do teams loaded with young talent make it to the Super Bowl, NBA Championship, or World Series? I agree with almost everything you say to an extent. I am not sure if the Rockies pitching staff was being called solid on opening day 2007. Francis was decent but not great and besides Ubaldi I cannot even name another pitcher on that team right now (Ubaldi didn't surface until late in the season also). Manuel Corpas was incredible but I don't remember anybody predicting that in early April last year. I love Matt Holiday but saying he was being touted as an MVP last year might be a stretch. The guy can flat out play, though.

Let me go on record and I say I agree completely with you about the Cards chances for this upcoming year. None, zilch, nada.

Falcon, again you make some valid points but I am going to disagree with you about a couple also. Ubaldo Jimenez was one of the top prospects coming into last season and the Rocks knew at some point he was going to come up and make an impact. He was seriously limited by pitch counts so he never was able to let loose although he did pitch well. Franklin Morales was in the same position as he only pitched about 30 innings (by the way he is now ranked the #8 prospect in all of baseball by BA) I agree though that their staff overachieved somewhat but they knew going in that Jeff Francis was on the rise (much like Adam Wainwright this year).

Now onto the Holliday issue I take exception to your statement there. He hit 119 34 114 .326 in 2006. He actually was considered one of the top 5 candidates for NL MVP going into the season by www.mlb.com The same can be said for Tulo as you can't get much more highly touted as he was entering the season last year.

On a side note...Rasmus and Pujols both homered for the Cards today. Good sign.

Its going to be a very interesting year for the cards, promise you that.

Can't argue with facts like that. Way to prove your point. I will still say that I would have given the Montreal Expos as much of a chance to make it to the World Series last year as the Colorado Rockies.

win or lose they will stillbe fun for my son and me to go and watch.

Sigma,

you are right. There was some help out there this year, but it was not the kind of help the organization was willing to bet the future.

In trade talks, most deals hinged on interest in Colby Rasmus, and the Cardinals are not willing to trade the future bright star just to try and save the 2008 season. There are just too many questions with this team, and only time can answer the concerns.

Personally, I do not see the Cardinals organization trying to compete over the next few seasons, and I think it is the All-Star game factor. With revenues staying high over the next few years, the ownership group is not hard pressed to field a kind of team that will be legitimate contenders.

Please, understand. My thoughts are not solely based on the All-Star game being in Busch Stadium in 2009, but I think the game and events surrounding the game will aid the franchise while it it trying to rebuild.