Tommy Gunned

 

I'd never thought I'd see a team where Albert Pujols would be hitting better than Paul Goldschmidt, but here we are.

The St. Louis Cardinals, as much as it pains me to say it, look really damned good this year. I predicted going into the season that the Cards would have the deadliest lineup in baseball, and that's looking pretty close to correct right now. Nolan Arenado's off to a scorching start with a .382 average, 13 hits, 12 RBIs and 4 home runs. We've only been playing for 2 weeks and Nolan Arenado has a 1.0 WAR. You know how long it takes Mike Zunino to hit that cumulative mark? YEARS. 

And it's not just Arenado. Tommy Edman is also pulling awesome contact numbers, hitting .355 with 11 hits and 7 RBIs. O'Neill and Bader are essentially picking up where last season left off. Andrew Knizner has become a pretty strong bench catcher, and could easily cover for Yadier Molina when he inevitably retires. And, as I mentioned, Albert Pujols is HITTING, guys. He hasn't done this in YEARS. Through 5 games he has 4 RBIs and 2 homers. Pretty much every homer Pujols hits is just extra, and it'd be really cool if he got to 700 before he retires. 

The rotation is a little less confident. I am onboard with this team using a 4-man rotation until Jack Flaherty returns, as this very well could return us to the era of pitchers getting 35 starts if done correctly and kept healthy. But...two of these starters, namely Dakota Hudson and Steven Matz, aren't doing too well through their initial starts. The other two are great. Miles Mikolas is looking like his old self, and Adam Wainwright is positively ageless. 40 years old, throwing better than most of the league, 19 Ks. I...I have to just marvel at him at this point. 

The problem with doing a 4 man rotation when two of them are letting you down is that you've got a 50% success rate through 5. And even then, you have to be careful because Mikolas has a history of injury and Wainwright is FORTY. Though I do think it is very cool that this pitching staff features three former gaijin, between Mikolas, Drew VerHagen and Aaron Brooks. Kinda awesome.

I think this Cardinals team has the best chance of long term success, because even with the players who haven't showed up yet, they're still in first, and handsomely. So if you think they're good now, wait until Goldschmidt and Molina start hitting and Flaherty gets activated.

Coming Tomorrow- Last year's Cy Young winner. The one I agreed with.