Musings from an Optimistic Redbird Fan: Issue 3-2012

Twenty Win Club – Now that we have less than sixty games before playoffs, it’s time to see how close Lance Lynn and Kyle Lohse will come to winning twenty games. I’m not sure there will be a pitcher in the major leagues, that gets twenty wins in my opinion but, I could be wrong.

Lynn is currently at 13-4 and pitched Thursday night; while Kyle Lohse is at 11-2. If my math is correct, each has less than 10 more starts before the post season. And with the specialization in the pitching realm these days, they would have to win the rest of their starts to get to twenty wins. Not impossible but, I doubt it happens. Lynn is already at over 120 innings and since this is his first year as a full-time starter and not long removed from Memphis, Mike Matheny is going to be very careful with his innings from here on out. And with Lohse over 140 innings, I think the St. Louis Cardinals will err on the side of caution and watch his innings as well. I would be happy if Lynn got close to 200 strikeouts and Lohse got to 15 wins. In fact, I predict Lynn will finish at 17-5 and Lohse at 16-3.

Who’s more valuable? The Cardinals have potentially three MVP candidates. Carlos Beltran, Matt Holliday and David Freese. Two of them have over 20 homeruns; two of them are batting over .310; two have over 70 rbis; and two have scored over 100 runs. In my opinion, I think Matt Holliday is going to stay hot be the driving force of getting us back to the post season. Beltran has cooled somewhat but, he’s starting to warm up again as is 5-15, .333, with 2 homeruns over his last three games. And Freese is on a tear as he currently has a 12 game hitting streak and hitting .357 over his last three games. This players are hitting .357 collectively. It’s going to be fun watching them over the next several weeks.

40-man Roster – Who will actually be on the expanded roster when Sept 1 rolls around? And who will help the Cardinals the most? I think the following players are a “lock” for being on the roster: Matt Adams, Peter Kozma, Shane Robinson, Adron Chambers and Brian Anderson. I’ll reserve comment for now on what pitchers will be brought up, as I think it will depend on large part, how many innings are absorbed by the starters and how the bullpen fares in coming weeks. How accurate am I on player predictions? Well, I’m the one who “predicted” Tyler Greene would be gone by now and I’ll be darned if he isn’t still a Redbird. And he’s doing better….go figure.

New Reliever – If you don’t know by now, the Cardinals have a new right handed relief pitcher in Edward Mujica. He made his debut Wednesday night in the rain delayed game and pitched an inning before the rain. He gave up no hits or runs. I think he’ll be the one to give Mitchell Boggs a “break” from time to time and setup Jason Motte. That was the only move the Cardinals made before the trade deadline as he was acquired from the Miami Marlins for minor leaguer and former 1^st round draft pick, 3B Zack Cox.

Thanks for reading. Go Cards!