St. Louis Cardinals: Things to Watch in 2015

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Over at Fox Sports, Rob Neyer provides three reasons to watch the St. Louis Cardinals during the 2015 baseball season.

More from Adam Wainwright

The reasons Neyer gives are newly acquired right fielder Jason Heyward, the Cardinals’ young starting pitchers, and in Neyer’s words, Adam Wainwright’s body (or at least his curveball).

Heyward is coming to the Cardinals from the Atlanta Braves as a result of a trade this past offseason that saw the Cardinals exchange pitchers Shelby Miller and Tyrell Jenkins. It is the hope of Cardinals Nation that Heyward’s change of scenery will give him an offensive spark at the plate. If he is able to hit the ball like he did when he first came up with the Braves, the Cardinals will be in a position to where they might be able to move some of their surplus outfielders. The other thing is…nobody knows if general manager John Mozeliak will offer the outfielder a contract extension or whether he would be willing to accept one.

The old adage is that you can never have enough pitching. The good news for the Cardinals organization is that they are stocked with pitching arms from the top to the bottom. In any event, the starting rotation hasn’t changed much between the end of last season and Opening Day of the upcoming season. The only difference is that instead of Shelby Miller, it will be either Carlos Martinez, Marco Gonzales, or Jaime Garcia. Nobody knows what to truly expect out of Garcia so the spot will go to Martinez or Gonzales–whoever wins it in Spring Training.

Throw in Michael Wacha‘s stress reaction from last season and what we have seen from Martinez as a starter so far, there are questions to be asked. How healthy is Wacha and does Martinez have the fire to be a starter for a full season at the Major League level.

Neyer writes:

"I will venture that we’ve not often seen a divisional favorite relying on two starting pitchers who have combined for 13 W’s. If it works, though, it might be something to see!"

Wainwright isn’t exactly healthy early on in Spring Training but he’s expected to be 100% ready by Opening Night.

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