Almost There

February is here.  That means baseball.  Pitchers and catchers report in fourteen days.  Until then, we’ll keep passing the time checking out what little news comes out of Cardinal Nation.

Just as we thought, the Cardinals will fill their lead off void in house.  Mathew Leach discusses each of the candidates here.  Tony La Russa prefers a high OBP.

“On-base percentage is the highest thing on the list,” La Russa said.  “If you’ve proven that you can get on base, that will give you the best chance to lead off.”

Personally, I like Skip Schumaker, but I’m hoping to be surprised by Rule 5 draftee, Brian Barton.  He seems to have all the tools to bat lead off, but is an unproven major leaguer.  I’m looking forward to seeing how the competition pans out in Spring Training.

According to reports by Ken Rosenthal, the Cards are content with their starting pitching, and don’t plan to add another arm.  General manager, John Mozeliak, is “encouraged” by the reports on Mark Mulder’s progress.  Read the full story here.

This is a bit surprising to me, and I’m not the only one.  According to the results of the poll question I posted, the expectations for Mulder are somber.  Out of 72 total voters, a surprising 30 believe he’ll make fewer than 10 starts in 2008.  For a few more days, you can view the complete results in the sidebar.