St. Louis Cardinals set sights on holding Cubs in 2016

2. Where will an uptick in offense come from?

After being left stranded at the alter by Jason Heyward, the Cardinals pivoted their pursuit towards pitching.  That meant that a club ranked 24th in runs scored last season will rely on many of those same players to produce at a higher clip in 2016.

It is most definitely a calculated risk that the St. Louis Cardinals are willing to gamble with, but one that the production for Stephen Piscotty and Randal Grichuk when giving both a full season of at-bats.

Having Matt Holliday and Matt Adams healthy again could boost the team’s power output.  As we look at Holliday, with the shape this man keeps himself in he is going to be very capable of hitting 20+ home runs as he is still one of the better hitters in the game today, that takes very solid at bats.

With the addition of Jedd Gyorko should allow the St. Louis Cardinals to better keep their middle infielders rested and sharp.  This was a problem St. Louis ran into during the later half of the season.  It played true to two of the Cardinals middle infielders, Wong and Peralta.  I also believe that this lack of depth in the infield caused an early and unusual exit from the 2015 playoffs.

As I’m sure the addition of Gyorko broke many Cardinal fans hearts’ as the Cardinals fan favorite Jon Jay was traded.  In my opinion this was one of the key moves that went under the radar that GM John Mozeliak made.

This freed up an already log jammed outfield, but more importantly giving our middle infielders a day or two off and believe me Gyorko will make an impact as he is only 26 and does provide some pop for his size and position.

Next: Will health be an issue again?