St. Louis Cardinals: Five Spring Training Concerns

5. How is this shortstop thing going to play out?

Well, this topic has been hammered to death in the past couple of days. I’ll admit that I really wanted to see Aledmys Diaz get a shot out there to start the year. But, I most definitely understand Mo going with experience, especially with the bargain that he got in Ruben Tejada.

As things stand, it looks like every day shortstop honors will be a two-man race between Tejada and Jedd Gyorko. While both guys are pretty average defensively, they would each give the Cardinals a very different look at the plate.

Tejada has all of 10 home runs in six big league seasons, although his .330 career OBP and 99 doubles (16.5 a year) are respectable figures. Tejada would be your on-base option, best suited in the second or eighth spot in the lineup.

Gyorko has averaged better than 16 home runs and 57 RBI a year since breaking in with the Padres in 2013. But, Gyorko has reached base at just a .293 clip in his career, and he’s yet to turn in a .250 batting average for a season.

The fact that Tejada has made it known that he’s willing to be flexible in St. Louis should help him both before and after Peralta’s return.

Gyorko is already the team’s official “Super Utilityman.” Tejada might just turn into “Super Utilityman Jr.”, while giving the Cardinals that much more flexibility on their roster.

They just need to keep the club afloat until Peralta’s return.

Next: No more bites from the injury bug