St. Louis Cardinals: Five Spring Training Concerns

Mar 6, 2016; Jupiter, FL, USA; A detail shot of a St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap and glove during a spring training game against the Washington Nationals at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 6, 2016; Jupiter, FL, USA; A detail shot of a St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap and glove during a spring training game against the Washington Nationals at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /
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1. More offensive struggles to come?

Well, through roughly two-thirds of spring action, the Cardinals are 28th in baseball in runs scored. Again, Spring Training. Don’t panic yet.

No, 27th in team OPS doesn’t look good. Thirteen home runs (26th in baseball) isn’t ideal, either.

Losing Jhonny Peralta for half a season obviously doesn’t help any… but I have to think that something has got to get better from a season ago. Matt Holliday’s return is huge, and he’s looked good so far this spring.

Some combination of Brandon Moss, Adams and Holliday has to be better than what the Cards got from first basemen in 2015.

I’m excited about what Randal Grichuk and Stephen Piscotty could do in 500 at-bats. The rest of the Redbird line up seems to fill in nicely.

What they need, desperately in 2016, is some kind of a superstar performance, from anybody. Holliday very well could be that guy. Matt Carpenter, just as likely.

We all known of the Randal Grichuk power potential, does he give the Birds a lift with a 30+ home run performance this year?

The Cardinals haven’t had a 30 home run OR 100 RBI guy since Carlos Beltran hit 32 long balls back in 2012. The last guy to drive in 100 runs was Holliday in that same season.

I think that having just one guy put up those kinds of numbers is a must in St. Louis this year. If multiple guys want to put up big seasons, I guess I wouldn’t be opposed.

Next: Five Reasons the Cards can win the World Series

What do you think of my list, Cardinal Nation? Give us your thoughts in the comments, or as always, feel free to get after me on twitter!