St. Louis Cardinals: What the lineup looks like right now

With the addition of Marcell Ozuna, the St. Louis Cardinals’ lineup already figures to be better than it was last season. Let’s speculate what the starting nine should look like as we approach the midpoint of the offseason.

One of the St. Louis Cardinals‘ numerous struggles last season was generating a consistent offensive attack. The front office made it a point of emphasis to improve the lineup to prepare for the 2018 season. Their pursuit of Giancarlo Stanton and trade for Marcell Ozuna has lived up to that stated intention.

Ozuna figures to take the starting position in left field, previously held by the combination of Randal Grichuk, Stephen Piscotty, and Tommy Pham. Pham has earned a starting role heading into the 2018 campaign. Management even has him slated for center field thanks to his defensive prowess, moving Dexter Fowler to a corner position.

The Cardinals traded Piscotty to the Athletics soon after landing Ozuna, and Grichuk’s time with St. Louis might be on its last legs as well. That means the outfield under the Arch is set, with Ozuna, Pham, and Fowler making up what should be one of the more athletic and dynamic outfield trios in the National League.

Things on the infield seem to be less set in stone.

Paul DeJong will enter the season as the team’s starting shortstop. However, he needs to show more ability to get on base aside from relying on the long-ball and cut down on the strikeouts if he wants to avoid the sophomore slump suffered by Aledmys Diaz in 2017. Kolten Wong had the most productive season of his career last year, but struggled to stay healthy. He is the team’s second baseman if he can steer clear of the disabled list.

The corner infield positions offer the most uncertainty at this point in the offseason. The Cardinals have Jedd Gyorko, Matt Carpenter, and Jose Martinez for two starting positions. All three can play first base at a sub-par level defensively, and Gyorko and Carpenter can play the hot corner. Carpenter won’t have a definite position this season, at least that’s the organization’s plan at this point. Expect to see most of his starts come at either first or third base.

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The corner infield positions depend much upon whether or not the Cardinals land another bat before the season begins.

They’ve been connected to a pair of American League East third basemen, the Baltimore Orioles’ Manny Machado and the Toronto Blue Jays’ Josh Donaldson.

If the Cardinals were to add a first basemen, the free agent market has a few options. Eric Hosmer headlines the list of remaining available first basemen.

I wrote yesterday on why Hosmer would be an ideal target for St. Louis.

Other free agent first basemen include Adrian Gonzalez, Ryan Howard, Logan Morrison, Mike Napoli, Lucas Duda, Ike Davis, Pedro Alvarez, and Adam Lind. Most of the names I just listed are guys past their prime. All the more reason for the Cardinals to pursue Hosmer, who just had arguably the best season of his career in a contract year.

But with what the Cardinals have now, Gyorko and Carpenter figure to get opening day starts at the corner infield positions. Depending on Martinez’s offseason progress in improving defensively at first base, he might end up getting a fair share of starts at first base at the beginning of the season. Again, operating under the assumption the Cardinals begin the season with what they have on their roster right now.

Yadier Molina and Carlos Martinez will be the Cardinals’ opening day battery in New York against the Mets. Enough said.

When it comes to filling out a lineup card, here’s just one order the Cardinals could be looking at ten days from the new year:

1. 1B Matt Carpenter
2. CF Tommy Pham
3. LF Marcell Ozuna
4. 3B Jedd Gyorko
5. RF Dexter Fowler
6. C Yadier Molina
7. SS Paul DeJong
8. 2B Kolten Wong
9. P Carlos Martinez

What immediately stands out is the lack of a true cleanup hitter, something the Cardinals suffered from last season. If they can add another impact bat, that would solve the puzzle on paper.

If manager Mike Matheny wanted to get creative with the nine names above, he could move Ozuna into cleanup and either Fowler or Pham into the three-hole, creating a new look:

1. 1B Matt Carpenter
2. CF Tommy Pham / RF Dexter Fowler
3. RF Dexter Fowler / CF Tommy Pham
4. LF Marcell Ozuna
5. 3B Jedd Gyorko
6. C Yadier Molina
7. SS Paul DeJong
8. 2B Kolten Wong
9. P Carlos Martinez

Still, without another impact bat, the middle of the order could be suspect. Expect the Cardinals to pursue another hitter before the offseason comes to a close to shore up the run-producing portion of the lineup. Such a transaction could make the difference between third place and missing the playoffs and second place and a grip on a wild card spot.

Add some bullpen help, a rotation arm, and fortify the bench, and you could hear rumblings of a return to the top of the Central in St. Louis.

Next: Three targets necessary to win the winter

Spring training is less than two months away. The Cardinals still have work to do, but a new-look lineup should excite the fans in St. Louis during the most wonderful time of the year.