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St. Louis Cardinals: Bests in 2018 will prove us all wrong
The St. Louis Cardinals may not have pleased many fans this offseason with the moves made and/or those not made but what if fan displeasure is wrongly placed?
The St. Louis Cardinals have added Marcell Ozuna as the big-bat addition this offseason, Luke Gregerson as the back-of-the-pen solution, and Mike Mikolas as the back-of-the-rotation solution. These additions have left many fans disappointed and unsatisfied. But what if we fans are wrong?
Look, I’m one of the first to say that these moves just aren’t enough to ensure an NL-Central crown, but I will be overly pleased if even I am wrong.
This can be accomplished easily if each of the St. Louis Cardinals players perform at their best. Each team across MLB can say the same thing, honestly, but let’s take a look at how feared the St. Louis Cardinals could be should the rotation and lineup post best-performance numbers.
Rotation
The St. Louis Cardinals will post a starting rotation in 2018 of Carlos Martinez, Michael Wacha, Luke Weaver, Adam Wainwright, and Mike Mikolas. Should each of these arms present their best numbers (best taken from their career) then the Cardinals will have the following stats from it’s starting arms.
Martinez- 205 IP, 3.01 ERA, 217 Ks, 1.220 WHIP, 3.08 FIP
Wacha- 181.1 IP, 2.78 ERA, 158 Ks, 1.098 WHIP, 2.92 FIP
Weaver- 60.1 IP, 3.88 ERA, 72 Ks, 1.260 WHIP, 3.17 FIP
Wainwright- 241.2 IP, 1.61 ERA, 219 Ks, 1.031 WHIP, 2.13 FIP
Mikolas- 188 IP, 1.92 ERA, 187 Ks, 0.600 WHIP, 4.77 FIP
Bullpen
The St. Louis Cardinals will post a bullpen in 2018 consisting of Tyler Lyons, Brett Cecil, John Brebbia, Matthew Bowman, Alex Reyes, Luke Gregerson and maybe others like Sam Tuivailala and Ryan Sherriff. Should each of these arms present their best numbers (best taken from their career) then the Cardinals will have the following stats pouring from the pen.
Lyons- 60 IP, 2.83 ERA, 68 Ks, 1.021 WHIP, 2.86 FIP
Cecil- 67.1 IP, 2.48 ERA, 76 Ks, 0.957 WHIP, 2.34 FIP
Brebbia- 51.2 IP, 2.44 ERA, 51 Ks, 0.929 WHIP, 4.13 FIP
Bowman- 67.2 IP, 3.46 ERA, 52 Ks, 1.167 WHIP, 3.31 FIP
Reyes- 46 IP, 1.57 ERA, 52 Ks, 1.217 WHIP, 2.67 FIP
Gregerson- 75 IP, 2.12 ERA, 93 Ks, 0.830 WHIP, 2.50 FIP
(Tuivailala- 42.1 IP, 2.55 ERA, 34 Ks, 1.087 WHIP, 3.70 FIP)
(Sherriff- 14.1 IP, 3.14 ERA, 15 Ks, 1.186 WHIP, 3.93 FIP)
Lineup
The St. Louis Cardinals are anticipated to post a 2018 starting rotation of Matt Carpenter (1B), Tommy Pham (CF), Ozuna (RF), Paul DeJong (SS), Dexter Fowler (LF), Jedd Gyorko (3B), Yadier Molina (C), and Kolten Wong (2B). Again, assuming these can give their best, then perhaps the lineup could well be the thing that pushes the Cards to the top of the division.
Carpenter- .318/.392/.505, 28 HR, 84 RBI
Pham- .306/.411/.520, 23 HR, 73 RBI
Ozuna- .312/.376/.548, 37 HR, 124 RBI
DeJong- .285/.325/.532, 25 HR, 65 RBI
Fowler- .300/.393/.488, 18 HR, 64 RBI
Gyorko- .272/.341/.495, 30 HR, 67 RBI
Molina- .319/.373/.501, 22 HR, 82 RBI
Wong- .285/.376/.412, 12 HR, 61 RBI
Bench
It is assumed that the St. Louis Cardinals will carry Jose Martinez, Carson Kelly, and Randal Grichuk on the bench. These three could help solidify a very strong 2018 St. Louis Cardinals squad if they too post their best numbers.
Martinez- .438/.500/.518, 14 HR, 46 RBI
Kelly- .174/.240/.231, 0 HR, 6 RBI
Grichuk- .276/.329/.548, 24 HR, 68 RBI
Conclusion
Allow me to be completely honest that I doubt that the numbers above will be witnessed in 2018 as these all assume the best the St. Louis Cardinals players. These numbers do NOT take into consideration the number of variables in play during the season and the variables that were in play when the players posted these numbers.
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Also, it must be noted that these compiled numbers are taken from many different seasons and do not represent a single season of great numbers. In other words, all things being statistically equal, the likelihood of a player posting these greats in one season is likely less than 1 percent of probability.
Pushing that all aside, should the St. Louis Cardinals post these great numbers, then I would challenge any team to best the club. If the best numbers are posted from the lineup, then the 2018 St. Louis Cardinals would smash 195 home runs and record 620 runs batted in. Wouldn’t you enjoy watching that team?
Even with the low likelihood that these numbers are posted, even good numbers from these names might prove the front office and it’s plan/action right and complaining fans wrong. I will be the first to say it, should it happen, that I am/was wrong.
Next: Sherriff should be the closer
If the St. Louis Cardinals raise the NL-Central pennant then we fans can revise our complaints and change these complaints to praise. This outcome can be the reality if the Cardinals post numbers of the likes above.