St. Louis Cardinals: Power ranking active former Cardinals

#3 Lance Lynn

Ah, I miss this guy the most. Lance Lynn was one of the most intriguing postgame interviews that I have ever seen. He rarely answered the questions seriously and always provided a good sound clip.

Lynn came up with the Cardinals in 2011 and was a stalwart in the middle of the rotation very quickly after beginning his career in the bullpen. Over his 6 years pitching with the Cardinals (missed one year with an injury), Lynn averaged a very consistent 3.38 ERA averaging just under 26 starts and 191 innings a year. He was the definition of a 3rd starter.

While he did create his own noun (a “lynning-an inning that spirals out of control horribly”) he never went too high or too low and was lovable the whole time. Towards the end of his career here, his performance began to trend downward, but when he left in free agency, I don’t think I was alone in being sad to see him go.

In the two years since he was on the Cardinals, he has been with the Twins and the Yankees, and now is pitching on a mediocre Rangers pitching staff. Lynn hasn’t returned to St. Louis and won’t this year, but you know everyone will give him a huge standing ovation. Lynn makes the shortlist of players I would want to have a talk show or podcast.

#2 David Freese

Now we get to the player that sparked this entire article. David Freese may never pay for another meal in St. Louis. While the vast majority of his fandom comes from the fact that he grew up in St. Louis and his performance in the 2011 postseason, that performance was big enough to last him a lifetime.

Freese was only on the Cardinals from 2009 to 2013, and while he averaged a .286 BA and .783 OPS with just under 9 homers a year, he wasn’t ever a Gold Glove award winner and he made it to just one All-Star Game. Again, what matters for his career was the postseason.

Freese has a career .291 BA and .911 OPS in the postseason and was the MVP of both the NLCS and World Series in 2011 and provided Cardinals fans with one of the most memorable postseason moments ever.

Chills every time.

After 2013, Freese was traded to the Angels for Randall Grichuk and Peter Bourjos where he played for two years before bouncing to the Pirates and the Dodgers. Freese has never again had any flashy moments but has carved himself out a very solid career entering his 10th year in the league. He has been a role player and leader for the last two Dodgers postseason runs and made his 20th return to St. Louis this week.

Cardinals fans will never forget Freese and he deserves this ovation every time he comes back to St. Louis.

#1 Albert Pujols

This will be the biggest ovation that will likely ever grace Busch Stadium III. “The Machine” is coming back on June 21st for the first time since 2011. It is a shame that Pujols hasn’t come back yet, but maybe the MLB was just trying to build suspense.

Albert Pujols led the St. Louis Cardinals from the minute he came up in 2001 to the day he left after the 2011 World Series. In that time, he averaged a batting line of .328/.420/.617 with a 1.037 OPS and an average of over 40 homers a year. He added to that 10 All-Star appearances, a Rookie of the Year award and three MVP awards. The other amazing thing is that his lowest games played amount was 143. That is the definition of consistency.

Albert left after the 2011 season to the dismay of many fans. Since then, the Angels have been more or less overpaying him as his production has slid mostly due to plantar fasciitis. Pujols has still served as a great mentor to many players on the Angels including Mike Trout as well as continued his philanthropic efforts in the St. Louis area.

Pujols recently opened up about leaving St. Louis and more which I think helped me get some more insight into how everything went down.

Regardless of if that interview rubbed you the wrong way, or if you are still salty that he left, his history and years with the Cardinals will no doubt get him not only into the Cardinals Hall of Fame but the National Hall of Fame. I would also expect that nobody on the Cardinals will ever wear #5 again; as it should be. Albert already has a statue in West Port Plaza, but I would also expect him to get one eventually in front of Busch.

The weekend of the 21st of June will be an amazingly nostalgic one I’m sure.