The last three weeks we took a look around the outfield. Beginning this week we start working our way around the infield. Starting with perhaps the most important position within. Where defense, especially where the National League is concerned, carries as much weight as offense. Shortstop.

For the Cardinals the infield figures to look drastically different than opening day in 2011.  Lance Berkman takes over at first base, Rafael Furcal returns to shortstop, and it appears Tyler Greene, yes that Tyler Greene will get a shot as the starting second baseman. This could be the year that David Freese establishes himself as one of the best third basemen in the sport after his breakout October.

I digress. Rafael Furcal gives the Cardinals their best opening day starter at short since Edgar Renteria. Now before all the David Eckstein supporters get all hot and bothered understand, as scrappy and terrific as he was, Furcal offers a better defensive presence and hits leadoff. The hope for St. Louis is they get more of the Furcal they saw in St. Louis after the trade than the one in LA or masquerading as the Cardinal shortstop during the playoffs.

In a division with a legitimate All-Star, Starlin Castro, holding court up on the north side of Chicago and plenty of rookies and new comers 2012 should prove an interesting year in the NL Central. Here is the breakdown.

Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro logged an impressive 2011. With 21 steals and a .307 average, the 21-year-old has developed a terrific profile for a leadoff hitter and if he can expand on his power next season he could join the top tier of shortstop options. Castro had five hitting streaks of at least 10 games, and he finished the season with a streak of reaching base safely in 40 consecutive games. He finished with 57 multi-hit games, tied for the NL lead with three others, and led the league in at-bats. What Castro does need to improve upon is his defense — he led all Major League shortstops with 29 errors.

Rookie shortstop Zack Cozart had Tommy John reconstructive surgery only 11 games into the 2011 season.  Since the surgery was on his non-throwing elbow, Cozart has already resumed baseball activities and is thought of as a top candidate to ultimately capture the shortstop position full time. During those 11 games for Cincinnati — including nine starts — following a July 7 promotion from Triple-A Louisville, Cozart batted .307 with two home runs and three RBIs. His career in the Majors began with a seven-game hitting streak.  Shortstop has been one of the most unstable positions for the Reds over the past several years, and that’s something they very much want to correct.

New to the NL Central is Jed Lowrie.  Lowrie, a switch-hitter who has been injured often in his four-year Major League career, will become the Astros’ starter at shortstop. In his time with Boston The 27-year-old was never able to accumulate more than 300 at-bats in a season.  Lowrie doesn’t possess great range at shortstop, but his strength is his ability to hit left-handed pitching. He’s a career .326 hitter with a .385 on-base percentage against left-handers, but against right-handers is just a .214 hitter with a .293 on-base percentage. One thing Lowrie will bring is playoff experience, having helped the Red Sox reach the postseason in 2008 and ’09.

The Brewers signed Alex Gonzalez, filling the most glaring hole on their roster before at the Winter Meetings. Gonzalez has played at least 110 games in eight of the past nine seasons — he sat out 2008 because of a family issue — and is considered a plus defensive player. He was with the Braves in ’11, hitting .241 with 15 home runs and 56 RBIs. Offensively, he is similar to his predecessor, Yuniesky Betancourt. Gonzalez (.270 on-base percentage) and Betancourt (.271) had the lowest on-base percentage of qualifying National League hitters.

The Pirates have filled their hole at shortstop, replacing Ronny Cedeno with Clint Barmes. Barmes played a Gold Glove-caliber shortstop last season for the Astros who elected not to bring him back in 2012. Barmes led all regular NL shortstops in 2011 with a 7.9 ultimate zone rating, a sabermetric statistic that calculates how many more runs a player saves on defense than an average replacement.  Barmes missed the first couple of weeks of the season after breaking his hand in Spring Training and wound up hitting .244 with 12 homers and 39 RBIs.

The 34-year-old Rafael Furcal came to the Cards from the Dodgers in a Trade Deadline deal and hit .255 with a .316 on-base percentage in 50 regular-season games with St. Louis. Furcal had a rough time at the plate in the playoffs, hitting below .200 in both the NLCS and World Series. What keeps him in the game is his defense. Even at 34 his range and arm are among the best in baseball.  Furcal turned a National League shortstop-high 36 double plays and was ranked second in both total chances (238) and assists (155).

Looking back on 2011 and based on past performance, career trends  and my mood today here is how I see them stacking up in 2012.

1. Starlin Castro
2. Alex Gonzalez
3. Rafael Furcal
4. Zack Cozart
5. Jed Lowrie
6. Clint Barmes

In a division with a legitimate All-Star, Starlin Castro , holding court up on the north side of Chicago and plenty of rookies and new comers 2012 should prove an interesting year in the NL Central.

Follow Derek on twitter at @SportsbyWeeze

In the midst of the big story that is Cliff Lee, the Cardinals have signed Gerald Laird to become the backup catcher to Yadi Molina, officially ending speculation that Bengie Molina would join his younger brother on the roster. Laird will assume the roster spot left vacant by Jason LaRue’s retirement.

Possibly the most confusing thing about the signing is the change in direction the Cardinals have taken when it comes to the position. Shortly after the season concluded, the Cardinals identified a need to upgrade the offensive ability of the backup catcher role with the departure of Jason LaRue. The idea of a back up catcher that could provide some offensive pop was new to the organizational strategy, as the front office has always shown a desire to have a strong defensive catcher that can handle the major league staff well in that role. The addition of Laird shows a return to the strategy used in the past and an abandonment of the idea of changing those strategies.

Laird was drafted by the Oakland Athletics organization in 1998 and was traded, coincidentally with Ryan Ludwick, to the Texas Rangers organization in 2002. It was 2003 before he would make his debut on the Major League scene, with a short stint with the big club.

2006 would see Laird get his first substantial playing time and he would respond by hitting .296 with 7 home runs and 22 runs batted in, though he struck out 54 times. His success in 2006 would translate into a starting nod the following season. While he would throw out 40% of would be base stealers in 2007, his offensive production would fall of drastically, hitting .224 and striking out over 100 times, though he would hit a career high 9 home runs.

In 2008, the see-saw would tilt the other way, seeing his defensive presence decrease with a 28% success rate of throwing out base runners while his batting average would rise to .276 and his strikeouts would drop to 63. He would play in less games in 2008, and would find himself with a change of scenery for 2009.

An off-season trade sent him to Detroit where he would spend his first season in a Tigers uniform as their primary backstop. He would only strike out 68 times over 477 plate appearances, but he would see his batting average drop to an abysmal .225. He would show an increase in his patience at the plate, working more walks than previously in his career. On the defensive side of things, he realized his potential and showed that he was not a catcher that you could run on, throwing out 42% of would be base stealers. His performance in 2009 would regulate him to back up duty in 2010.

His final season on his contract with Detroit would see him continue to throw out baserunners (34%), continue to underperform at the plate (.207 Batting Average/57 Strikeouts/270 at bats). Detroit would allow him to walk away from his $3 million plus salary and explore free agency where the Cardinals would scoop him up.

The Cardinals have acquired a catcher with a career batting average of .242 that averages 108 strikeouts, 9 home runs, 52 runs batted in and a .300 on base percentage over 162 games. He also sports a .988 fielding percentage, 38% caught stealing rate, and a 4.56 earned run average during innings he has played (ML average is 4.35). As a backup, he obviously will not be looking to put up numbers of that caliber unless Yadier Molina would go down with injury.

Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman broke news of the financial details here:

gerald laird, c, got $1 mil plus 300 grand in performance bonuses rom #cardinals. still money left over for albert.

December 14, 2010 1:28 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@SI_JonHeyman

Jon Heyman

Laird will be looked at to manage a staff in the absence of the primary catcher, provide solid defense and keep the confidence of some very passionate pitchers in the organization. If he can gain the confidence of the pitching staff, it will be a solid signing. If not, Bryan Anderson would have sufficed. When it comes down to it, if the backup catcher plays a significant role in the 2011 success of this team, there are much bigger problems than what Gerald Laird represents.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball as well as the Assignment Editor for BaseballDigest.com.
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.com.
Follow him on Twitter here.

As part of our inaugural edition of the I-70 Hall of Legends, today I-70 Baseball retires a uniform number that has come to represent greatness in both St. Louis and Kansas City – the No. 20, worn by the Cardinals’ Lou Brock and the Royals’ Frank White.

Lou Brock may be one of the most unforgettable players to ever wear the birds-on-the-bat, a catalyst at the top of the order who was recognized as one of the most prolific base stealers the game would ever see. While he was not the defensive presence of his uniform-number counterpart in Kansas City, Frank White, he was an offensive threat who went down in history as one of the game’s best left fielders and was enshrined in the Hall Of Fame.

Just as Lou Brock is an unforgettable part of St. Louis Cardinals history, Frank White is a legend in Kansas City. White is a member of the Royals Hall of Fame, and his No. 20 is one of only three numbers retired by the Royals (along with George Brett’s No. 5 and Dick Howser’s No. 10).

Unlike Brock, Frank White is not a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, although some, including writer Joe Posnanski, have argued that perhaps he should be.

While White built a resume that many argue should put him in the Hall Of Fame, Brock made sure there was no doubt. Brock joined baseball’s elite hitsmen, posting 3,023 hits in his career. He batted .293 over the course of his career and posted a .343 on-base percentage. It was his production in scoring runs and stealing bases that made Brock a legend, deserving of the honor we bestow upon him today. He scored 1,610 runs in his career while stealing 938 bases. His stolen base mark would remain the best in the history of the game until Rickey Henderson came along.

Lou’s glove never won him any awards, but the same cannot be said for the player who wore No. 20 for the Royals.

If there were a Defensive Hall of Fame, no doubt Frank White would be a first-ballot inductee. He was brilliant with the glove, patrolling second base at Kauffman Stadium for nearly two decades. During that stretch, he won eight Gold Gloves, including six in a row from 1977-1982. Only Roberto Alomar and Ryne Sandberg have won more Gold Gloves at second base, while Bill Mazeroski has also won eight.

While we’re on the subject of Mazeroski, let’s expand one of Joe Posnanski’s points: Mazeroski, a Hall of Famer, and Frank White had very similar careers. Both have eight Gold Gloves, of course, but check out these two sets of statistics:

AVG: .260

HR: 138

RBI: 853

*****

AVG: .255

HR: 160

RBI: 886

Which belongs to the Hall of Famer, and which belongs to Kansas City’s favorite all-time infielder?

The first set, with the higher batting average but lower power numbers, belongs to Mazeroski.

But the purpose of this article is not to espouse Frank White’s Hall of Fame credentials. It’s to discuss why his number has been retired in I-70 Baseball’s Hall of Legends.

That’s simple.

Frank White epitomizes what Kansas City Royals baseball is all about, perhaps better than anyone else. He was a product of the famed Royals Academy. He went to college in Kansas City. He took over second base from the beloved Cookie Rojas, and although he was despised for that at first, before long he became a fan favorite. He was a major part of those great Royals teams in the late 70s and early 80s. He was sitting right next to George Brett when Brett stormed the field during the Pine Tar Game. He helped lead the Royals to their only World Series title. He batted cleanup in the 1985 World Series. He won eight Gold Gloves. He retired from the game gracefully, unlike so many professional athletes. He stayed with the Royals even after retirement, serving as a coach, minor league manager, and now a broadcaster. (For more about the career of Frank White, read John Lofflin’s wonderful I-70 Baseball piece here.)

But here’s what really sets Frank White apart.

In 2005, while he was serving as a coach for the Royals, Manager Tony Pena quit after a disappointing start to the season. White was interested in the job, but the team decided to hire someone with managerial experience, and hired Buddy Bell (who, by ALL accounts, turned out to be a complete disaster).

Rumor has it, some sort of under-the-table deal was struck: once Bell’s tenure was over, White would be seriously considered for the position. To gain managerial experience, he stepped down from his Major League coaching position and took the job as skipper of the Wichita Wranglers, where he coached and mentored some of the current-day Royals stars, including Billy Butler and Zack Greinke.

When Bell quit at the end of 2007, White was the clear fan’s choice to be named skipper. But new general manager Dayton Moore hired Trey Hillman – who, like Frank White, had no big-league managerial experience.

Hillman, much like Bell before him, was a disaster.

But through all of that, Frank White never spoke an ill word about the organization that, you could argue, stabbed him in the back.

For that alone, Frank White is truly a legend.

Lou Brock continues to be an intimate part of the Cardinal family to this day. Serving as an assistant coach in Spring Training, making numerous public appearances on behalf of the team, and being openly involved in the yearly Opening Day ceremonies, the legendary player passes his knowledge of the game on to the next generation of players who wear Cardinals uniforms. Brock stays involved, stays in the public eye, and works with the organization on a regular basis.

Brock put a cap on his legendary career in 1979 and found himself enshrined in Cooperstown in 1985. His number was retired by the Cardinals and he is enshrined in the team’s hall of fame. Many websites, writers, and experts have firmly placed him as the team’s all-time greatest left fielder.

I-70 Baseball salutes two of the the greatest Royals and Cardinals players of all time by retiring No. 20.

Bill Ivie contributed to the Lou Brock portions of this report.

Matt Kelsey is a Royals writer and the content editor for I-70 Baseball. He can be reached at mattkelsey14@yahoo.com.