When the St. Louis Cardinals waged their annual war with injuries last season as Allen Craig and Lance Berkman went on the disabled list within weeks of each other in May, the Cardinals needed a replacement, and their first choice was minor leaguer Matt Adams.

Adams looked the part. He’s 6-foot-3-inches tall, weighs 260 pounds and hit 82 homeruns in his four years in the minor leagues while compiling a .318 batting average. But that wasn’t the player who showed up in the Cardinals lineup in 2012. Adams hit .244 with two homeruns and 13 RBIs in his 27-game stay with the big-league club.

So where was this power potential that made him the Cardinals first choice to fill-in while two players with power bats sat on the disabled list? Apparently it had left Adams’ right elbow.

Adams and the Cardinals didn’t know it at the time, but he had been hampered by a bone spur in his elbow and eventually had surgery to repair it last season after the Cardinals sent him back to the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds.

And it turns out that injury made a huge difference because the 2013 version of Adams is much more in line with the stories of his powerful approach to hitting and why the Cardinals considered him a top prospect..

Adams crushed the ball throughout spring training. He hit three homeruns and led the team with 17 RBIs in 28 games. He has carried that success into the regular season so far, and at times carried the team.

He got the Cardinals their first extra-base hit of the three-game series last weekend against the San Francisco Giants when he hit a two-run, ground-rule double into right-centerfield in the fourth inning Sunday against Giants ace Matt Cain. He also carried his hot bat into the Cardinals first home series of the season, a three-game set with the division-rival Cincinnati Reds.

The Cardinals trailed the Reds 1-0 in the sixth inning Tuesday against Reds starter Bronson Arroyo, who to that point in the game had not allowed a hitter to reach base. But Adams, who entered the game as a pinch hitter, waited on one of Arroyo’s trademark slow breaking balls and crushed it into the rightfield seats for a two-run homer.

Then he did the same thing in the sixth inning Wednesday against Reds pitcher Homer Bailey as the Cardinals cruised to a 10-0 win behind a stellar complete-game performance by starter Jake Westbrook.

Adams is in such a groove right now he has the look of a hitter who could hit almost any pitch out of the ballpark. He is getting healthy cuts on pitches he misses, and most of his foul balls have been smashed into the seats down the rightfield line.

That’s the type of hitter the Cardinals management saw in the minor leagues, and it’s the type of hitter who will likely play a very important role for the team throughout the season.

Craig is still the starting first baseman, and he is in no danger of losing that job. But Craig will also have to play rightfield on a fairly regular basis to give 35-year-old Carlos Beltran enough days off to make it through the season, and that could give Adams enough opportunities to be a large part of the Cardinals offense this season.

Even if he is primarily used in a bench role, it’s always nice to have a player who’s hitting over .600 ready to take an important at-bat late in a ballgame.

Sure, Adams won’t continue to hit .600 or better throughout the season, but the Cardinals now have a power hitter who can change the tone of a game immediately.

The Cardinals thought Adams could provide that aspect of the game when he came up in 2012. Now they know he can in 2013.

The St. Louis Cardinals finally made their most-anticipated decision of their 2013 spring training camp Monday when they announced Shelby Miller would be the team’s fifth starter to start the regular season. And while Miller truly might be the better choice, circumstances surely made the decision easier.

Miller began spring training in a competition with teammates Trevor Rosenthal and Joe Kelly to win the fifth and final spot in the Cardinals’ starting rotation.

The team quickly decided Rosenthal would be more of an asset in the bullpen after a couple of shaky starts early in spring training, but the battle between Miller and Kelly lasted nearly an entire month.

The competition lasted so long because the two pitchers had nearly identical stats throughout the spring. Both had one relatively bad outing, and each had several good appearances. Miller won the battle with a 3.94 earned-run average in five appearances with 13 strikeouts and five walks. Kelly posted a 5.54 ERA in five appearances, but he also allowed six walks and just two strikeouts.

But an injury to closer Jason Motte in the final week might have played as large a role in the final decision as anything. Motte fell victim to an elbow strain March 21 and will likely start the season on the disabled list.

That forced Mitchell Boggs into the closer’s role and opened up a spot at the front of the bullpen roster, which Kelly will likely fill now that the team has given Miller the starting job.

Kelly has experience in the bullpen. He was a closer while in college at the University of California-Riverside and made 15 relief appearances for the Cardinals in 2012 during the regular season and playoffs.

Plus, he performed well as a reliever. Kelly gave up just four earned runs in his eight regular-season relief appearances, and he allowed four runs in his seven playoff appearances.

The Cardinals were going to be in a difficult position if they gave Kelly the job and Motte hadn’t been injured. They wanted Miller to be a starter at some level, whether that be with the Cardinals or the Triple-A affiliate Memphis Redbirds, but they had groomed him as a starter in the minor leagues and were reluctant to put him in the bullpen.

Kelly, with his experience as a reliever, could more easily switch between the rotation and bullpen, but the Cardinals still might not have had a spot for him if Motte didn’t suffer his elbow injury.

The Cardinals already had plenty of righthanded relievers, including Boggs, Rosenthal, Edward Mujica and Fernando Salas.

That glut of pitchers might have forced the Cardinals to send Kelly to the minors if he didn’t win the starting job, but now they can keep both pitchers on the roster.

The Cardinals are taking a little bit more of a risk by choosing Miller as their fifth starter. Miller has pitched in just seven games as a major leaguer. He pitched well, posting a 1.32 ERA, but now the Cardinals will count on him to be a consistent starter for an entire season.

Kelly showed in 2012 he could be consistently effective for the better part of the season, and Miller will have to prove the same thing this year.

If he does, the Cardinals made a great spring-training decision. If not, they could be in for a long season that requires manager Mike Matheny constantly juggle his pitching staff, and those types of seasons rarely conclude with a playoff appearance.

With the unknown status of the full extent of Jason Motte’s injury, the St. Louis Cardinals bullpen will be the next unit that is forced to adjust on the run. However, with their closer on the mend, a brand new set of questions will have to be answered in a short amount of time.

When it was revealed that Motte is suffering from a mild sprain in his elbow on Saturday, it immediately reshuffled the entire bullpen’s responsibility. While the depth of arms on the roster, and within the organization, has been much hallowed, the role of closer is not one that is easily passed along. Motte became the first pitcher in team history to gather every save on the season for the team, and his 42 saves tied for tops in the National League. And despite only being the technical closer for the team for a year and a half, he remains one of the most indispensable parts of a team that has long looked for a definite lock on the end of games.

Finding anybody that can take up a mantle that was absolutely held by another is a tall task. While it makes sense to place a similar styled arm in the role, finding the right makeup to match the arm is a tougher equation. There’s a lot more that goes into ending games than just throwing hard for one inning. It’s a mentality, and often it’s not one that is developed; it is it there or it isn’t. “Jason has it. You could tell even before he took on the role,” said assistant general manager and former All-Star Cardinal closer Ryan Franklin said during the Cardinals Winter Warm Up. “Either you have it or you don’t, and you will find out soon enough along the way.”  Little did he know it was a question that the team would have to find an answer for in the near future.

For the time being, Mitchell Boggs will be the answer. After the strides he took a year ago, it is right that he does so. He was the undisputed eighth inning answer last season, and his 34 holds led the National League and he is accustomed to preserving games. Boggs has the attitude and the fire to do so; he has embraced the late-inning role that he has been trusted with. Just one spring removed from having his place on the team questioned, he developed the competitive mentality to continue to compete night in and night out just to stay relevant to the team. The question is not in his arm, next to Trevor Rosenthal, he may have the liveliest arm on the team, but for a team that struggled to win late with some regularity last summer, how he transitions to having his nights moved back one inning could tell the story of how the season goes.

Boggs shift in the mix changes the demand of the rest of the pen as well. The push to replace Boggs in the setup role could prove to be a tougher equation than him replacing Motte. Edward Mujica, who was the defacto setup man for Boggs last fall, will likely become the favorite to be the new setup man, but the role will likely be a time share. Rosenthal, who was the fireman for pitching the club out of tight spots late in the season, will also get the ball in the eighth inning more often. Fernando Salas also receives a more concrete role on the team, with the seventh inning becoming a prime situation to use the former closer in. Joe Kelly will likely see a more variable role in the fashion that Rosenthal and/or Salas had been pegged for out of the pen, if he loses out on the fifth starter slot to Shelby Miller.

The trickledown effect of the loss of Motte for the time being changes what was a definite strength of for the team, a deep and matchup heavy bullpen. With Rosenthal not being able to float as easily between the sixth and eighth innings, it changes how quickly Mike Matheny can let his starters off the hook. And it puts an even higher demand on scoring enough runs early for the offense that the tight game isn’t as often of an occurrence.

Yet the question for Boggs finds it’s way to every other arm in the bullpen equation: can they answer the call to their new demand as easily as their previous one? The answer will have to be found on the run, and if there isn’t one, it won’t be able to be planned for. Whether its the  return of Motte, the emergence of Boggs or even who takes the ball in the sixth inning now, with the end of the story changing, nothing else earlier is the same.

Pete Kozma might have gotten sudden public support along with the St. Louis Cardinals starting shortstop job after Rafael Furcal announced Thursday he would have Tommy John surgery and miss the entire 2013 season, but Kozma has deserved some of that respect long before now.

Kozma hit .333 in 26 games for the Cardinals at the end of last season after Furcal injured his elbow Aug. 30 against the Washington Nationals, and he was a big key to the team’s late-season success that got it within one game of the World Series.

But the Cardinals have rarely viewed Kozma in a positive light.

The organization considered releasing Kozma four times while he was in the minor leagues. Granted, the former first-round pick did put up dismal numbers much of his minor-league career, but the Cardinals have continued to treat Kozma as if he is that same minor-league player even after his big-league success.

The club openly solicited trade proposals to find a different shortstop during the offseason. And when a trade never developed because the Cardinals were unwilling to part with their young pitching prospects, they signed Ronny Cedeno as an option in case Furcal wouldn’t be healthy.

“We were looking at just making sure we have protection (and), in essence, if Pete continues to do what he did, he’ll likely be in the big leagues,” Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said. “We didn’t want to just go into the season and find out that Furcal couldn’t go and find out Kozma was not (going to build on) the six-week period. We had a lot of optimism. It was just shoring up the position.”

But Cedeno has hit just .167 in spring training and played poor defense, at times. That’s probably not where the Cardinals will shore up the shortstop position whether Kozma got the job or not.

Kozma also hasn’t gotten much more respect from Cardinals fans. A forum on stltoday.com Thursday was titled “Is there a worse middle infield in baseball right now?”

There certainly are worse middle infields. Can anyone name the middle infielders for the Miami Marlins, San Diego Padres or Houston Astros?

Plus, Kozma and whoever wins the second base job (Daniel Descalso or Matt Carpenter) are solid fielders who won’t embarrass themselves in the field. Cedeno, on the other hand, might be a liability in the field and at the plate.

Overall, that short period of success is likely a large factor in why people have yet to believe Kozma can handle the Cardinals shortstop position full time in 2013 and beyond. They hadn’t seen that sort of success previously in his career, and they were unwilling to get their hopes up in case Kozma was a one-hit wonder.

Instead, Kozma has excelled during spring training, hitting .429 with five RBIs and two homeruns, and the Cardinals have suddenly started talking him up as someone they really want to have as their starting shortstop this year.

“There’s no doubt given what Kozma did for us in the last six weeks of the season last year we do have a high level of confidence that he can continue to add that energy and be that type of player we saw last year,” Mozeliak said Thursday after the Furcal news broke.

It’s funny how circumstances tend to change those types of feelings.

Kozma would be a huge help to the Cardinals if he can hit for a good batting average and get on base fairly consistently. The Cardinals have enough power in their lineup with Matt Holliday, Carlos Beltran, David Freese and Allen Craig likely to fill the middle of the order, but they’ll need someone on base when they come up.

Kozma would most likely hit in the seventh or eighth spot in the Cardinals lineup, so he won’t face a ton of pressure to be a star at the plate. The Cardinals just need someone who can get on base and hold their own defensively at shortstop this year, and Kozma is a good candidate to fill all of those needs.

He might get his chance this year, but he’ll have done so by overcoming a strong perception by his team that he wasn’t good enough.

For Kozma, that motivation could make 2013 all the more fun.

It’s rare that a player under contract can leave a team out to dry by being a no show, but somehow Rafael Furcal has pulled it off. With the announcement Sunday that Furcal has been shutdown from all on-field activities, the Caridinals are placed in a position to scramble for answers at shortstop for the long-term, yet in the moment.

Furcal, who had his season end last August after tearing an elbow ligament, had not been able to take to the field to perform in the field yet all at, due to not being able to make throws yet. Hitting had been something he was able to undertake lightly until this weekend, when the elbow degraded to a level where ever that was out of the question. That’s when the decision to shutdown Furcal completely was inevitable, and a search for answers hit high alert.

One answer that is out of the question is Furcal himself. With a nearly non-existent free agent market at shortstop was coupled with a high-stakes trade market to upgrade at the position, the team was backed into taking Furcal at his word regarding his progress in regards to his rehab. Furcal twice refused surgery to repair the ligament, both when the injury initially occurred and again shortly after the postseason ended. In December, he stated it was much stronger and he would be ready to play. This eased organizational concerns, and they scaled back efforts to acquire a potential full-time replacement, and instead focused on fortifying the position with role players. However, that decision came back on the club with yesterday’s development, and now the team will be faced with a major question mark in it’s everyday equation.

So with Furcal headed to Alabama to see Dr. James Andrews instead of St. Louis to see active play, where do the Cardinals turn now? Unfortunately, the despite the depth of the talent pool at virtually every other position within the organization, the team doesn’t have a particularly promising youngster at shortstop or a veteran in need of a place to fit in. There will be a definite step down in caliber at shortstop for the immediate future, and picking the correct player to fill in at shortstop will be a likely ever-changing scene.

The options on the current roster are full of question marks. The clear competition comes down to a call between Pete Kozma and Ronnie Cedeno, who was acquired to be the “in case of emergency” option in case of injury occurring. He has been a marginal full-time player over his career, which plays into the hand of Kozma opening in the capacity he finished 2012, as an everyday starter. The .385 average he’s carrying this spring won’t hurt his candidacy either. Outside of those two, the only other options would be Ryan Jackson or Greg Garcia, but trips back to Memphis and Springfield, respectively, are likely guaranteed. A potential move of Daniel Descalso over to the other side of the infield occasionally could be an option as well. Regardless, as things stand now, it will be a job that requires more than one man’s attention.

That may have to suffice, as the shortstop open market isn’t that thrilling of a vision to look on. The highlights (relatively speaking) of currently homeless middle infielders is highlighted by ex-Cardinal Ryan Theriot and former Ray and Padre Jason Bartlett, making the internal options look that much stronger. The trade waters could prove to be even more difficult for the team to look into. The facts are simple: clubs know the Cardinals are in a vice grip of a situation, and will hold them under the gun with any move they discuss. They know there’s treasure chest of prospects to dip into, and there are not many teams in need of a salvation dump due to an expiring contract on their current shortstop. Basically, the Cardinals hand will be forced if an external option is sought after, which is by far the best option. John Mozeliak, who has stated he is committed to keeping the organization’s prime prospects in house, could be pressed very far to see how dedicated he is to that mission.

The Royals’ minor league clubs moved quickly into action as soon as the big league club broke camp. No sooner were the minors rosters set than they were on the field, starting games on April 5.

The Royals had the top rated farm system in all of baseball just over a year ago. But much has changed since then, and most of those top prospects are now doing battle in KC.

That doesn’t mean, however, that the cupboard is now bare. The minor league rosters are peppered with another crop of elite prospects. And though the games going on in KC should actually mean something this year, the minor leagues bear watching as the next wave of prospects matures.

Noticeably absent from the minor league rosters is John Lamb, Baseball America’s #18 prospect in 2011. Lamb is still rehabbing his surgically repaired elbow in Surprise. Still, Baseball America thought enough of Lamb to rank him sixth among Royals prospects.

Pitching prospects in the system ranked by Baseball America in 2012 are Mike Montgomery, #23, and Jake Odorizzi, #68.

Omaha:
Triple-A rosters are usually stocked at least in part with veterans who are ready to jump to the big leagues in a moment’s notice. KC’s Omaha farm team has a handful of starters who have already failed once (or more times) at the big league level.

Zach Miner fits that description. The 30-year-old who owns a 25-20 record in the bigs is still trying to work his way back from an injury that knocked him out of the entire 2010 season.

Also on Omaha’s staff will be Vin Mazzaro and Sean O’Sullivan, two who failed miserably in their chances in KC. No longer considered prospects, Mazzaro, O’Sullivan and particularly Miner will need to seize this as possibly their last opportunity.

Brandon Sisk, a 26-year-old who has received very little attention to this point, had a very good season split between NW and Omaha in 2011. Ryan Verdugo, 25, came over in the Melky Cabrera trade from San Francisco.

In the Omaha bullpen are three familiar faces to KC – Louis Coleman, Nathan Adcock and Jeremy Jeffress. Coleman has to be the most disappointed to not be on the big league roster. Coleman pitched well for the Royals last season, posting a 2.87 ERA and a 1.173 WHIP in 48 games.

Adcock was overmatched last year, but he has a chance now to prove who he truly is as a prospecT. Jeffress spiraled from KC all the way down to Double-A, struggling at every level. But his enviable physical ability keeps him in the “top-prospect” category.

Much to Ned Yost’s dismay, Montgomery solidified his spot in Omaha quite early in the spring. KC hoped to give the big righthander every opportunity to crack the big league rotation. But Montgomery failed miserably in spring training and took himself out of the running. Still ranked #1 among Royals prospects by Baseball America, Montgomery needs to improve on an awful 2011 in Omaha (5-11, 5.32 ERA), or he’ll be in danger of becoming a bust.

NW Arkansas:
Double-A tends to be the “proving ground” for prospects. Therefore it shouldn’t be surprising that most of the Royals’ premier pitching talents (aside from Montgomery) will start the season in Northwest Arkansas, even though many of them ended 2011 there.

Probably the team’s top pitching prospect at this point is 22-year-old lefty Odorizzi, the Royals’ #4 prospect according to Baseball America.  A key piece in the Zack Greinke trade, Odorizzi has moved slowly but steadily through the ranks. Odorizzi’s performances were spotty at Northwest Arkansas after dominating at Wilmington in the first half of 2011. He will probably get a promotion if he pitches well at Double-A.

The Royals’ #9 rated prospect, Chris Dwyer, will also start the same place he finished 2011. Dwyer was marginally successful last season, going 8-10 with 5.60 ERA. He will also be gunning for a mid-season promotion.

Northwest Arkansas will have an abundance of starting pitchers, and the most intriguing prospect is Noel Arguelles. The Cuban signee finally made his appearance in Wilmington last year after hiding in the shadows of a huge contract and mysterious arm troubles. Opinions of his ability vary greatly, but Arguelles had a 3.20 ERA and a 1.125 WHIP in his first professional season.

Other marginal prospects Tim Melville (22-years-old), Justin Marks (24) and Kendal Volz (24) will have a chance to prove themselves as prospects or just warm bodies against the tough Texas League competition.

Wilmington:
The Royals #8 prospect, Jason Adam and #10 prospect, Yordano Ventura, will begin the season in Wilmington. Both 20-year-olds had losing records and high ERAs at Kane County last year, but both have highly-regarded talent.

Keep an eye on 21-year-old Greg Billo. He went 9-5 with a 1.93 ERA and a 1.022 WHIP at Kane County. Billo struck out 7.9 batters per nine innings.

All it took was a good hunting trip with Ned Yost and Jeff Franceoneur to get Jonathan Broxton interested in playing for the Royals.  The Royals took a gamble on a pitcher who was coming off an injury, but was a proven All Star arm in the bullpen.  The Royals now have multiple viable closing options and after the injury to closer Joakim Soria a proven closer may be what they need.  The big question though is will Broxton be able to repeat his previous numbers.

Last season was not a good representation of what Broxton can be as a back of the bullpen fireman.  Broxton’s ability to overpower hitters has always been a huge strength.  Will Broxton be able to get back to where he was?  This is a question the Royals now desperately hope the answer is yes.  The Royals have been slowly bringing Broxton along this spring to make sure his elbow is ready to go.  Broxton’s spring outings have provided the Royals with hope that he could regain his once All Star level form.

Can Broxton regain his dominant form?

The Royals have many options that could be used as the closer of what could be a dominant bullpen.  Broxton is the only proven arm, so will he get the first chance to close?  I believe Greg Holland will be the Royals closer before the year has ended, but for now if Broxton is healthy and continues to produce as he has this spring, give him the first shot.  He has proved he can be a successful closer, so why not.

On a fun note though, Everett Teaford and Tim Collins two of the Royals smaller players are enjoying staying warm in Broxton’s pants.  This was quite possibly one of the funniest pictures I have seen in a long time.  Enjoy!!!

After nearly a full month of handwringing about starting pitcher Chris Carpenter’s health, the St. Louis Cardinals received the bad news this week that Carpenter will start the season on the disabled list, a list that is all too familiar for Cardinals pitchers.

Courtesy of Erika Lynn

Just like last year when Adam Wainwright blew out his elbow on the first day of Spring Training, the Cardinals will start the season without one of their two best pitchers.

Although it will still take quite a while for the shine to fade from last year’s world championship, there hasn’t been much good news for Cardinals fans.

Manager Tony La Russa retired just three days after winning the World Series and first baseman Albert Pujols signed with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in December. With all of that change and losing one of the greatest hitters in the history of the game, more was going to be asked of the Cardinals pitching staff this year.

Unfortunately, news of Carpenter’s injury is another shot to the gut to a fan base that has seen this happen seemingly year after year. Seemingly every time the Cardinals are set to open a season with a pitching staff that, on paper, should be one of the best in the league, something like this happens.

Going back to the early years of the La Russa era in 1996 and 1997, the Cardinals had a young group of terrific pitching prospects that included Alan Benes and Matt Morris. Both pitchers had the potential to be consistent all-stars and would lead the team for years to come.

Well, Benes missed the entire 1998 season due to injury and Morris followed with a similar injury for the 1999 season. Not surprisingly, the Cardinals finished third and fourth in the National League Central Division those two years. Morris came back to win 22 games in 2001 and had several successful seasons afterward, but Benes never won more than two games in a season after his injury and retired in 2003.

Even during the Cardinals successful years of the last decade, pitchers such as Woody Williams would pull an oblique or Mark Mulder would have shoulder problems that kept them off the mound for extended periods of time.

Granted, injuries are something that each team has to deal with to some extent, but the Cardinals always seem to have vital members of the pitching staff get hurt. And when they get hurt, they are on the disabled list for a long time.

That will likely be the case with Carpenter’s latest injury. General Manager John Mozeliak did not put a timetable on when Carpenter might come back, but as is the case with nearly every Carpenter injury, it looks like he will be out for quite a while.

Given Carpenter’s history of serious injuries that have caused him to miss significant portions of the 2002, 2003, 2007 and 2008 seasons, the likelihood of a return even before the all-star break would be optimistic.

As always, the Cardinals will battle on without a star pitcher. They have a capable backup in Lance Lynn, who worked out of the bullpen last season. Lynn likely won’t set the world on fire, but he should at least fill the same role Kyle McClellan filled a season ago to replace Wainwright.

Still, it is tantalizing to think how good the Cardinals would be completely healthy pitching staff.

Many fans were wondering what Kansas City Royals closer, Joakim Soria, would pitch like coming off of a not so Soria-like season in 2011.  Well that question will not get answered as the UCL tendon in Soria’s pitching arm has damage and he will not be a part of the Royal’s bullpen for some time.  That being said, who will step in to fill his shoes and close the door for the bullpen this season.

The Royal’s have set themselves up to have a more than a few options at that position. Second year pitcher Greg Holland would be the obvious pick as he was electric last season and has been dominant during Spring Training this year. He has the power pitches to be able to blow people away but also the off speed to tie hitters up and the plate.  But what separates him from other in the organization is his mind set and demeanor.  Never do you see him in the media or as a real outgoing person.  He has a calm, cool, and collected personality that fits that of a closer.  If he strikes a guy out, he walks the same way around the mound as if he had just given up a game tying home run.  His temperament is key to his success this season.

If Holland does not get the role, former closer for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Jonathan Broxton, would fall into place like the last corner piece of a puzzle.  With having experience at that role before in his career he does have the leg up on everyone else competing for the closers spot. Yet he is much like Holland as a pitcher with power but some finesse, he does show a little emotion out on the mound.  His big positive as a closer is the fact that he is so big in stature that he has an intimidating persona while out on the hill.  One thing that could hinder his progress this season, is the elbow trouble that he had in 2011 that lead to surgery on that elbow.  Could be a deterrent for Ned Yost while making the decision.

But this season’s surprise from Surprise could be the quick ascension of young Royals pitcher Kelvin Herrera. He will most likely now make the Royals opening day roster now that not only Soria is out with an injury but also Blake Wood is out for an extended period of time as well.  Herrera is just a guy who you can sit and watch pitch and you are astonished with what he can do on the mound.  To say that he has electric stuff is an understatement. The one thing that has been discovered with Herrera is the fact that when he pitches you will want to stop and watch.  Kind of like the fact that the ball sounds differently coming off of the bat of a Billy Butler or an Eric Hosmer, the baseball just comes out of Herrera’s hand like no one that I have seen for a long time in Kansas City. Though he is young his season could end up going much like that of Aaron Crow’s 2011.  He could show that he has a great future in Kansas City and may get a chance to have a few if saves early in the season and solidify his role in the bullpen for years to come.

Sooner rather the later the Royals should make a decision on who will be the closer that way whomever it is can get into that kind of mindset before the season starts on April the sixth. The fact that the Royals have many options to fill in as the closer is a huge positive because the player or players that do not get the nod will be de facto seventh and eighth inning guys.  The depth that the Royals have all across the diamond is key to the success for this season, but the depth of pitchers that will both be in the bullpen at the major league level and also in the minor leagues will be a huge lift if anyone else goes down to injury.

St. Louis Cardinal hurler Adam Wainwright showed up to the Winter Warm Up Saturday looking fit and ready to go for the 2012 season. After signing autographs for a good number of fans in attendance, it only took a couple sentences into his session with the media to confirm he was, in fact, ready to pitch come Opening Day.

Courtesy of Erika Lynn and DiamondDiaries.net

But first, the big question that’s really on everyone’s mind: What does he think of that one quarterback in Denver?

“I am obsessed with Tim Tebow, and I’m not afraid to say it,” Wainwright said. “It’s almost embarrassing to us athletes that this much attention has been put on Tim Tebow because that means we aren’t living our lives like we should.” Wainwright was stunned when he was watching the news one night and while talking about prospective GOP presidential candidates in 2012, the broadcasters mentioned Tim Tebow “about 50 times in a 30 minute span.” Wainwright is very vocal about how proud he is of Tebow and even deliberated missing an event with Tony La Russa Saturday night just to watch the Broncos play the Patriots. So is Tim Tebow the face of football right now? “I feel like he is the face of sports right now and rightfully so,” Wainwright said. “He gives the whole nation something to believe in.”

Well, some in towns with rival NFL teams may have arguments to the contrary. But in St. Louis, the question on everyone’s mind goes back to the health of Wainwright’s surgically repaired elbow.

“The arm is feeling great,” Wainwright said, adding that he’s “kind of worried I’m too far along…(I’m) going to feel fresh and ready to go, and they’re probably going to pull the reins on me a little bit in the beginning.” Wainwright has already begun throwing in Florida so Spring Training will feel normal, rather than how it might feel with a different routine coming off a year lost to Tommy John Surgery. When asked about his readiness for the start of the regular season, Wainwright says he’ll be able to pitch but hinted the role of rotation ace may belong to someone else for now. ”I’ll be ready for Game 2, or whatever they tell me,” he said with a grin.

Wainwright said he is already throwing breaking balls with ease, though that’s not what causes the most stress during the healing process—letting a fastball fly is. He also felt like his command was there before his velocity was but that neither should be an issue early on in the 2012 campaign.

Earlier in the day, General Manager John Mozeliak commented on Wainwright’s recovery and reintegration into the Cards’ rotation. He anticipated 150-175 innings for Wainwright in 2012 depending on the number of high-leverage situations and high-stress innings were mixed in. But the hurler rejected that mentality. “150 innings sounds like half a season,” Wainwright said. “If I’m making all my starts, I just don’t see how that’d be possible. But he is the boss, so at the end of the day you defer to him. But any pitcher who’s out there competing their tail off and is decent at what they do should throw more than 150 innings, so that would never ever be a goal of mine. I’ve kind of refrained from setting and goals, especially this year.”

Wainwright feels like he is one of the leaders on this team, a role that may be expanded now that Albert Pujols has departed. And the season lost to injury has taught him that he definitely loves to pitch, and isn’t ready to quit. He searched for ways to satisfy his competitive hunger, but the limitations of his rehab relegated the star pitcher to playing games on his cell phone. Wainwright said one of the benefits of all the time off was some additional healing in other areas of his body, including strengthening the structure of his throwing shoulder and eliminating some soreness in his Achilles. That should bode well for the hurler’s future health the further he gets from the Tommy John procedure.

And speaking of the future, the Cardinals did pick up Wainwright’s two year option. But he said no long-term extension has been discussed with the team at all. Wainwright thinks the team probably won’t initiate such contact until they see he’s healthy, adding “But if I go out there rolling, they better get going quick!” with a chuckle.

“I want to finish my career here,” Wainwright continued. “Everybody that stays here wants to finish their career here. With St. Louis, people call it Baseball Heaven. We kind of have it like that. I’m very blessed to play in St. Louis.”

Chris Reed is covering the Winter Warm Up all weekend for I-70 Baseball. Follow him on Twitter @birdbrained.