Of all positions in the Cardinals system, first base is perhaps the one that developed the most unexpectedly. While there was no need for a real succession plan due the long-term presence of Albert Pujols, and then Lance Berkman on the roster as well, it was a spot that could have left the team sorely in need of help. However, Allen Craig stepped up in both the wake of the departure of Pujols and injury issues of Berkman a year ago, and claimed it for his own. Fast forward a year later, and the position has both a long-term answer and yet another blooming talent at the MLB level in Matt Adams. But how will the future play out overall at the position? And will the surplus of talent lead to moves being made at spot, or will other issues make the team gun shy about jumping to any conclusions still?

St. Louis: Craig came into his own as a full-time player last season. In his second full season, he played in 119 games and hit .307. He entered the season as a sort of utility man to support Berkman, as well as Matt Holliday and Carlos Beltran in the outfield, but due to the repeated injuries to Berkman, he made 83 starts at first base and the position was his permanently by late summer. The 29-year old finished third on the team in runs batted in, helped in part by a National League-best .400 batting average with runners in scoring position. The team made a 5-year $31 million dollar commitment to him in response to his 2012, which presented another interesting situation in what to do with prospect Matt Adams.

Adams, who has averaged 20 homers a year in his minor league career and was the organization’s Offensive Player of the Year in 2011, found himself on the big league roster coming out of the spring. He has shown prodigious power, but is a fish out of water due to first base being his only position with Craig blocking him there. For now, the 24-year old will continue to be a potential big impact bat and spot starter in case of rest or a trip to the outfield for Craig, but of any of the organization’s top prospect, he is the one with a future that seems most likely to be spent elsewhere.

High Minors: With Adams with the big club, there is nothing of particular emphasis at Memphis currently regarding first base. Brock Peterson is manning it currently, but career minor leaguer is more his path. Xavier Scruggs will return to Springfield as a 25 year old for a second consecutive year, and while he has shown consistent power during his five year rise through the system (20+ homers the past three years), he still hasn’t put much pressure on breaking into even Triple A yet.

Low Minors: There’s not a particularly emergent player at the lower levels of the minors at first currently either. Danny Steinstra (24) and Jonathan Rodriguez (23) are in a time split at the position at Palm Beach, while David Washington (22) is manning the corner the next step down in Peoria. None of the trio profiles as a solution much further along the minors based on past performance and advanced age for the level. Among the more developmental prospects in the lower level is Jeremy Schaffer, who hit 10 home runs and 20 doubles at Rookie level Johnson City in 2012 after being an 18^th round pick last June. He will open at Low-A Peoria, but if the 20-year old continues along with the same production as his pro debut began with, he’ll quickly rise to be the best prospect at the position in the organization.

Synopsis: First base is a top heavy position for the Cardinals, where the best talent is already on display at the Major League-level. Craig and Adams are both the future, simultaneously, so something will have to give eventually. But neither is making it easy, Craig with his fresh long-term deal and penchant for driving in runs, and Adams with his epically long drives. Yet a decision will have to be made, and once it is, the system as it currently stands does not offer much follow up promise behind either. The positive thing is that neither HAS to go anywhere anytime soon, and that is a good for staying strong at the top, while building in the system.

The St. Louis Cardinals have seen their share of injuries this off-season.  The one that appears to have the most impact currently will be at shortstop.

Rafael Furcal, the Cardinals starting shortstop, is out for the season after requiring Tommy John surgery to repair an elbow injury that dates back to late last season.  An offseason and Spring of market investigation for a replacement has yielded no results to date, leaving general manager John Mozeliak and manager Mike Matheny to react the same way they did last season, with Pete Kozma.

Kozma, an enigma of a ballplayer, had all but been given up on due to his (lack of) performance at the minor league level.  A first round draft pick that seemed to be a bust, Kozma was the reason that Furcal arrived in St. Louis in the first place.  But when Furcal went down last season, the Cardinals were left with very little choice and handed the position to the struggling prospect.

What happened was something no one expected: he succeeded.  Kozma found a glimpse of his potential on the biggest stage possible and performed well during the final month of the season and in the post-season for the Cardinals.  As the Cardinals prepare to break camp, Kozma is prepared to be the starting shortstop once again.

Friend of the site Sam Feldman helped i70baseball immortalize Kozma and the feelings surrounding him with a t-shirt that is now available on TeeSpring.com.  The shirt, which embodies both the spirit of the fans that have an extreme feeling of support for the young shortstop as well as a sarcastic feel for those that feel the hype is a bit too high, is available for a limited time at the price of $15 per shirt.

Kozmamania has hit St. Louis.  Get your shirt today.

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.

The St. Louis Cardinals entered spring training with the fifth starter position in the rotation up for grabs.  It appears that the spotlight on that competition will shine bright over the next few days.

Trevor Rosenthal – photo from FoxSportsMidwest

As the spring air was pierced by the sounds of pitchers and catchers warming up and early batting practice taking place, the Cardinals settled in for a competition for the final spot in the rotation.  The guys gearing up for that competition were Lance Lynn, Shelby Miller, Trevor Rosenthal and Joe Kelly.

It did not take long for plans to change.  Veteran ace Chris Carpenter broke the news that he would not be able to compete this year and Lance Lynn was all but assured his spot as the number four starter.

Then there were three.

Miller appeared to be the favorite early on based on his performance last year, his off season work, and the perception that the top pitching prospect in the organization was ready to take the next step.  The trio of right handers have seen very little time to this point in the spring and, despite much speculation, the team has not been forthcoming with any news.

Meanwhile, Kelly and Rosenthal had proven that they could handle the pressure of the big leagues down the stretch and repeatedly in the post season last year.  Kelly specifically showed over and over again that he could pitch in the rotation after taking over for Jaime Garcia last season due to injury.

Rumors began swirling on Thursday morning, while the team was dealing with news about shortstop Rafael Furcal, that there had been progress in making a decision in the starter competition.  One report surfaced saying that the Cardinals held a meeting for their starting pitchers, a meeting that Rosenthal did not attend.

Possibly the most telling and interesting part of that case is that minor league starters were in the same meeting.  Signs are pointing to Rosenthal’s fate being decided and he may very well open the season in the bullpen for St. Louis.

Now there are two.

The two pitchers left in the competition will take their cases to the mound on Thursday and Friday with Kelly starting Thursday afternoon and Miller toeing the rubber on Friday.  While it would be surprising if these two starts formed the firm decision in the mind of the Cardinals management, it would seem that the spotlight is shining on the next few games to showcase the talent the Cardinals have available.

The decision could come as soon as this weekend.  It will most likely come sometime around March 15.  Ultimately, the decision is coming soon and it’s down to two young pitchers that have shown they can be successful at the major league level.

Soon, there will be one…

Bill Ivie is the editor here at i70baseball.
You can follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

You can’t take too much stock in Spring Training performances. For instance, there’s left-handed reliever Donnie Joseph. In two one-inning relief appearances, Joseph faced and struck out six batters, which is impressive. Of course the batters he faced were AAA level players and five of them were left-handed. But if a pitcher is going to make a good impression in Spring Training, Joseph is doing a good job of it.

John Sleezer/The Kansas City Star

Last July, the Royals got Joseph when they sent veteran reliever Jonathan Broxton to Cincinnati. In four Minor League seasons, Joseph pitched in 193 games over 225.1 innings with a 3.55 ERA and a 3.01 SO/BB ratio, all in relief.

Joseph struggled when he went to AAA Omaha. In 11 games over 17.1 innings, his ERA was 4.15. He struck out 19 batters and gave up 13 walks, ending up with a 1.46 SO/BB ratio.

Despite the two good outings striking out the side, Joseph is a long shot to make the team. His command of the strike zone is inconsistent, and he’s only pitched 29 games in AAA. And there’s the current makeup of the bullpen. The Royals plan to carry seven relievers and for now Greg Holland, Kelvin Herrera, Tim Collins and Aaron Crow are locks. And who doesn’t get the fifth starter job between Bruce Chen, Luke Hochevar and Luis Mendoza will join the bullpen as long relievers. That leaves one spot and 14 pitchers are vying for that spot, including Joseph.

As a lefty, Joseph could be the left-handed specialist if he makes the team. He’s on the on 40-man roster and has options remaining, so even with a great spring, Joseph might end up in Omaha, especially with the strength of the Royals bullpen. If he doesn’t make the Opening Day roster, it wouldn’t hurt Joseph to get more experience facing AAA batters and improving his command. Even if he starts the season in Omaha, it’s likely he’ll be with the Royals sometime this year.

Donnie Joseph isn’t for real yet, but he’s not a mirage either.

As we all know, Kansas City has carried a dismal baseball franchise since 1985. But as spring training rolls around, we have to again acknowledge how well the Royals have done in the Latin American talent market.

Everyone who pays very much attention to the Royals will directly turn there heads up to the sky and wink at their mental image of Salvador Perez, the Royals’ up and coming catcher. The Royals, though, have made some fantastic signings from Latin America. There are also some tremendous advantages to scouting in Latin America. Some of those will follow.

When you are hunting the streets of some small town in the midwest looking for the high school stadium to try to find the next Hank Aaron, you have to wait until he is 18. When you go to Latin America to try to find the future face of your franchise, the face can be younger. You can sign a 16 year old to a major league contract. So your Latin Mike Trout is more likely to begin his career just as Mike Trout did, under the age of 20.

If there is a tremendous amount of talent in some random high school in America, you probably wouldn’t be the only one to see it. Chances are, if he really is the next Ted Williams, there will be you and 29 other major league scouts sitting in the stands. The more scouts, the more money. No matter how humble a high school kid is, he will go to the highest bidder, which is generally a lot of money. In Latin America, roughly 28% of the people are in poverty. More will go for smaller amounts of money. This allows small market teams, like the Royals, to upgrade their minor league talent.

It isn’t just the Royals that do this though. On Opening Day 2012, 27.3 percent of players on Major League rosters were Latino. Teams are rightly buying into this gigantic talent base, and the Royals are very good at identifying talent in Latin America. This is why we get to have that mental image of Salvador Perez winking at us. The Major Leagues, and the Royals, have been, and will be, greatly enhanced by this pool of talent staring at us in the face. We would be idiots to ignore it.

The St. Louis baseball season got off to its unofficial start on Saturday with an annual high mark. The club began the Cardinals Winter Warm Up down the street from Busch Stadium at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, a three day festival of all things Cardinal baseball. From autograph signings from players both past, present and future, to an impressive showing of team related merchandise, the Winter Warm is the absolute best way to get primed for the upcoming summer of baseball.

During the event, both players and club management take time to stop and discuss the state of the team as well. And there is no better place to start than at the top. On Saturday morning General Manager John Mozeliak took some time to speak on the state of team for the upcoming season, including how the team is managing to come around from 2012’s ending, as well as the status on both the health (and contracts) of some of the club’s biggest contributors.

On team structure: He shares the optimism that many do on the homegrown future of the ballclub. “There should be more minor league impact expected this year on the roster”, stated Mozeliak. While not going into specifics on who or when, he was very encouraged by the group of young pitchers with Major League experience, including Trevor Rosenthal, Shelby Miller, Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly. All will work as starters early in camp, and compete for the fifth starter slot. However, Lynn will enter with a slight edge on the group. “He shouldn’t show up and be completely comfortable” said Mo, “but based on what he did last year, he has the inside track.”

Regarding the competition at second base, he feels Daniel Descalso will enter camp as the owner of the position, but there are some conditions as well. Matt Carpenter, who has worked at the position this winter, will get a look but he cannot accurately assess his place in the competition until he sees him in action.

Concerning any further moves in the middle infield, the availability and heatlth of Rafael Furcal is the most critical factor to any further activity. “We have not ruled out any additions in the middle infield”, Mozeliak said, “but it all depends on the health of Furcal.” He went on to say that all early signs are positive for the Furcal entering into the spring.

On Mike Matheny: All signs were positive on where he stands on Matheny entering into his second season at the wheel. “He exceeded expectations in year one” he explained, going on to say that he did not meet with him over the winter in any advisory capacity, only to touch base. He expects there will be the most growth in his area of player usage. “I expect he may not ride the hot hand as much” he commented.

On team health: He admitted that breaking free of camp at full strength is a concern, especially with some of the lingering conditions that are already in place. They are taking a “wait and see” approach concerning Jaime Garcia and Chris Carpenter, but more so for Garcia. Carpenter could see a decreased training program, but it’s not unusual for him at this point in his career. “The expectation for 200 innings for Carp is probably at 50/50”, but he has high confidence in his health status.

On big name prospects: There is an expectation that top prospect Oscar Taveras will get “plenty of opportunities” in the spring, to see what he can do. Second baseman Kolten Wong will also get some opportunities in big league camp, but the goal is not for him to share time in St. Louis currently, and to be an everyday contributor in the minors again.

On contract negotiations: The Adam Wainwright contract extension matter will carry into the season, and potentially into the season, but shouldn’t be compared to past high profile dealings. He feels this matter is “more open ended than other negotiations we’ve seen before” and that “there are no lines drawn in the sand this time around.”

He also elaborated that the organization has “moved on” from Kyle Lohse, but won’t close the door on anything either.

Vance Albitz is a minor league infielder in the Cardinals organization who makes his offseason home in Torrance, California.  There is a good chance this is one of the first few times you have heard his name.  Thanks to the team, the upcoming Winter Warm Up, and his own challenge to help out the troops of our country, you will probably hear much more about him in the coming months.

This is not to say that Albitz will not be on the Cardinals’ radar in the near future.  The young man has performed well at various levels in the organization.  He is not a flashy player and when asked about the part of his game that is his strength he replies with a one word answer: “defense”.

Albitz took a few minutes of his offseason to answer a few questions for us here at i70.  He took time to talk about himself, his career, and his desire to provide something to troops of the United States Armed Forces that are stationed abroad.

I asked Albitz about his expectations for the season ahead and got a very professional sounding “I have no idea what is in store for the 2013 season for me.  I am looking to help the organization any way I can, any place they need me.”

I got a glimpse of the young man’s personality when he opened up about his favorite player growing up.  Albitz replied, “David Eckstein.  He once told me, “You have to prove yourself every single day.”  He practiced what he preached and I respect him for that.”

Ask him about his best friend in baseball and you’ll find a man that loves the game, and his teammates, to the fullest extent. “My best friends in my life have come from baseball.  I still keep in touch with my best friends from baseball in college.  The Cardinals have a number of guys in the organization that I enjoy being around.  There are literally too many to choose just one.”

Most impressively, and the reason you will hear more about him in the next few weeks, Albitz undertook a very special project this offseason.  While reading an article, Albitz discovered a conversation with a solider:

“What would you like people back home to send you?”

“Baseball gloves and a baseball,” he said.  “So much of our tasks are hurry up and go, followed by waiting.”

That inspired Albitz to go to work.  He set a goal for himself to reach out to as many people as he could.  His goal?  To send 1,000 baseball gloves to troops stationed overseas before the first day of Spring Training.

“My grandparents served and I have a number of friends serving right now.  My objective in starting this was to send the game of baseball to our soldiers who are doing so much for our country”, Albitz told me.  He has currently collected 250 gloves and expects the next month to pick up steam, thanks in part to the Cardinals asking fans to help contribute at this year’s Winter Warm Up.

The team will have donation bins setup this weekend at various locations around the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch during their annual Winter Warm Up celebration.  Fans are urged to donate new or gently used gloves by dropping them off at these bins.  Thanks to the club and Rawlings, Albitz hopes to greatly increase the number of gloves he has already collected.

The best way for people to help is to send me a used baseball glove, new baseball, or cash donation.  All the information on the website,www.gloves4troops.com.  What I would appreciate just as much if somebody doesn’t have those items is a thank you letter to a soldier (I can put these in the gloves).  The information can be found on the website.

I took a moment to ask Ablitz to share with our fans his favorite baseball movie (For Love Of The Game) and to also share with our fans if he was a collector of baseball cards growing up.

My brother and I collected baseball cards like crazy when we were younger.  I always remember the time my brother tricked me into trading him my Mike Piazza Bowman Rookie Card for Joel Skinner.  I still haven’t gotten over that.

If you are going to Winter Warm Up, grab that old glove out of the closet and drop it in a bin for a soldier.  If you are not, head over to the website and learn how you can help.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball
Follow him on Twitter here.

The St. Louis Cardinals went into the offseason with a very short shopping list.  Solidify the bullpen, which they accomplished with the signing of Randy Choate, and upgrade the middle infield.

The rumors have flown and the team has been attached to just about any shortstop that was even rumored to be available.  While rumors and pundits wondered what direction they would go, they have quietly stood their ground.  Whether that is by choice or by force, the team has not been able to pull the trigger and the options have gotten slim.

The most active rumor was concerning Cleveland’s Asdrubal Cabrera.  Now that Cleveland has completed a deal that sent Shin Soo Choo to Cincinnati, most expect them to keep the soon-to-be free agent for the time being.  Cabrera offered a large upgrade offensively as well as an above average glove.  Possibly the player that would have made the most impact for the team, Cabrera seems to be off the market and out of the question.

While very few rumors surfaced surrounding the young Dodger shortstop Dee Gordon, it seemed like a logical fit when the West Coast Yankees expressed interest in utility man Skip Schumaker.  Alas, the Cardinals got a shortstop in return, but it was in the form of former fifth round draft pick Jake Lemmerman.  The move provided St. Louis with a much needed addition in depth at the minor league level, but leaves them contemplating what to do at the major league level still.

Further rumors connected the Redbirds to the player that proved to be a thorn in their side in this year’s National League Championship Series, Marco Scutaro.  Scutaro had the unique ability to provide an upgrade at either short or second base and could have added some veteran leadership to a club that continues to get even younger.  Scutaro proved that his loyalty was to the team that brought him his first championship and signed on the dotted line to remain in San Francisco.

Possibly the largest rumor of them all had the Cards looking to bring Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus to the Gateway City.  Andrus represented an increase in offensive productivity, he would be a step back on the defensive front.  Texas has the youth to make such a move, but as the winter has gone on, they have seemed like they do not have faith that they are ready to make that move as of yet.  News breaking of Josh Hamilton‘s new contract in Anaheim will have Texas looking to hold on to the offensive weapons they have.  They are in the market for pitching, which the Cardinals have an abundance of, but the price may be too steep overall.

The final hope may be a player they have expressed interest in already this offseason, Stephen Drew.  Drew has drawn interest from multiple places.  Most experts expect him to land back in Oakland but no movement has been made to that direction as of yet.  Drew would be a risk investment as the Cardinals would hope that his offensive production could return to levels previously shown in his early career.  He also poses a bit of a health risk which may not be that much better than what they currently have.  There has been talk of Drew being willing to play second base, which makes him a bit more attractive in the long run.

The club has stood by the fact that it would wait to hear how current shortstop Rafael Furcal‘s injury was progressing before they would pursue any other options.  What few reports have surfaced concerning Furcal have been positive.

If, in fact, this team wants to upgrade in the middle infield, it may be time to do it or miss out.

Photo Courtesy of Minda Haas

KANSAS CITY, MO (November 28, 2012) — The Kansas City Royals announced today that the club has acquired minor league right-handed pitcher Luis Santos and left-hander Luis Rico from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for right-handed pitcher Vin Mazzaro and first baseman Clint Robinson.  Santos and Rico have been assigned to the Surprise Royals.

The 21-year-old Santos pitched for both Dominican Pirates clubs last season, combining for a 6-3 record and a 2.44 ERA in 14 games, including 12 starts.  In 62.2 innings, he allowed 42 hits, walked 20 and struck out 74 while holding opponents to a .184 average.  The 6-foot Santos is from Bonao, Dominican Republic, and was signed by Pittsburgh as a non-drafted free agent on April 8, 2011.

Rico, who will turn 19 tomorrow, is a 6-foot-1, 180-pounder from Guanta, Venezuela.  He went 0-1 with a 7.04 ERA in 11 games (nine starts) in 2012 for the Dominican Pirates.  Rico made his debut in 2011 with the Venezuelan Pirates after signing with Pittsburgh as a non-drafted free agent on April 9, 2011.

Mazzaro, 26, and Robinson, 27, were designated for assignment by the Royals on November 20.