Spring Training 2013 was not supposed to be an exciting one for the St. Louis Cardinals.  A team that had made very few offseason moves was primarily set for the upcoming season.  Then, an injury to a veteran starter opened up a door.

Cardinals prospect Michael Wacha

The injury to Chris Carpenter might have opened up a door but the depth within the organization has kicked it wide open.  The arms in camp are plentiful and it will result in someone finding themselves in Memphis waiting for their time to arrive.

Thursday was the showcase of that talent at a very real level.  The day started with all of the focus on the starting rotation and young hurlers Joe Kelly and Shelby Miller bidding to be the fifth starter for the club.  They both reached their pitch counts and there was more baseball to be played, so manager Mike Matheny opened the doors to the trophy case and gave the world a glimpse of the future in St. Louis.

The first arm behind Kelly and Miller was that of flame thrower Trevor Rosenthal.  Rosenthal recently was removed from the three horse race for the final rotation spot but has found himself strongly entrenched in the major league bullpen.  Matheny has been noted as saying that he can see using Rosenthal to help get closer Jason Motte some down time with full confidence.  The young man has wowed the crowds in Florida this Spring with pitches over 100 miles per hour and great control.  His breaking ball is sharp, his changeup is keeping guys off balance, and the heat is definitely there.

Once Rosenthal was done, however, there were two more innings left to play.  The surprise of the Spring has been the emergence of young Michael Wacha as another power arm that is close to ready for prime time.  Wacha would enter the game to pitch the final two innings and secure the win.  The young man proved his continued worth and helped showcase the future of the Cardinals with two solid innings of relief.

The showcase of talent led to some clarity after the game, however.  The Cardinals continued to trim their roster on Thursday with the official announcement coming Friday morning.  Wacha, as expected, was sent to minor league camp and placed on the Triple-A roster.  Joining him in Memphis will be reliever Eduardo Sanchez.

That adds yet another wrinkle to the competition in camp.

The question has remained the same: what happens to the starter that does not make the rotation?  Generally speaking, my opinion has stood that if Kelly is the starter, Miller will be in Memphis to start the year.  On the opposite side of the coin, if Miller was chosen to start, Kelly would most likely find himself in the St. Louis bullpen.  The challenge to all of this is the emergence of a solid Spring showing for Fernando Salas.  His four appearances this spring, which produced four innings, have been solid and have him laying claim to a bullpen spot this year.

As we enter the last few weeks of Spring Training, there are now three arms – Shelby Miller, Joe Kelly, Fernando Salas – for two spots.  One will be the fifth starter.  One will be in the bullpen.  One will be in Memphis.  The 2013 roster is shaping up with some interesting decisions.

The future beyond 2013 looks very, very bright.

As the Los Angeles Dodgers and Angels spent unprecedented amounts of money during the offseason to try to establish dominance, a battle between rivals in the Midwest could be the most intense race of the 2013 season.

The St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds have won the National League Central Division in three of the past four seasons, and each team has made moves this offseason to bolster their chances to do so again next year.

The Cardinals haven’t added much, but they also didn’t have many holes to fill. They signed left-handed relief pitcher Randy Choate to a three-year, $7.5 million contract to fill the team’s biggest need in the bullpen. They also signed bench player Ty Wigginton to a two-year, $5 million deal, but unless Wigginton comes up with a late-inning homer against the Reds, that signing is negligable.

The Reds, who beat the Cardinals by nine games last year to win the division, made more substantial moves. They resigned reliever Jonathan Broxton to a three-year, $21 million contract to be the team’s closer for the foreseeable future and resigned leftfielder Ryan Ludwick for $15 million across two years. The Reds also traded for outfielder Shin-Soo Choo from the Indians to be their centerfielder and leadoff hitter next year.

The Broxton signing should allow flamethrower Aroldis Chapman to be in the starting rotation next year, and the trade for Choo fills a massive hole at the top of the lineup.

Drew Stubbs, who went to the Indians in the trade, held that spot last season, but he hit just .213 with a .277 on-base percentage and 166 strikeouts. By contrast, Choo hit .283 with a .373 on-base percentage and struck out 150 times. That’s still a lot of strikeouts for a leadoff hitter, but Choo provides more power and is certainly an upgrade in a spot the Reds tried to improve at last season’s trading deadline.

Although neither team has made nearly as many moves as several other teams so far in the offseason, the Cardinals and Reds have fortified their rosters to stage quite a battle throughout the 2013 season. They’ll do so without handing out contracts worth more than $100 million, as the Dodgers did by signing pitcher Zack Greinke and Angels did by signing outfielder Josh Hamilton.

The Cardinals and Reds have a recent history full of intense games that have at times led to shouting matches and even a full-out brawl in 2010. With both teams loaded and ready for battle heading into the season, one might think this could be a season series full of more temper tantrums and games that will leave blood boiling for both teams and both fanbases.

But this year’s rivalry might take a more professional turn. Both the Cardinals and Reds know each organization has a good team, and they will likely be the two strongest contenders for the NL Central Division title.

In past years, the Reds were an up-and-coming team that felt it had to rough up the more established Cardinals to gain entrance to the top of the division. Those days are gone. General manager Walt Jocketty has built a roster with a good starting rotation, solid bullpen and increasingly potent lineup filled with stars such as Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce.

This year’s Cardinals-Reds rivalry could be similar to recent battles in the AL West between the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Both teams had some of the most talented rosters in the league, and they stuck strictly to playing solid, intense yet not over-the-top baseball games.

Although it might be fun for fans to watch for extracurricular activities on the field and in the dugouts similar to a playoff hockey game, it might be even more impressive to watch a season series that has good, high-quality baseball.

So while big-market teams on the West Coast battle each other with dollar bills in the offseason, actual games between the Cardinals and Reds next season could create the most interesting division races in all of baseball.

Now that St. Louis Cardinals fans have opened their 2011 World Series championship Christmas gifts and the calendar has turned to 2012, it’s time to start anticipating the beginning of a new season.

The Cardinals have already made most of their offseason moves by keeping Rafeal Furcal and Skip Schumaker, signing Carlos Beltran and not signing Albert Pujols. With the lineup and rotation pretty much set, now Cardinals fans can start asking the annual questions of how good the team will be during the upcoming season.

The 2012 Cardinals will look a lot better on paper than a lot of defending World Series champion teams. Most of those teams have geared up for a championship run for several years and have an aging nucleus by the time they win the World Series. Even the 2006 Cardinals were in a position where they couldn’t bring back many pieces of that team in 2007.

That’s not the case in 2012. Sure, the team lost the best baseball player and best manager of this generation, but, the rest of the team remains pretty well intact, especially considering Adam Wainwright will be back to lead the rotation after missing the entire 2011 season because of injury.

Not many defending championship teams are able to add a Cy Young Award winner to their staff the following year without having to dish out a major contract or trade away the entire minor league system.

Those types of moves often impair a franchise for several years after it goes for broke to win a championship. Even the New York Yankees struggled to maintain a minor league system that continually fed the big club with solid, young talent after their dynasty of the late 1990s.

So, the Cardinals look to be in a position where they will once again strongly contend for a playoff spot in 2012. The major question marks will be and whether or not the team will be able to score enough runs.

The offense carried the 2011 Cardinals for much of the season, but more responsibility immediately dropped on the pitching staff once Pujols left for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The pitchers are going to have to be excellent this year for the Cardinals to win a lot of games.

Had Pujols and manager Tony La Russa stayed, the Cardinals would’ve likely been huge favorites in the National League Central Division and maybe the entire National League, but the few changes they made are significant and leave the door open for doubt to creep inside.

The Cardinals spent most of the money they didn’t pay Pujols on Furcal, Schumaker and Beltran. Unfortunately, those three players combined might not generate the same offensive production Pujols did by himself. That means the Cardinals’ starting pitching will have to be dominant at times, the defense will have to be vastly improved and the team will have to be more creative in baserunning situations.

The 2011 Cardinals were built from the batter’s box, but the 2012 Cardinals will likely have to win with pitching and defense.

The Cardinals Hot Stove League Show Debuts
Presented By U.S. Cellular
In Depth Coverage of Offseason Moves and Other Team News

ST. LOUIS (November 30, 2011)- Gather around the Hot Stove this winter as the “Cardinals Hot Stove League Show presented by U.S. Cellular,” keeps you up-to-date on all the latest free agent signings, trades, and personnel moves made during the off-season.

Hosted by Kevin Wheeler and Mike Claiborne, the “Cardinals Hot Stove League Show presented by U.S. Cellular” will air on 1120 KMOX and select Cardinals Radio Network affiliates from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. (Central Time) every Monday night beginning on December 5th and running through March 26th.

The focus of the show will be on Cardinals baseball, with an additional emphasis on Major League Baseball as a whole. Topics will also include the Cardinals minor league system, as well as business and community issues.

Guests will include Cardinals manager Mike Matheny, general manager John Mozeliak, broadcasters Mike Shannon and John Rooney, front office officials, and current and former Cardinals players.