Well that didn’t last too long. Not even a week into their off season as World Series champions and the St. Louis Cardinals are forced to move on. Now I am not faulting Tony LaRussa for announcing his retirement when he did. It is actually a refreshing change from his usual post season melodrama of should I stay or should I go.

The timing of his decision is actually in the best interest of the team. By waiting until after the season he kept the focus on the players and their historic post season run, not offering himself up as a distraction. And in turn by letting it be known to the world as soon as he did he gave the organization a head start on finding his successor.

Who Bill Dewitt and John Mozeliak chose to take the reigns as skipper of the Cardinals will have an immediate impact on the look and feel of the 2012 club.

With TLR leaving, and throwing a wrench into my post-Pujols plans (I think he’s gone) the Cardinals could end up with a manager running the same lineup out there day in and day out. How boring and predictable would that be? Over the last 16 years I have grown accustomed to LaRussa using players all over the field and within various rotations and platoons.

The options that present themselves are pretty obvious. Lance Berkman slides in to first base and Allen Craig begins his assault on the National League by becoming the everyday right fielder. There is the possibility of moving Freese over to first and mixing and matching some form of Schumaker, Craig, Berkman, Descalso rotation between right and third-base. I pray that does not happen.

It is because of options such as these that my choice for TLR’s replacement would be someone with an extensive back ground in the National League. Terry Francona is a good manager and I’m sure would do a fine job. But in my opinion he is not the choice here. It has been a while since Tito has had to strategize in a ball game for a 162 games.

The National League game requires anticipating moves innings before they happen and playing the match-ups more so than the game in that other league. Without the abomination that is the DH a manager has to find more creative ways to get his bench players at bats game in and game out.

Terry Francona has not had to think like that in quite a while. You have been growing the replacement for years. He knows the organization, the Cardinal way and most importantly he know the players and the coaches.

Ushering in the Oquendo era is the right move here. Doing so allows the team, most likely, to keep pitching guru Dave Duncan around for at least another year. This would be most helpful while looking for a suitable replacement. Two other reasons; Oquendo is cheaper and you don’t have to trade for him (Maddon).

And finally, failing with Oquendo is much easier to look past than failing with Francona or Maddon. Oquendo is the organization guy who earned his chops under one of the best ever. It is Secret Weapon time.

Albert Pujols’ is rumored to be ready to return to the Cardinals’ lineup as soon as Wednesday night, but whenever it happens (barring another injury) it will be a sight for sore eyes… and wrists… and elbows… and hands… and even appendices.

That’s because when Pujols returns to the Cardinals’ lineup, it will be the first time since April 15th in Los Angeles that the team will feature its 2011 opening day lineup… their “A-team” if you will.

1. Theriot
2. Rasmus
3. Pujols
4. Holliday
5. Berkman
6. Freese
7. Molina
8. Schumaker

If that lineup card looks a little strange to you, that’s because it is. The Cardinals have only featured it four times all season: Opening day, and April 11th, 12th, and 15th. That’s it. And yes… the Cardinals are in first place despite just about as much adversity as you can have injury-wise.

It’s truly been a remarkable run for the Cardinals thus far in the 2011 season, now 5 games beyond its midway point. The Red Birds came into the year as decided underdogs to the Reds and Brewers (and that was before the Adam Wainwright injury). I hate to keep beating a dead horse about the injuries, but what the Cardinals have been able to do this season is perhaps only slightly shy of miraculous.

Despite the injuries, the Cards have found a way to bang out 399 runs, averaging 4.64 a game: 2nd best in the National League. They’ve found diamonds in the rough in Allen Craig and Daniel Descalso. They’ve been able to give Jon Jay a ton of playing time, and he’s met the challenge head-on and flourished both at the plate and in the outfield.

Now that the lineup is (almost) healthy again, it should make Cardinals fans eager to see how the 2nd half playoff push is going to unfold. Right now, it’s a 4-horse race in the Central Division between the Cards, Reds, Brewers, and Pirates (say what?!). The Reds have experience. The Pirates have young guns who are playing their hearts out and don’t know any better. The Brewers have a ton of talent, and a desire to win now. The Red Birds are running on shear desire and heart. It’s truly anyone’s division at this point (ok, I’m going to spoil the ending for you a little, the Pirates don’t win it).

But if the Cardinals continue to fight for wins like they’ve got a hand tied behind their back, then this pennant race is already over.

To piggy back off of last week’s column where I noted the Cardinals inability or maybe better said, hesitance, to play small ball the team embarks on a six game trip through the American League East. After the lack luster home stand showed that perhaps the Cardinals are not equipped for the NL game maybe this trip out east will show if perhaps they are built for the AL game. Somehow I doubt it. The St. Louis Cardinals are a team without a baseball identity and until they can commit to one style of play or the other the Cardinals will continue to linger in baseball purgatory. Worse yet, if management and the collective brain trust behind Ballpark Village cannot pick a direction for this team I fear every 3-4 years will be a roster turnover and more of the same.

There are a lot of quality players on this 2011 roster; the problem is that they can be divided into two groups. Those best suited to play in the NL and those maybe better off on an AL club. In this situation two halves do not necessarily make a whole. Adding to their identity crisis is manager Tony LaRussa, who cannot seem to make up his mind as to which style the Cardinals should play. Seemingly changing his strategy from series to series. We as fans and bloggers know what we see when watching a game so no facts, sabremetrics, percentages or other statistics will be used. That is for another article on another day. All statements within this column are based on the “eye-test” and common sense factors.

For as long as I can remember the breakdown was always speed and defense win games in the NL, power in the AL. Here is how it breaks down for the Cardinals. Theriot and Schumaker give away outs like free soup at a homeless shelter while Pujols and Molina when healthy are two of the best fielders in either league at their positions. If not for his glove Descalso would not be on the Major League roster, by the same token, if not for his bat neither would Allen Craig. The yin & yang of it goes on and on.

Based on the criteria above here is how I separate the two groups. In examining the roster I take into consideration any position player who has seen significant AB’s as either a regular or an off-the bench guy.

Albert Pujols	Ryan Theriot
Daniel Descalso	Allen Craig
Yadier Molina	Matt Holliday
Colby Rasmus	Lance Berkman
Skip Schumaker	David Freese
Jon Jay
*disclaimer players were assigned leagues based on where their skill levels I felt were best suited. Some of course could play in both

Finding a way to utilize both types of players requires good strategy and gamesmanship. Usually synonyms for how TLR has managed his teams. But for his part, these last few seasons TLR’s management of this miss-matched roster only makes the differences more apparent. He has players in Rasmus and Schumaker who are supposed to be good on the bases but doesn’t let them show it. To make it worse more often than not he bats them out of position. In yet another mystifying move, where a team should be sacrificing offense for defense the Cardinals do the opposite on a daily basis by continuing to run Theriot out to SS rather than moving him over to 2B.

The pieces are there and yes injuries have played a large role in the season’s results thus far. But the season is not lost, especially not in the NL Central. The sooner the Cardinals and Tony LaRussa decide which type of team they want to be for the remainder of 2011 the better the results will be.

As usual these are just my thoughts…if you’re smart you’ll most likely agree. If not keep on reading my articles and you’ll get up to speed.

Follow me on Twitter @SportsbyWeeze or check out my thoughts on the Rams at RamsHerd.com

On Thursday the Cardinals officially announced Adam Wainwright will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the 2011 season. Is the loss of Wainwright the death knell for St Louis’ 2011 season before the first spring training game is played?

Not necessarily, although the road to the playoffs just went unpaved and became much more mountainous. Wainwright was #4 in pitcher value according to Baseball Reference, #7 per Fangraphs, in 2010. The Cardinals will not be able to replace him with one man, because men possessing similar skills are seldom available via trade in spring training. So the remaining starters will have to pick some of the slack, and the Cardinals will probably both utilize several players in the #5 starter slot and skip that spot when the schedule allows it.

Many a Cardinal fan has descended into a foggy place of low expectations – the ‘Wainwright Daze’, let’s call it – since news of his elbow trouble broke. One Adam Wainwright, however, does not a team make. So use these tidbits to help ease your pain and clear your mind.

1. Lance Berkman will hit fifth. Lance had a down year in 2010 after having knee surgery, but even so his season OPS+ of 114 (combined with Houston and the Yankees) beat every Cardinal RF not named Ryan Ludwick. Berkman is a year further from surgery and from all indications he is hungry in 2011. He will help the offense.
2. David Freese is back. Freese is healthy to start the season, and we all saw what he is capable of in 2010 when healthy. Freese will play more than 70 games at 3B, even if the Cardinals have to place him in stasis and cover his capsule in bubble-wrap between games to do it. He will help both the offense and defense.
3. Molina and Schumaker are due. Offensively they will leave 2010 behind and return to their career norms.
4. Bullpen remains a strength. Even if Kyle McClellan shifts into the rotation, stalwarts Ryan Franklin, Mitchell Boggs, and Jason Motte return to anchor the back of the bullpen. Trever Miller is once again the LOOGY, and he has been competent there for 2 years. Mix in Fernando Salas and P.J. Walters, and this group could rival the 2004 ‘pen in terms of efficiency.
5. Jamie Garcia and Colby Rasmus are still under 25. Garcia finished 3rd in the ROY voting and will be better now that he has a full major league season under his belt. Rasmus slugged .859 despite only hitting 7 HR after July 1; look for him to finish stronger in 2011. And, they both will be on the club (barring trade) until after the 2014 season.

Still don’t feel better? Then simply remember this one thing:

• Albert Pujols still wears Birds on the Bat. No team with the Game’s Best Player is out of contention from the get-go. In AP’s 10 seasons with the Cardinals, the team has made the playoffs six times, and been in the thick of the pennant chase in two other seasons (2003, 2010). No way losing Wainwright makes this a sub-.500 team, something that has only happened in 2007 with AP on the roster.

I can see clearly now the Daze is gone…

Many in Cardinal Nation railed against the marginalization and eventual trade of Brendan Ryan. No doubt this was a personnel (personal?) move, not a baseball one. After all, no sane baseball organization would find it fundamentally sound to preach “pitch to contact” to its staff then trade away the best defensive shortstop in the league, right?

But that is exactly what happened, and not because a better shortstop was biding his time in the minors waiting for his opportunity or because the Cards had a new defensive whiz for second base. No, the Cardinals had already acquired their new starting shortstop in Ryan Theriot, and they are keeping Skip Schumaker at second. Theriot and Schumaker are, in many ways, mirror images of each other. They both have the stats to be OK leadoff options. Theriot has a little more speed; Schumaker has a little more pop. And both are considered tough-minded, focused, hard-working gamers.

That’s where Ryan fell short. He was flaky. He talked too much. He was often tardy, whether it would be to practice in Spring Training or the now-famous incident with Chris Carpenter in the middle of a big game in Cincinnati. The Cards were able to win the NL Central in 2009 with him as their starting shortstop, so the “clubhouse cancer” branding can be thrown out the window. But by all accounts, Ryan had become persona non grata with the St. Louis Cardinals—skill set and low salary be damned. The team was simply tired of his act, so they moved him for next to nothing…which is a nicer way of saying they dumped him.

And that’s where they may be disingenuous. David Freese remains penciled in as the starting third baseman and will be given every opportunity to prove himself worthy of the role in 2011. Why does he get yet another chance, while Ryan was shipped to Seattle for a virtually unknown prospect?

Freese has a past that is easily more checkered than Ryan’s. Before the 2009 season, Freese wrecked his car on the way to a fundraiser. The accident injured Freese’s ankle, which would eventually need surgery. Initially some eyebrows were raised when Freese failed to notify the team immediately (his agent called them a couple of days later), but the front office brushed that off as a rookie mistake. Fair enough. Then in December of 2009, Freese was arrested for driving while intoxicated. Freese was given the benefit of doubt, went through counseling, and remained the heir apparent to the starting job at third for the 2010 season. But only a couple of months in, Freese injured his other ankle during a game. Injuries happen, right? And this was only a bruise, nothing serious. That is until he dropped a weight on his foot while rehabbing, which led to another surgery and ended his season.

So on one hand we have Ryan, the starting shortstop for two seasons (plus significant time in two more). He has never proven to be much with the bat, but he is near the top of the league defensively. And his personality was just too much for the team to handle, so they willingly accepted a downgrade in the field to unload him and his goofy, distracting presence.

On the other hand we have Freese, who has survived the last two seasons on potential alone. When healthy he plays well, though not well enough to survive the stellar 2009 platoon of Joe Thurston and Brian Barden. In 2010 no one stood in his way and he only managed to stay on the field for 70 games. Freese has had multiple ankle surgeries; is it too soon to attach the “injury-prone” label? What about dropping a weight on his foot; is that just bad luck or a lapse in concentration/attention? And yes, everyone makes mistakes, but the DWI is still a serious lapse in judgment…more so than being a minute or two late to take the field, one would think.

The team has done little to address depth issues like they had at third base in 2010. If Freese is unable to contribute a full season yet again and Ryan makes noise as the Seattle Mariners’ starting shortstop in 2011, the Cardinals will need to seriously reevaluate what they believe to be a detrimental presence in the clubhouse.

Chris Reed is a freelance writer from Belleville, IL who also writes about the Cardinals for InsideSTL on Mondays and Bird Brained whenever he wants. Follow him on Twitter @birdbrained.

It doesn’t happen very often in St. Louis, but on Saturday night the Cardinals were humiliated. The 12-5 loss may have been the most embarrassing defeat the team has suffered in a very, very long time. As the redbirds walked off the field following a sloppy third inning, they were booed loudly by the home fans. I have never been a fan of booing a team – especially a winning team – but the performance on Saturday was tough to watch and the fans are starting to get restless with struggling players.

While there have been several players go through a rough patch this season, none compare to Brendan Ryan. Yadier Molina has had a hard time at the plate, Holliday isn’t living up to his salary, Schumaker is batting 40 points below what is expected of him, even Albert has been scrutinized, but nearly all patience has been lost for Brendan Ryan. I believe his little act on Saturday night was the final straw.

It is one thing when you cannot hit the baseball. It is an entirely different thing to not have your head in the game. There is absolutely no excuse for that. Brendan Ryan was all over the place in that 12-5 rout by the Brewers. He was throwing to the wrong base and dropping relay throws from the outfield. Then, there is his side-arm throw he picked up somewhere along the line that has zero accuracy. On one play, Ryan threw home to get the runner (who had basically already scored) and the ball was ten feet off target.

I wouldn’t mind it as much if he just wasn’t able to hit, but when you take that into the field? That’s when the plug needs to be pulled. Defensive lapses cannot be tolerated.

It is time to “put up or shut up” for the Cardinals shortstop. The fanbase has always supported Ryan. He is an extremely likeable guy and I think everybody has been extra-patient with him this season. The fact of the matter is, Brendan is hurting the team. Unfortunately, there is not much management can do with Ryan except sit him on the bench. He has little if any trade value, and if we tried sending him to Memphis he would be picked up off of waivers. Do we really want to get rid of him all together?

This isn’t anything new either. Ryan’s stuggles go way past the Milwaukee game. He is currently riding a 4-for-40 skid. During that slump, he has scored twice. Keep in mind that he was playing nearly every day. Ryan also hasn’t batted in a run since June 19th; almost three weeks ago.

Brendan is coming off of a great defensive year, and even batted .292, but all signs of that player have disappeared. His average this season has dipped below the Mendoza-line (.198) and his on-base percentage is at .267. His BABIP (batting average of balls put in play) is 67 points lower than his career mark and he is striking out more this year than he ever has. His ground ball rate has jumped 6%, his fly ball percentage has done the exact same thing, and line drives have become scarce.

So who’s going to be our shortstop? Enter Tyler Greene.

“It’s a good time to give him (Ryan) a break and give Tyler a chance to play. Whoever plays the best, plays the most,” said Tony LaRussa following the decision to start Greene at SS on Sunday.

Greene was the Cardinals’ first round pick in 2005 and has carried the “prospect” tag with him all the way through the Minors. In two full seasons with the AAA-Memphis Redbirds, Greene has hit just below .300. This year, Greene is batting .291/.362/.465 with seven home runs, 52 runs, and ten stolen bases in only 62 games.

The 26-year-old infielder had a disappointing stint with the big league club in 2009 but has yet to disappoint so far this year. Through his first three games since the recent call-up, Greene is 3-for-9 with two runs, a triple, a home run, and four RBI. I know it is a very small sample size (35 at bats), but his .514 slugging percentage is awfully impressive as well.

The Tyler Greene experiment may go down as just that. An experiment. You never really know. The only thing certain is that Brendan Ryan hurts the team’s chances, and so far Greene does not.

Don’t look now folks, but for the first time in his MLB career, Tyler Greene has a job that is his to lose.

Justin Hulsey covers the Cardinals for i70baseball.com and his blog, Cardinals Front Office, that is also dedicated to Cardinal baseball.You may follow him on Twitter @JayHulsey by clicking here.