but Edmonds is a total jerk and needs to be made fun of at every opportunity

if pujols grounds into fewer than 400 DPs this year, i think that’s a success for him

colby on the other hand…

but this is a team that lacks strong hitters not named Pujols and Holliday; although Rasmus is competent.

But to be fair 3 players (besides the departed Ludwhick) who had an OPS over .800. Losing one of those guys for 2-4 weeks is going to really hurt for 2-4 weeks. Plus this is early exposure of St. Louis’s problems. You guys have great front line players, even sans Wainwright, Carpenter and Garcia are top of the staff guys who I don’t want to face, Westbrook is acceptable, Lohse is a wild card (although I think if he can put up an ERA+ around 90 over 160 innings this year would be a success for him; that injury just doesn’t have any track record, so it is hard to say what his return will be like).

Add one more bat, the Cardinals are a scary post season team, Pujols, Holliday, with the support of Rasmus, and Carp and Garcia who can combine to throw 3 games in a short series, and maybe 5 games in a long series. That is a tough draw.

But over the course of 162, you guys don’t have the depth to replace these horses when some of them fall, which they most likely will.

I may be overly pessimistic on Holliday’s return, I was basing it off of Harang’s surgery, which put him out for the final 6 weeks of 2009. I did that because Harang’s surgery is pretty much the only personal knowledge of athletes returning from appendectomies. If Holliday is only out 2 weeks it won’t be a big deal, if he isn’t back to May, the Cardinals may struggle to score some runs.

But depth over 162 games is huge, and honestly I don’t think St. Louis has it. If Lohse and McCleanen can be serviceable you guys have a stronger rotation. I really don’t like to judge bullpens in April, as there is often little rhyme or reason to bullpen success or failure, the off cuff statement is to say that McCleanen will be hard to replace, but a guy coming out of no where, setting up, and throwing 70 innings with a 3.2 ERA isn’t unheard of. Just as Nick Masset or Logan Ondrusek falling off a cliff could happen too.

But in the starting line up and in the rotation, Cincinnati has so much superior depth. We could take a major hit an any position and be okay. Bronson could miss 3 months with a ruptured spleen and Matt Maloney could come in (and not be as good as Bronson) but based on his minor league track record of high k’s and low BB’s he won’t sink the team. Joey Votto could spring his ankle and be out until July, and Yonder Alonso is a top prospect, he won’t hit as well as Joey, but he could keep 1B warm and still provide solid production. Ramon Hernandez could hit a brick wall and force the team to DFA him, and the Reds have a top catching prospect in Mesoraco who is MLB ready, but gets this extra year in AAA for seasoning.

You can’t argue with your lack of depth and our depth at every position.

And the pujols line is obviously a throw away, that kid is going places, he is definitely a Joey Votto type.