Season Preview: St. Louis Cardinals

Last Season: 89-65, 2nd in NL

Manager: Eddie Dyer (3rd season in St. Louis, 3rd total)Offseason: St. Louis almost went the entire offseason without making a single move that would affect their major league roster. Finally, on April 7th, they traded backup first baseman Dick Sisler to the Phillies for Ralph LaPointe. LaPointe had 56 games of experience in his rookie year for Philadelphia and hit .308. He played exclusively at shortstop, but with this talented of an infield he will be played all around the diamond as a reserve.Catcher: The catcher spot is up for grabs and a pair of Del's will fight for it. Del Rice was the primary backstop last year, but his bat could not make up for his pitch calling and defensive abilities. A .218 average has led to a shakeup with Del Wilber getting the starting spot to start the year. He didn't do much better last year in his rookie season, and a slow start could put him back on the bench in a reserve role. Should neither stand out, the Cardinals will also turn to Joe Garagiola.
Infield: 1944 MVP Marty Marion will be remembered as one of the best players of the decade, consistently playing at a high level since his debut in 1940. He is the best defensive shortstop in the league and above average for the position at the plate. After a down season hitting in 1946, Marion bounced back to hit .272 last year. He will once again turn double plays alongside Red Schoendienst, who has also established himself as an elite fielder in his three seasons for the Cardinals. Schoendienst led the league in steals in his rookie season in 1945 and was an All-Star the following year. Last year's 27 home runs by Whitey Kurowski were easily the most by a Cardinal since Johnny Mize back in 1940. Kurowski has now topped 20 homers in three of the last four years and hit above .300 for three years straight. With All-Stars at every other position, first base is the one question mark in the infield. Rookie Nippy Jones, who has played mostly at second base in his limited time in the majors, will move to first since it is the only position open where he can see serious playing time. LaPointe can back up anyone in the infield. Don Lang can too as he enters his second season ten years after his rookie campaign in 1938 in Cincinnati. Lang has spent all of the time in between in the minors, minus his service in the war, and finally gets promoted again after hitting .346 in Columbus at AAA level last year.Outfield: First baseman opened up because Stan Musial returns to the outfield, where he played before the war. Musial is coming off the worst season of his career after an inflamed appendix and tonsillitis led a horrible start last year. Musial had his appendix and tonsils removed during the offseason and looks to bounce back to another MVP to join the awards he won in 1943 and 1946. For almost any other player, his season last year would've been a career year. Eddie Dyer hopes last year was an aberration and that Musial can once again reclaim his spot as the best player in the National League. He will move to right field because Enos Slaughter returns in left. The two can easily be switched, but Slaughter will start in left field because that's where he primarily played last year. Slaughter exclusively played in right for most of the last decade until he moved over just last year. His .294 average last year was his worst since 1938, but the Cardinals aren't worried about a decline. Besides Musial, Slaughter was arguably the best hitter on the World Series championship teams in 1942 and 1946. Utility player Erv Dusak winds up in center field again but may be called upon to play at other positions throughout the season. Dusak has played at five different positions over the last two years and may not be the final option the Cardinals want to go with in center field for a whole season. Veteran Terry Moore will get plenty of playing time there, too. He is near the end of his career but he still has a good glove and arm. Ron Northey will play in the corner outfield and would be good enough to start on most other clubs in the league. Chuck Diering doesn't offer much at the plate but the Cardinals looked to him as a defensive replacement in the outfield at the end of games last year. Rounding out the team is Joe Medwick, who has not actually signed a contract for 1948 but is expected to return once again for his 17th season in the majors. Medwick will not play a major role on this team like he did in the '30's, but his first season back in St. Louis went well as he his .307 in 150 at bats.Rotation: For the first time since 1941, the Cardinals did not have a 20-game winner last year. No one was even close, perhaps the reason the Cardinal's streak of seasons with at least 90 wins ended at six. In their last World Series two years ago, the ace was Howie Pollet. The two-time All-Star had a career ERA of just 2.16 entering last year, when his ERA more than doubled that. Pollet is still young, but the sharp contrast in the results of his last two seasons are worrying after such a strong start to his career. Murry Dickson gets the Opening Day start after having the lowest ERA of the five Cardinals pitchers with at least 20 starts last year, but he was also the most unfortunate as it still led to a team-worst 16 losses. The 20 start qualifier was significant because Al Brazle, who made 19 starts, was even better, even though he also had a lot of relief work. St. Louis will try to use him even more as a starter this year as he starts the season as part of the rotation. Last year's win co-leaders, George Munger and Harry Brecheen, were both Al-Stars and should be good for 30 starts apiece.Bullpen: When they weren't using starters for relief work, the Cardinals usually turned to either Ken Burkhart or Ted Wilks out of the bullpen last year. Unfortunately, neither was very good as both had ERAs above 5.00. Both are back again this year, but the Cardinals will continue to use starters who've had a few days of rest as often as possible if neither can improve. This includes Jim Hearn, who should still get more than a dozen starts this year but will be called upon to help out the weakest unit on the team. Gerry Staley was much better in his first season in the majors than either Burkhart or Wilks even with limited appearances, so he may garner more innings this time around. Ken Johnson is also available after not giving up an earned run in ten innings of work last year. Nine of those came in a complete game one-hitter in the second-to-last game of the season. With a stacked rotation, he will still be used mostly out of the bullpen.Outlook: St. Louis has won the World Series in each of the last three even year seasons. Perhaps it is a coincidence, but the Cardinals have a very good shot at keeping this streak alive with the best all-around team in the league. Catchers and the bullpen are the only two weaknesses on the team, a fault most teams share across baseball. If Musial were still at first base, the Cardinals would undoubtedly have the best infield in baseball. Instead, he moves back to the outfield, meaning both parts of the defense in the field are very strong. The Cardinals also have several pitchers capable of winning 20 games, especially with this offense behind them. Last year, they scored more runs than the Dodgers and allowed significantly fewer than the pennant-winning Dodgers, suggesting bad luck was the biggest reason for their second place finish. Anything less than another pennant will be a disappointment for the best franchise in baseball this decade.