The Chicago Cubs are aiming to bounce back after consecutive disappointing seasons, and after an offseason full of spending and retooling, the team is preparing to answer some tough questions as they gather in Arizona for spring training.
As the Cardinals prepare for their annual Florida migration starting with Monday's departure of moving trucks crammed full of baseball stuff, I find myself wondering about how one key piece of second-year manager Oli Marmol's lineup will return to St. Louis. Last season, the Cardinals headed to camp pledging to use the designated hitter role to create more opportunities for internal options. Left-handed hitting Corey Dickerson became a league-average hitter who started slow and was not always healthy. Right-handed hitting Albert Pujols became, well, Albert Pujols.
Why does it seem like the Cardinals never sell off core players, never strip down the roster to rebuild? “We never have since I've been here,” said Cardinals team president John Mozeliak, who joined the team in the scouting department after the 1995 season. “Our fans don't want to win,” Mozeliak said. Whether fans in St. Louis actually demand more than fans in these parts, Cardinals management for decades has at least paid more than lip service to the so-called culture they claim — the kind of culture Cubs bosses Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer vowed to create when they took over in Chicago 11 years ago.
No | Player | Pos |
---|---|---|
92 | P | |
22 | P | |
65 | P | |
56 | P | |
12 | P | |
43 | P | |
52 | P | |
32 | P | |
39 | P | |
48 | P | |
81 | P | |
70 | P | |
64 | P | |
53 | P | |
58 | P | |
59 | P | |
30 | P | |
18 | P | |
57 | P | |
34 | P | |
50 | P | |
61 | P | |
44 | P | |
60 | P |
No | Player | Pos |
---|---|---|
40 | C | |
47 | C | |
7 | C |
No | Player | Pos |
---|---|---|
28 | 3B | |
11 | SS | |
33 | 2B | |
19 | SS | |
46 | 1B | |
16 | 2B |
No | Player | Pos |
---|---|---|
84 | RF | |
3 | CF | |
36 | LF | |
21 | RF | |
27 | LF | |
13 | LF |