St. Louis Cardinals 2014 Season Preview

Offseason Additions: SS Jhonny Peralta, CF Peter Bourjos, 2B Mark Ellis, OF Randal Grichuk, OF Rafael Ortega, OF Joey Butler.

Offseason Subtractions: SP Chris Carpenter (retired), RF Carlos Beltran, SP Jake Westbrook, SS Rafael Furcal, 3B David Freese, RP Fernando Salas. RP Edward Mujica, RP John Axford, C Rob Johnson, 1B Brock Peterson.

Point team prediction: 90-95 win range, 1st place

They have one of the best pitching staffs in the National League with Adam Wainwright, Jaime Garcia, Michael Wacha, Shelby Miller as the top four. And for the fifth spot you have Lance Lynn, Carlos Martinez, Tyler Lyons, and Joe Kelly all trying to win the fifth spot. The bullpen is still strong, even if Carlos Martinez were to win the last spot in the rotation. The only question for the bullpen, would be Jason Motte. Only because he's coming off of Tommy John surgery, but he'll be set up man for closer Trevor Rosenthal. Rosenthal did well after taking over as closer last season and seems like that's where he's best as.

Infield defense should be improved with Matt Carpenter at his normal position in third-base and Kolten Wong at his normal position second-base. Peter Bourjos if fully healthy (hasn't been since 2011) could steal 30-40 bases. No one really knows about Bourjos because he hasn't been healthy since then. But in 2011, he led the AL in triples with Austin Jackson. Wong has the potential to steal 15-25. So the Cardinals should be able to steal more bases in the running game. I know manager Mike Matheny has been wanting to use the running game more. Now Matheny has that change to run more.

Fantasy Stud: Yadier Molina

One of the best offensive catchers in baseball, put up new career highs in hits, rbi's and batting average in the 2013 season. There's even some talk of Molina being a future Hall Of Fame player. Could that happen? Maybe if he keeps putting up numbers. I know last season Johnny Bench even praised Molina last season.

Rookie to watch for: Oscar Taveras, if he makes the team out of Spring Training or even starts out at Memphis first. He's said to best hitting prospect that the Cardinals have had since Albert Pujols.