I believe the Cardinals have 5 of the top 100 players in MLB farm systems. All of them have a chance of sticking with the “big club” this year.

And if Mozeliak sees he needs to make a deal to strengthen the team, he has plenty to bargain with.

However, it is a bit ill-thought out:

1. The Cardinals were missing Chris Carpenter for all but a few games last year, and they still managed a second wild card spot.

2. They had the same issues at short for most of last year. Granted, Kozma’s unpredictable performance in August was a huge boost when Furcal finally went down for the count, but St. Louis has had a weak middle infield for a couple of seasons while waiting for the farm system to catch up. It’s nothing new, just an irritating thing Cardinals fans wish would be fixed quicker. Cedano at least can play the position (unlike Daniel Descalso last season), as can Ryan Jackson, who really needs the opportunity to prove he can play in the majors with the prospect crunch in Memphis.

3. It looks bad that this posted after Drew’s post that Shelby Miller has been cleared to throw off (basically, he’s fine).

4. No mention of Joe Kelly doing a solid job filling for an injured Jamie Garcia last season? That’s right…the Cardinals were down two starters last year, and still were contending for the playoffs. They still have Kelly, Miller and Rosenthal are about as close as you can get to being ready for the rotation, and at least four pitchers will be ready for call-ups in Memphis (the aforementioned Martinez and Wacha, along with Tyler Lyons and John Gast).

5. If David Freese goes down, either Matt Carpenter or Daniel Descalso can play the position. Descalso is also the incumbent 2B, with Kolten Wong and Greg Garcia in Memphis in case things go horribly awry.

6. For the past few seasons, the Cardinals have shown that they’re more comfortable making necessary moves during the season rather than loading up in the off-season. The only way this analysis makes any kind of sense is if you assume St. Louis is done acquiring needed players until 2014.

Every team has to deal with potential injuries, and the Cardinals are obviously a team that is vulnerable to it given some of the aging key players on their team. But if you’re going to write a piece on the problems with their depth, you should at least look at the team’s full depth, especially since St. Louis has been boosted by reinforcements from their farm system for a couple of seasons now. And you should at least acknowledge how they’ve dealt with similar issues in the past, especially since that two of the players that seemed to have spurred this piece (C. Carpenter and Furcal) were lost for nearly the entirety or large chunks of last season.

If you supposedly have “pop” you’d better be slugging better than .375, which is what “Wiggy” put up last year, when he was one year younger and playing half his games in a hitter’s park.

*throws bar of soap used to prepare head for wearing beaver as a hat*

And Scutaro got a 3 year contract as a 37 year old. Maybe he’ll earn that value but still, it’s not an investment I’d want my team to make.

In action in FA is usually the best action, because most FA signings are horrible over-pays….almost by definition, signing a FA is paying premium prices to buy into a declining market.

Yes, their MIF is in bad shape….but who were the upgrades?

Scutaro? Seriously? A 37 yr old MIF whose defense is now below average is probably a downgrade over what they have…especially when the guy was looking for a multiple year deal, he can really only play 2B now, and Kolten Wong seems destined to be ready to contribute this year.

Kelly Johnson? A 30 yr old 2B that has had one good season since 2008?

The SS options out there are thin. Drew would have been a solid signing on a 1 or 2 year deal….but again, he wouldn’t be a huge upgrade, and his ankle issues make his defense going forward a huge question mark.

If you look around and there aren’t any viable upgrade options, you don’t make moves just to make moves…..of course, you also don’t waste roster spots on guys like Wiggington and Cedeno either.