29-year old righty swinging 1B Albert Pujols is simply the best hitter in the National League and maybe all of baseball. He played in 148 games for the Cardinals last season and he was 187 for 524 (.357 avg, 1.115 OPS) with 100 runs scored, 37 homers and 116 RBIs. He also has improved defensively as he made only 6 errors in 144 games at 1B last season for the Cards. Pujols is a hitting machine as he has averaged 118.4 runs scored, 39.9 homers and 122.1 RBIs per season in his major league career. Expect another awesome season for the defending N.L. MVP as he is finally healthy after off season surgery.

27-year old lefty swinging Chris Duncan would probably play 1B if anything happened to Pujols. He played in 76 games for the Cardinals last season and he was 55 for 222 (.248 avg, .711 OPS) with 26 runs scored, 6 homers and 27 RBIs. Duncan has improved defensively as he didn’t make any errors last season in 21 games at 1B.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2009 SEASON: A+

The Cardinals will be going with the same catchers (Yadier Molina, Jason LaRue) that they went with in 2008 and that’s a good thing. 26-year old righty swinging Yadier Molina had a career year in 2008 and the Cardinals hope he can duplicate it with a bat in his hands. He played in 124 games for the Cardinals last season and he was 135 for 444 (.304 avg, .741 OPS) with 37 runs scored, 7 homers and 56 RBIs. It will be interesting to see if last season was a fluke or not with the bat as he has a career average of .262 with a .676 OPS in 529 games. However, Molina is a outstanding defensive catcher as he nailed 16 of 50 (32%) potential base stealers and Cards’ pitchers had a 4.22 throwing to him.

34-year old righty swinging Jason LaRue has some power but that’s his only tool as a hitter. He played in 61 games for the Cardinals last season and he was 35 for 164 (.213 avg, .644 OPS) with 17 runs scored, 4 homers and 21 RBIs. LaRue was also solid on defense nailing 5 of 18 (28%) potential basestealers last season and Cards’ pitchers had a 4.24 ERA throwing to him.

POTENTIAL GRADE FOR THE 2009 SEASON: B-

The Cardinals have released 33-year old lefty swinging 2B Adam Kennedy. He played in 115 games last season for the Cardinals and he was 95 for 339 (.280 avg, .693 OPS) with 42 runs scored, 2 homers, 36 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. Kennedy has now played in 1,227 games in his major league career and he is 1,117 for 4,054 (.276 avg, .717 OPS) with 516 runs scored, 57 homers, 423 RBIs and 136 stolen bases. This was a pretty lousy time to do this to Kennedy which shows just how much he fell out of favor with Cardinals’ management. He might have a hard time finding a team before the season starts.

The Cardinals lost a lot more than they picked up this winter. The only real position player the Cardinals have added over the winter is shortstop Khalil Greene. Greene should benefit big time by playing half of his games in St. Louis instead of San Diego. The price was right for him and he will help the team as long as he can stay healthy. The Cardinals will be depending on Tony LaRussa and pitching coach Dave Duncan to work miracles with the bullpen which will be very, very young. The Cardinals have brought in four free agent lefties to battle for likely two jobs this spring. They are Trever Miller, Charlie Manning, Katsuhiko Maekawa and Royce Ring.

OFF SEASON GRADE FOR THE CARDINALS: D-

Troy Glaus has underwent shoulder surgery that could cause him to miss at least all of April. He played in 151 games for the Cardinals last season and he was 147 for 544 (.270 avg, .855 OPS) with 69 runs scored, 27 homers and 99 RBIs. 25-year old righty swinging rookie David Freese would likely be the starter at 3B until Glaus is ready ot return to action. Freese played in 131 games in AAA-ball last season and he was 142 for 464 (.306 avg, .911 OPS) with 83 runs scored, 26 homers, 91 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. Even if Freese plays decent while Glaus is out the Cardinals will likely miss his power bat and defense.