33-year old switch-hitting SS Rafael Furcal has played in 18 games for the Cardinals so far this year and he is 16 for 74 (.216 avg, .632 OPS) with 11 runs scored, 2 homers and 6 RBIs. He has now played in 55 games for the Cardinals & Dodgers so far this year and he is 43 for 211 (.204 avg, .559 OPS) with 26 runs scored, 3 homers, 18 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. Despite his slow start, the Cardinals are going to stick with Furcal because when he’s in a groove at the plate he is still a good hitter, which he proved last year.

The St. Louis Cardinals have sent 27-year old righty swinging infielder Tyler Greene to AAA. Greene played in 49 games for the Cardinals this year and he was 20 for 101 (.198 avg, .575 OPS) with 17 runs scored, 1 homer, 9 RBIs and 8 stolen bases. His 8 stolen bases leads the Cardinals this year. Greene has now played in 141 games in his first three years with the Cardinals and he is 67 for 313 (.214 avg, .609 OPS) with 40 runs scored, 5 homers, 26 RBIs and 13 stolen bases. Greene deserved to get sent to the minors and he will there unless he starts showing some signs of life with a bat in his hands.

31-year old righty swinging 1B Albert Pujols is in his free agent walk year. Many “experts” predicted that Pujols was going to have a year for the Ages so he could really get paid. It seems like the pressure might be getting to him though. He has played in 25 games so far this May and he is 28 for 98 (.286 avg, .718 OPS) with 10 runs scored, 1 homer, 10 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Overall this year, Pujols has played in 52 games in which he is 54 for 204 (.265 avg, .739 OPS) with 31 runs scored, 8 homers, 28 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. Those aren’t awful numbers, but they aren’t typical numbers that are by Albert Pujols’ name on the stat sheet. After all, Pujols has career lows of a .312 batting average, a .955 OPS, 99 runs scored, 32 homers and 103 RBIs! Pujols isn’t going to get the mega 10-year contract he wants unless he rips the ball the last four months of this year.

31-year old righty swinging 1B Albert Pujols is off to a slow start for the Cardinals. He has played in 9 games for the Cardinals so far this year and he is 5 for 35 (.143 avg, .454 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 1 homer, 4 RBIs and 1 stolen base. But, it’s not like Pujols isn’t hitting the ball as he has only whiffed 3 times so far this year. Matt Holliday is coming back any day now, so Pujols will have some help in the lineup. Coming into this season, Pujols played in 1,558 games in his first 10 years with the Cardinals and he is 1,900 of 5,733 (.331 avg, 1.050 OPS) with 1,186 runs scored, 408 homers, 1,230 RBIs and 75 stolen bases. So, I wouldn’t panic over Pujols’ slow start as he could go bonkers with the bat at any time.

28-year old righty swinging shortstop Brendan Ryan is a solid defensive player but his bat is going to earn him a spot on the Cardinals’ bench. He has played in 99 games for the Cardinals this year and he is 69 of 310 (.223 avg, .583 OPS) with 34 runs scored, 2 homers, 22 RBIs and 8 stolen bases. Ryan will likely be headed to the bench now that the Cardinals have traded for Pedro Feliz to take over as the starter at 3B. That means that the current 3B (Felipe Lopez) will move to SS bumping Ryan to the bench. Ryan has no one to blame but himself for losing his starting gig.