Who's been the more pleasant surprise?

[Kingdom]

All pen related matters aside, you know it's just going to happen, some cast off or journeyman lands in St. Louis and lives up to expectations he once had. At some point, Dallas McPherson must wish he could go to the cardinals. It's a great thing really, when players can succeed after most had given up on them. Right now, the cardinals lineup is literally chalked full of those types of players, surrounding Albert Pujols.

You look at the successes of: Rick Ankiel, Skip Schumaker, Ryan Ludwick, Aaron Miles, Troy Glaus, Kyle Lohse, Ryan Franklin (till he became the full time closer), and Todd Wellemeyer and have to believe in whatever the coaches are preaching over there. And it's not just this year. You should remember the work Jeff Weaver did in the playoffs for them. Or how good Matt Morris was for them, and no one else. They got Darryl Kile to re discover his stuff after the nightmarish time spent with the rockies. And plenty of other examples.


Miles: hitting .314, proving you can hit outside of Coors

Ankiel: from heralded rookie pitcher, to complete failure, to power hitting outfielder with a golden cannon, hitting 22 homeruns with a .543 slugging

Schumaker: no idea who this guy is and where he came from, but he's hitting .302, 114 hits, 8 steals, .362 obp as the leadoff man

Ludwick: guy who played with half a million teams ends up an allstar with 27 homeruns, 78 rbis, and a .600 plus slugging

Glaus: finally rebounding after down years in Toronto, 19 homeruns, 62 walks, and 74 rbis later..

Lohse: isn't this what the twins once envisioned? 3.73 era, 13-3 record

Wellemeyer: once a cubs reliever, now 8-4 with a 4.01 era and pitched very well against the phillies just this weekend

Franklin: recent struggles aside, he was an excellent regular reliever, posting a 3.04 era in 2007 and had a sub 3 era for most of the year, maybe not the closer type but certainly proved to be a successful basic reliever



Odds on favorite would likely be Ludwick or Ankiel. With Ankiel, you know his story very well and now you cannot deny the power he has to hit behind Pujols, Ludwick, and Glaus. Those four together likely didn't make anyone think twice, and it's probably not a four headed monster you'd imagine ever.. even being a monster. But it's been a pretty damn dangerous middle of the lineup. As for Ludwick, everyone should be discovering his story now. Definition of a journeyman, finally sticks in St. Louis and largely carried the cardinals when Pujols went down with an injury earlier this season. So with these guys, as well as Miles and Schumaker hitting over .300 and Yadier Molina doing the same, it might be one of the best offenses in the league, but would you have ever thought of saying that about their lineup at the start of the year?

[CrazyEights]

All pen related matters aside, you know it's just going to happen, some cast off or journeyman lands in St. Louis and lives up to expectations he once had. At some point, Dallas McPherson must wish he could go to the cardinals. It's a great thing really, when players can succeed after most had given up on them. Right now, the cardinals lineup is literally chalked full of those types of players, surrounding Albert Pujols.

Cardinal fans are very used to that when it comes to pitching, because it has been happening ever since Dave Duncan arrived in the Lou. You mentioned some examples such as Weaver and Kile. There are so many others. Such as Kent Bottenfield... a journeyman reliever most of his career. The Cardinals put him in the rotation, and in 1999 his record was 18-7 with a 3.97 ERA. The Angels were so impressed that they sent Jim Edmonds to St. Louis for him. Apparently, on his way to Anaheim, Kent Bottenfield must have been cured of his amnesia and realized that he is still Kent Bottenfield. His ERA was never below 5.00 for an entire season again. There are so many more examples on Dave Duncan's resume going back to his days witht he Oakland A's with one of the biggest examples being Dave Stewart.

Now to answer your question. Who has been the most pleasant surprise? Well, there were a lot of expectations that Ankiel would hit like he did at the end of last season, but I don't think it was expected that his defence in CF would be as good as it has been. Ryan Ludwick seemed to come out of nowhere. He signed as a minor league free agent, and really had no expectation. Ludwick has been the most pleasant surprise IMO.