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The Cardinals were ready to write last year off and return to powerhouse status. But a lot has gone wrong over the offseason. Not only could they not sign Albert Pujols, but , ace Adam Wainwright blew out his elbow two weeks ago and had season-ending Tommy John Surgery.
Suddenly, St. Louis has some major obstacles to overcome it if wants to return to the playoffs.
That said, you cant just write the Cardinals off, Pujols is going to be playing for a contract which could be downright scary for the rest of the league and with Matt Holiday and Lance Berkman in the lineup there is a lot of pop available.
So maybe the Cardinals can hit their way into contention, but its going to be tough with the loss of Wainwright to hold this pitching staff together. Dave Duncan has worked miracles with staffs in the past, but this may just be asking too much. When two of your four main starters are Jake Westbrook, and Kyle Lohse you have some major issues. The Cardinals are now left with young Jaime Garcia and Chris Carpenter followed by a lot of prayers.
What does this mean for the Cardinals? That leaves the Cards at best around 80 wins which is not going to get it done in a tough NL Central good for around 3rd or 4th place and out of the playoffs.
Video: Fox Sports previews the 2011 Cardinals season:
