2009 outlooks: St. Louis Cardinals

A mark of a great player is one that lifts the game of everyone around him. That description matches Sir Albert Pujols to a T, as in a St. for St. Louis.

The Cardinals annually get more out of less, save for the perennial MVP exploits of the most consistent Fantasy Baseball slugger of this or any generation. There is no one in the game that lifts everyone around him more than Pujols, a sure-fire Fantasy first-rounder with a great case to be picked No. 1 overall.

Look at what Pujols did for Ryan Ludwick, one of the biggest breakthrough Fantasy players of the year. All Ludwick did was hit .299 with 37 homers, 113 RBI, 104 runs, a .375 on-base percentage and a .591 slugging percentage. How in the world did that happen for the 30-year-old late-bloomer?

We credit Pujols. Ludwick hit .339 with a .407 on-base percentage and a .701 slugging percentage in the two-hole in front of Pujols. Basically, hitting in front of Pujols turned Ludwick into Barry Bonds. Amazing.

Pujols is such a dominant player, we might consider him the reason also for the surprising seasons of pitchers Kyle Lohse, Todd Wellemeyer and Braden Looper, who leaves via free agency. But, renown pitching coach Dave Duncan is the man behind those breakthroughs. Duncan annually turns rag arms to riches.

He will try to coax a staff that may or may not have former ace Chris Carpenter after elbow surgery. Carpenter came back from Tommy John surgery last year, only to be shut down early again for nerve tranposition surgery. He expects to be ready to go as long as his 32-year-old shoulder cooperates this spring.

A player we have no doubts will be ready is Pujols, who had that same nerve transposition after the season. His Fantasy owners -- and his teammates that rely on him -- are thankful he avoided the dreaded Tommy John variety.

Sleeper: Khalil Greene, SS

At age 27, Greene broke out with 27 homers, 97 RBI, 89 runs and a .468 slugging percentage -- all career highs. At age 28 last year, Greene was a mess, slumping to just .213-10-35-30-5. The rebuilding and cost-cutting Padres then dealt him to the Cardinals this winter, where he should find himself in a far more potent lineup and a much better hitter's park, especially with respect to homers. San Diego's Petco Park is death on hitters. St. Louis' park allowed the journeyman Ludwick to enjoy a 37-homer season at age 29. That, coincidentally, is Greene's age this year and we should see him return to being a top 15, perhaps a top 10 Fantasy option. He won't go off the board until at least 20 other shortstops are taken, so consider Greene an outstanding last-round pick in mixed leagues and a superb flier in NL-only formats.

Bust: Troy Glaus, 3B

We thought about making Ludwick the Cardinals' bust, but we didn't have the guts to do it. See, Rick Ankiel is returning from abdominal surgery and will be available to protect Pujols in the cleanup spot, possibly allowing Ludwick to go back where he started in the two-hole. Instead, our bust is the older and far more brittle Glaus, who suddenly required shoulder surgery this January. He woke up one day this winter and realized he was going to be this year's Travis Hafner, who had similar shoulder weakness a year ago. Glaus got his shoulder cleaned out and might still be available for opening day, but, if you follow this website and this writer in particular, you know shoulder injuries notoriously sap a slugger's power. We cannot be sure Glaus will ever be the same and advise you to just avoid him altogether on Draft Day.

Breakout: Adam Wainwright, SP

We have already mentioned Wainwright in our story on breakthrough 27-year-olds and ranked him No. 1 in our story on third-year starting pitchers. Yeah, we are pretty bullish on Wainwright becoming a big-time Fantasy ace. He is already valued among the top 30 starters to target on Draft Day, but the pitcher we once called the next Carpenter could be on the verge of a Cy Young-caliber season. He can be a relatively low-investment mound ace in the middle rounds on Draft Day. We project 15-8 with a 3.63, 154 strikeouts and a 1.28 WHIP, but if you could guarantee us a full season of health and 210 innings, we would think those are baseline numbers of what he is capable of doing.

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