The Cardinals’ rotation consists of Chris Carpenter, Kip Wells, Anthony Reyes, Adam Wainwright, and some combination of Mark Mulder, Brad Thompson, and Ryan Franklin. Why is this any worse than rotations of past excellent Cardinal teams? I think Thompson is quite underrated and could be one of the league’s better fifth starters. Health/durability risks will require depth, which I think the Cardinals have.
Still, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch mentions the Cardinals will "sift through the trade market this spring." Trade candidates include Jon Lieber, Brad Penny, and Carl Pavano. I assume the Cards wouldn’t have interest in Mark Hendrickson. I suppose if they could snag Liebs or Pavano for a couple of autographed Fernando Tatis jerseys, it’s worth it. But the Cards don’t really have a surplus of anything to use to acquire a front-line guy like Penny.
