Garcia was the first to take the hill this spring, throwing three scoreless innings with no hits, one walk and three strikeouts Saturday.

On Sunday McClellan tossed three impressive innings, allowing one hit, no runs and no walks while striking out four. Hill followed him to the mound and gave up a solo home run in his two innings but also didn’t walk anyone, struck out a pair and got three of his other four outs on groundballs.

On Friday, we will see McClellan and Hill battle head-to-head again, as this time Hill will get the start and McClellan will come on for him in relief.

At this point, I get the sense that Garcia isn’t under serious consideration for the final spot in the rotation, no matter how well he pitches. The team is concerned about putting that much pressure on him as a 23-year-old that missed most of last year while recovering from Tommy John surgery. I think that while Garcia could certainly handle a rotation spot right now, it’s probably the best course of action to put him at Triple-A to begin the year. There’s no reason to rush him when you have a couple of potential viable arms to choose from in McClellan and Hill. Garcia’s time will come.

I think right now you have to peg McClellan as the early favorite to come away with the No. 5 gig. Manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan in particular seem enamored with what Kyle can offer as a starter. Personally I would really like to see Hill win the job. He would give the team a left-hander in the rotation and almost surely offers more upside than McClellan. But let’s say McClellan does win the spot. Who would replace him in the bullpen?

From the right side, Ryan Franklin, Jason Motte, Mitchell Boggs and Blake Hawksworth are almost surely locked into spots. Hill could stick around as a long man out of the bullpen, but even if he does there’s another spot open.

Josh Kinney would be the overwhelmin favorite for that final spot. Kinney pitched well Sunday in his first action of the spring, striking out two in a spotless inning. After dealing with health and performance issues the last two years, it appears Kinney is approaching this spring the right way. It’s unlikely we will see him return to what he was in 2006 during the regular season and in the playoffs, but if he can come close to that, that would be a big boost to the bullpen.

Obviously the game was quite ugly, particularly from a pitching standpoint, but what do you expect when you are throwing names like MacLane and Zink out to the hill?

There were some bright spots:

• Ryan Ludwick had an opposite field homer and a double, driving in three runs. The wind was really carrying out to right field, but Luddy’s ball likely would have gone out without any aid.
• Joe Mather ripped a double off the wall and also had an RBI single. His offensive day was muted somewhat by an error that led to a run, as well as a poor throw to second base that resulted in a botched pick-off play. Still, if Mather is going to make this club, it will be on the strength of his bat, and he is off to a great start.
• Jon Jay had an RBI single. It was his only hit in four at-bats, but still, a solid start.
• Mark Hamilton had a double and a pair of walks. He has no shot at making the opening day roster and is probably more valuable to the Cardinals as potential trade bait at some point if he can put together another good year at Memphis.
• Daniel Descalso was 2-for-2 with two runs scored. Like Hamilton, he has no shot of making the club, but it was a nice day for Dan.

Enjoy.

Consensus picks

Brewers: 3rd (2.8 average)

Astros: 5th (5.3 average)

Cardinals: 1st (1.3 average)

Cubs: 4th (2.7 average)

Pirates: 6th (5.7 average)

Reds: 3rd (3.2 average)

Consensus picks

MVPNP (Not Pujols): Ryan Braun (unanimous)

Cy Young: No consensus (two votes each for Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright)

ROY: Alcides Escobar

Newcomer: No consensus (two votes each for Randy Wolf and Xavier Nady)

Consensus picks

C: No consensus (three votes each for Yadier Molina and Geovany Soto)

1B: Albert Pujols (unanimous)

2B: Brandon Phillips

3B: Aramis Ramirez

SS: Alcides Escobar (unamimous)

LF: Ryan Braun (unanimous)

CF: Andrew McCutchen

RF: Jay Bruce

SP: No consensus (two votes each for Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright)

RP: No consensus (three votes each for Carlos Marmol and Trevor Hoffman)

This is a solid, low-risk move by GM John Mozeliak. Lopez had few options, and Mo knew it, and he got his man cheaply. It’s possible Lopez will challenge David Freese for the third base job, but I think he’ll do nothing more than keep Freese on his toes as far as third base goes. However, if Freese does struggle after the first month or two, the Cardinals will have a less than ideal but capable option behind him.

He is nice insurance for Brendan Ryan at shortstop, however. Yes, Lopez is a horrible defensive shortstop, but he’s got a nice bat and he an Julio Lugo should be able to handle short more than adequately should Ryan’s recovery from wrist surgery linger on longer than expected. Lopez will also likely see a lot of starts at second base against left-handed pitching, pushing Skip Schumaker, who really struggles against southpaws, to the bench in these instances.

With Felipe aboard, Ruben Gotay’s and Tyler Greene’s chances at a roster spot just diminished severely.

Update: Ken Rosenthal has reported that Lopez will receive just $1 million in base salary, with $1.2 million more in “easily reached incentives.”

David Freese is the favorite to win the starting job at third base.

Allen Craig is coming off a terrific year at Triple-A and is attempting to claim a bench role and provide some thunder off the bench.

Jon Jay doesn’t have the thunder of Freese or Craig but is a potentially high average hitter, bats left-handed and can play all three outfield positions.

Then there is Joe Mather.

Who?

Yeah, that guy. You forgot he was still around, didn’t you?

Mather is coming off a lost 2009 season in which he dealt with major left wrist problems that eventually required surgery. It was the third such procedure Mather had on the wrist in a year’s time, and he batted only .188 in 202 at-bats before and after the surgery.

But it’s easy to forget what Mather did in 2008 at Triple-A Memphis and with the Cardinals. He hit .303 with 17 homers, 41 RBI and seven steals in just 211 at-bats at Memphis and provided some pop in his time with the Cards, as well, hitting eight homers in 133 at-bats.

The year before that was Mather’s breakout season, the first year he spent above Single-A despite the fact that he was drafted all the way back in 2001. That season he hit a combined .271 with 31 homers, 77 RBI and 10 steals between Double- and Triple-A.

Mather is saying that he is no longer limited by the wrist and that he wants to win the third base job. Given that he hasn’t played more than three games at the hot corner in any season since 2002, that appears to be an extreme longshot. However, Mather certainly has a good shot at coming away with a bench role.

I said in a previous post that I felt it would likely come down to Mather or Craig for a roster spot, as they were similar players that played the same positions. But that’s not necessarily the case. In fact, as I re-evaluate things, there is probably a good chance both make the team. As manager Tony La Russa says, there are only three outfielders guaranteed to make the roster, and those three, of course, are starters Matt Holliday, Colby Rasmus and Ryan Ludwick.

Five outfielders will almost surely make the opening day roster, so it might depend on how much La Russa wants another left-handed hitter on the bench. If the switch-hitting Ruben Gotay and the left-handed hitting Jay don’t make the team, and no one is signed, then Rasmus and Skip Schumaker would be the only left-handed hitters on the squad.

My early prediction is that Mather, Craig and Gotay earn bench spots along with Jason LaRue and Julio Lugo.

Today we’ll be looking at hitting prospect Allen Craig.

Craig was taken in the eighth round of the 2006 draft out of the University of California. As you can see, he has basically risen a level each year, and he’s hit well, in some cases quite well, at each level.

What is not included in the numbers above is where Craig has played defensively, which has been everywhere on the diamond but pitcher, catcher and center field.

It’s usually not a good indicator of your defensive prowess (or lack thereof) when you’ve been moved all over the field like Craig has, and it’s true that he is known for the bat, not the glove. The four games of middle infield action he saw was in his first year, and the Cardinals might be better off putting Yadier Molina at either of those positions over Craig. And while he has played far more games at third base than any other position, he’s viewed as a well below average defender there, as well. To his credit (sort of), Craig has rated as an average defender in the outfield.

The fact that he has played so many different positions (albeit not well) could bode well for Craig’s chances at landing an opening day roster spot, as we all know how much Tony La Russa values versatility. But the bottom line is that Craig’s value is going to come from his bat.

Not only did his final numbers from last season stand out, but Craig simply murdered the ball in the second half to the tune of a .405 average, 18 home runs and 51 RBI in just 195 at-bats (that’s a homer for every 10.8 at-bats, for those who are counting).

If he can hit as well as he did last spring (.444/.531/.667 in 27 at-bats), Craig stands an excellent chance to make the club as a backup at the corner outfield and infield spots. The Cardinals seem poised to go with a young bench, with Craig, Joe Mather and Jon Jay all having real shots at winning a roster spot.

It would be a bit of a surprise if both Craig and Mather made the team, as they are pretty similar players both offensively and where they can play on the diamond. Jay’s chances of winning a spot are increased by the fact that he hits left-handed and can play center field (though Mather has played a bit of center in the minors, too).

Today we’ll be looking at starter prospect Jaime Garcia.

The Cardinals found a steal in the 22nd round of the 2005 draft in Garcia, who was thought to be a hard sign when the team selected him. But the Cards did sign him and had him bypass rookie ball, sending the left-hander  straight to Low-A. They have watched him develop into arguably the organization’s best pitching prospect.

Elbow problems have hindered Garcia’s path to the big leagues. He dealt with elbow soreness late in the 2007 season and was shut down early. In 2008, he had soreness off and on but pitched through it and made it up to the majors for a cup of coffee. However, he eventually underwent Tommy John surgery in September, which caused him to miss most of the 2009 season.

Garcia has two plus pitches in a low-90s, sinking fastball and a 12-to-6 curveball. His control and command can leave him at times, but some feel that was the result of pitching with pain in his elbow. Based on his K/BB ratio of nearly 3.0 last year, perhaps those thoughts are well-founded.

One statistic that’s missing from the chart above is Garcia’s groundball rate. In his minor league career it’s been an impressive 58.7%, and in his brief stint in the majors it was an even better 60.8%. Garcia generates a lot of ground balls, and when you combine that with his ability to get strikeouts, you’ve got something. It doesn’t hurt that he’s left-handed, either.

Garcia will enter spring training with a chance to claim the final spot in the starting rotation, with his primary combatants being Kyle McClellan and Rich Hill. I have maintained that unless a guy like Eduardo Sanchez pitches his way onto the roster or the team signs someone like Kiko Calero or Russ Springer that McClellan will head back to the bullpen. Hill is an interesing project for Dave Duncan, as he’s had nice upside in the past.

The team has expressed a desire not too push Garcia to much, which makes since given that he is coming off Tommy John surgery and won’t turn 24 until July. I would be just fine with sending him back to Triple-A to start the season, particularly if he’s out-pitched in spring training by either McClellan or Hill, but I think the odds are good that Jaime will have an integral role on this team before the 2010 season comes to a close.

“He went into the offseason thinking it would go away with rest, and it didn’t,” GM John Mozeliak said. “He ended up having a very benign ’scope’ done on his wrist. … He’ll be limited at the beginning of camp. He won’t be swinging a bat for three weeks now.”

It’s really frustrating when a player waits this far into the offseason to have the operation (pitchers and catcher report in just over a week), but evidently Ryan was thinking the pain in his wrist would go away. Didn’t we hear the same thing about Troy Glaus and his shoulder?

The bright side is that this procedure seemed to be very minor. Also, wrist surgery would seem to be a much bigger concern for someone who relies on power, which Ryan obviously does not. Still, Ryan being ready for opening day isn’t a certainty. If he does have to spend time on the DL at the start of the year, Julio Lugo would take over at shortstop, and Tyler Greene’s chances of winning a roster spot would be greatly enhanced. This also probably means there is a better chance the team brings Felipe Lopez aboard.

With Skip now under contract, the team doesn’t have an arbitration cases.

Here are a few quotes taken from the Post-Dispatch from Schumaker regarding the deal:

• “It’s huge for me to go into spring training and have it done. I didn’t want it to be a case where I got there and everybody is talking about how I’m not signed, how nothing is done and how we’re headed to arbitration. Deep down, I wanted this to work out. I’m glad it worked out.”
• “We’ve been talking about it for the last month or so. There was a lot of back and forth. It never got heated. We were looking for a deal fair to both sides.”
• “The security is something I’ve been looking to get for my family. Going into this, I told my agent that I wanted a two-year deal because I wanted that kind of security.”
• “It was important for me to stay here… When you look at it, there is a core in place with this team. It’s something you want to be part of.”

GM John Mozeliak had the following to say:

• “We’re trying to accomplish a few things with this deal. We want to reward him for all he accomplished last year moving positions and give him the security he desires, and at the same time give ourselves some cost certainty for the next few seasons.”

Schumaker made the move from the outfield to second base last year. His defense as a whole, not surprisingly, was quite lackluster at his new position, but he did improve as the season went along and it’s not out of the question that he could develop into a league average defender there.

Skip’s offense wasn’t affected at all by the position switch, as he batted over .300 for the third straight season. He has hit .307 over that time, to go along with a solid .361 OBP. Schumaker improved against left-handers last year, hitting .220 after batting .168 against them the previous season. However, Julio Lugo is a career .270 hitter against southpaws and will likely draw most of the starts at second when a portsider is on the mound.

Not only did he provide value at second base last year (1.2 WAR), but Schumaker is also the only backup outfielder that’s a definite to make the opening day roster, so his flexibility is key.

First up is relief prospect Eduardo Sanchez.

Sanchez was signed out of Venezuela in 2006 as a 17-year-old. He struck out 38 batters in 31 innings that year, but that’s about all that went well, as he wound up with an 8.71 ERA and 2.29 WHIP. He’s made quite a rebound since then, though, which has allowed him to go from being unranked by Baseball America among Cardinals prospects all the way up to No. 6.

Over the last three seasons he has produced a combined ERA of 1.67 and WHIP of 1.00 to go along with a 9.8 K/9 rate. As you can see from the chart above, he was fantastic last year at High-A and after getting promoted to Double-A. Producing the kind of dominating numbers as he did at Double-A as a 20-year-old was quite a feat.

The slight of frame (5-foot-11, 155 pounds) Sanchez has the stuff to match the results, with a fastball that can reach the upper 90s  and sits comfortably in the mid 90s, as well as a hard-biting curveball. Unlike other high-upside Cardinals relief prospects like Francisco Samuel and Adam Reifer, Sanchez generally knows where the ball is going after it leaves his hand (though he could still stand to develop his control further).

I think Sanchez will be the most interesting guy to watch this spring. It may be a a longshot, but if he pitches well this spring, I could see him breaking camp with the team. The Cardinals have some recent history of relievers skipping over Triple-A and starting the season in the big leagues following a strong spring training (see Kyle McClellan in 2008).

Sanchez has made such a fast rise through the organizational ranks in one year that we will need to see him duplicate his efforts again this season to know whether he is “for real” or not. If he is able to do just that, he ultimately profiles as the team’s likely “closer of the future.”

Could he possibly get a look in the ninth inning this season? I wouldn’t rule it out.

Ryan Franklin struggled mightily towards the end of last season and in the playoffs last year, and his career record of mediocrity pre-2009 means the team can’t be completely comfortable with him as the closer. Pitching coach Dave Duncan even said himself that he would like to see a late-inning reliever added this offseason to give Franklin some protection. That has yet to happen, and I think part of the reason why it hasn’t is because the front office thinks Sanchez could be that protection. Jason Motte, unless he develops a viable second offering, isn’t the solution.

Another reason why tracking Sanchez this spring will be interesting is because he could directly affect what the team does with McClellan. Kyle will be tried out as a starter this spring, and if Sanchez pitches well enough to be on the squad, I think that enhances the odds that McClellan wins the final spot in the team’s rotation.