New Season all around

Well after our off-season that lasted a whole 189 days I figured it's time to get back in the swing of things....especially with the Cardinals opening day a mere 3 days away!!
The Cardinal's off-season was one of change. Some of you may view it as good change others maybe thing they were changes that will doom the organization. The first move was to "relieve" Walt Jocketty of his GM duties. WJ has long been considered one of the better GM's in the game and when the news first came out I thought it was a big mistake. But after looking at where the club had gone in the past few years it was apparent that a change at the top was probably the best choice. Under WJ's direction we did win a World Series, but we also found the team with little to no farm system and a few aging players with lengthy contracts. So thank you for bringing in so great players WJ, but it really was time to move on.
The next change came as we watched two fan favorites leave, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds. To many fans Scott Rolen had lost his "fan favorite" title. The guy no doubt played in pain, and he is still one of the best 3B in the game. But this is the second time that he was traded due to conflicts with his manager. In no way am I saying LaRussa had no fault in the feud between the two, in fact I felt Tony did a HORRIBLE job during the winter meetings when he called Rolen out. But it was time for both of those guys to go. Jimmy was one of my favorite Cardinals in a long time. The guy played all out all the time which is why he is so banged up at the end of his career.
So those three moves alone meant that the Cardinals had changed directions. They were going to go younger. With the dismissal of WJ, who has always been one that liked veteran players more then the youngsters, the organization was making a statement that they were going to try to build up a sorry excuse for a farm system. And in many ways that has already happened. With guys like Colby Rasmus and Chris Perez the Memphis team seems pretty stacked this year (at least compared to years past). The trade of Edmonds opened up a huge hole in the outfield. But it also meant that much younger players, with more upside, were going to get a chance to play on a more regular basis. And the trade of Rolen just meant that we got out of $11 mil in 2010.
All in all as scared as I was about this team at the end of last year. That fear has turned into curiosity. When will Rasmus get the call? How long with Tony stick with the coaches son before finally putting Barton in? When will our other starting 5 be back? Think about this folks....Clement, Piniero, Mulder and Carpenter. That's a solid 1-4 a few years ago!! ;) How long before Ryan takes over at SS? And perhaps the most troubling question for us Cardinals fans....how long will we have Pujols for this year??
Stay tuned.....it's going to be interesting.