Included in row order below are Allen Craig, Kyle McClellan, Kyle Lohse, David Freese, Carlos Beltran and Skip Schumaker.

The Cardinal Nation subscribers should check out on the main site where I loaded the comments from each of the above speakers. I did the same Saturday and Sunday as well. Over two dozen interviews are posted.

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Outfielder Allen Craig and infielder Daniel Descalso had made their major league debuts with the 2010 Cardinals, though neither had enough at-bats or time in the bigs to exhaust their rookie designation. On the other hand, outfielder Jon Jay had appeared in 105 games the season prior, but seemed destined to join Craig in a reserve role for the 2011 club. Descalso was projected by some to be ticketed for a return to Memphis.

As fate would have it, all three not only remained on the major league roster the entire 2011 season, they cemented their futures as big leaguers in the process and earned championship rings.

Craig, 27, had been up and down several times in 2010 after making the opening day roster. In spring training 2011, he batted .359 with 11 RBI and a share of the team lead with three home runs, making his St. Louis return an easy decision.

As Matt Holliday dealt with a series of minor maladies during the season, Craig received time in the outfield. He appeared in a couple of games at both infield corner spots and even was given an intriguing eight-game trial at second base.

His good fortune came to an end when he suffered a fractured right kneecap upon making a sliding catch in foul territory in Houston in early June. Craig missed over two months until his August 10 return to action.

When available to play, Craig offered a tantalizing power bat that could also hit for average. He knocked in 40 runs and homered 11 times in just 219 plate appearances. His slash line was .315/.362/.555. Projecting that return over a full season would cause excitement in anyone.

In the post-season, the right-handed batter launched four more home runs, including three in the World Series, and plated eight. Craig’s playoff OPS was a robust 1.013.

The knee problem from June lingered, however, and Craig needed a procedure to put stabilizing screws in his right kneecap shortly before Thanksgiving. He may miss as much of the first month of the 2012 season as a result of the recovery process.

The 2012 Cardinals had already needed additional outfield depth with the move of Lance Berkman to first base to replace Albert Pujols, but the uncertainty of Craig’s situation may have increased their urgency. Depending on the health of others on any given day during the coming season, Craig may start or be a super sub.

Descalso also performed well in spring training, batting .308. The 24-year-old had made his MLB debut the previous September. Descalso made a credible showing, which was a bit surprising since he was thrown in at third base, a position for which the natural second baseman had not been prepared.

Due to injuries to David Freese and projected top infield substitute Nick Punto, Descalso was pressed into semi-regular duty this season. The left-handed hitter ended up making 81 starts across third base (61), shortstop (11) and second base (nine) and appearing in 148 games in total.

His infield defense was considered steady and his bat was perhaps better than expected. Descalso’s line was .264/.334/.353 in 375 plate appearances. In the post-season, he was ready when called upon, going 3-for-9 (.333) and crossing home plate all three times.

Descalso is expected to report to 2012 camp with a chance to earn the starting second base job. He could be a platoon starter there or serve as the club’s top infield reserve, the role for which Punto was intended last year.

If I had asked who played in the most regular-season contests for the 2011 Cardinals, how many of you would have guessed Jay, at 159 of the 162 possible games?

Despite hitting just .221 in Florida, Jay tied Pujols for the club’s spring lead with 14 RBI and also made his first opening day roster in 2011. As the ups – and especially downs – of Colby Rasmus’ play became more extreme, Jay began to see more and more time.

On the day Rasmus was dealt to Toronto, July 27, Jay was batting .311 with an OPS of .801. His defense in center was steady, easing some of the concern of trading Rasmus. Yet Jay’s offense dipped over the final two months. From July 28 through the end of the season, his line was .277/.320/.403/.724.

In the post-season, Jay struggled mightily. Over 63 plate appearances, his line was .182/.262/.218/.480. With typically better numbers against right-handed batters, Jay is a potential platoon candidate going forward but if so, he would be on the busy side of the platoon.

As noted in the previous countdown article on young relievers, these then-unproven position players were key contributors to the Cardinals’ special 2011 season and should be around a long time into the future as well.

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For 2009-10, the Cardinals had that in shortstop Brendan Ryan, one of the game’s very best defenders. Yet the organization could not deal with Ryan’s personality and sent him packing last winter.

Shortstop Ryan Theriot had bounced from the Chicago Cubs to the Dodgers in 2010 and didn’t perform particularly well at either stop. Arbitration-eligible, he seemed destined to be non-tendered last fall. Instead, the Cardinals acquired him for reliever Blake Hawksworth and named Theriot their 2011 starting shortstop.

Theriot contributed some key hits for the Cardinals, but his defensive shortcomings became painfully obvious. Manager Tony La Russa initially refused to move Theriot to second base, perhaps because he felt he had no better options at short.

Solid-fielding veteran Nick Punto had been signed prior to last season and could have been a credible alternative to Theriot. The problem was that the former Minnesota Twin could not stay healthy, missing big chunks of the season during three disabled list stints.

On July 31, GM John Mozeliak made another deal with the Dodgers, this time shooting much higher in acquiring veteran shortstop Rafael Furcal.

The 34-year-old solidified the middle infield and served as the Cardinals’ new leadoff hitter. Furcal began slowly with the bat, with a .667 OPS in August before posting a strong .819 OPS in the final month of the season. He struggled in the post-season, with a paltry .569 OPS, but overall was considered a key ingredient in the World Series push.

An energetic performer and enthusiastic teammate, Furcal was re-signed by St. Louis for $14 million for the next two years in a deal announced ten days ago. With few obvious alternatives on the market, the Cardinals are considered by some to have overpaid.

Dogged by injuries in recent seasons, Furcal is no longer an offensive force. Once having stolen 46 bases in a season, his total dropped to nine in 2011. The switch-hitter’s on-base percentage of .316 as a Cardinal was 50 points lower than his .366 mark in Los Angeles the season prior. His career OBP is .348, with the overall annual trend downward.

The club’s main alternative at short is 28-year-old Tyler Greene, a strong performer in Triple-A. After three years of trials with the Cardinals, however, he has yet to prove he should remain in the bigs, let alone be given a starting job. Greene is out of option years, so would either need to stick in 2012 or his time in the organization may be over.

The two veteran middle infield reserves departed following the season. Theriot, again eligible for arbitration, was cut loose by the Cardinals earlier this month. Punto signed with Boston for 2012, doubling his Cardinals salary in the process. Essentially, their role on the team will be assumed by some combination of Furcal, Greene and Daniel Descalso.

For the five years following the Fernando Vina era, which ran from 2000-03, the Cardinals’ second base position was a revolving door of players on low-cost, short-term deals. Tony Womack, Mark Grudzelanek and Adam Kennedy each had their days, augmented by journeymen like Scott Spiezio and Aaron Miles to help hold down the fort.

That changed prior to the 2009 season when La Russa announced Skip Schumaker would become his team’s starting second baseman despite the outfielder’s lack of infield experience. After three years of maximum effort but below-average results defensively, the club seems ready to take another direction in 2012.

Descalso, a 25-year-old rookie in 2011, proved himself as a solid reserve at third base and second last season. If the left-handed hitter proves worthy in spring camp, he seems positioned to take over for Schumaker at second, his primary position as a minor leaguer.

In that scenario, Schumaker, also a left-handed batter, would probably spend more time as an outfield reserve. His roster spot was assured when the Cardinals rewarded him with a new, two-year contract announced earlier this month.

Though Allen Craig also saw action at second base in eight games last season, he would seemingly be considered more of an emergency option than a primary solution there.

Time still remains in the off-season for the Cardinals to acquire another second baseman either as a free agent or via trade, propelling Descalso into a utility infield role along with Greene. Still, given the club’s recent history of low-budget choices at second base, they may just as well decide to ride with what they have up the middle.

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For the first time in Tony La Russa’s three World Series since joining St. Louis, I am actually enthused by the opportunity for the use of the designated hitter. (Of course, this is required in the AL home parks.)

Based on past history, that would be a crazy thing to say. After all, in La Russa’s other two World Series with St. Louis, his designated hitters have been more than bad. They were a combined 1-for-14 (.071) with three walks and a whopping eight strikeouts.

In 2006, Scott Spiezio and Chris Duncan received the starts at DH. In the latter case, that pushed light-hitting So Taguchi into the starting lineup in left field. In 2004, Reggie Sanders and another weak-hitting infielder, Marlon Anderson, started as the designated hitter. The Cardinals lost three of the four DH games.

2011 offers promise, however. Allen Craig, a powerful bat, is ready to come off the bench. He can either play right field for Lance Berkman or more likely, become the designated hitter himself.

In fact, with his pinch-hit during Sunday night’s NLCS Game 6, Craig collected more RBI (two) than the aggregate of the Cardinals’ four games worth of World Series designated hitters this decade (one RBI in 17 plate appearances).

Beyond Craig, there are no other good DH candidates on the Cardinals roster. The latter part of that statement is one I recall making about the Cardinals’ options in the previous two Series – no solid DH candidates.

Here are the stats of who served as the DH in the past two World Series and how they fared.

Designated hitters, St. Louis Cardinals, World Series, since 1996

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Following Saturday’s signing of free agent outfielder Lance Berkman, St. Louis Cardinals General Manager John Mozeliak declared his 2011 club to essentially be in place. Here are a few of the players who may have impacted in the short term, either positively or negatively, by the moves made by the front office since the conclusion of the season.

Risers

Matt Carpenter. The system’s Player of the Year in 2010, named by both The Cardinal Nation and the Cardinals organization, appears set to become the starting third baseman for Triple-A Memphis in 2011.

With the addition of Berkman, Allen Craig was displaced from the starting outfield picture. Mozeliak announced the ex-minor league third baseman would be returned to his former position in spring camp, ostensibly to become the back up behind fragile David Freese.

If the Cardinals do not move to bring in other reinforcements at the hot corner and if a full-time replacement for Freese is needed during the season, Carpenter could find himself in the mix in St. Louis.

Fernando Salas. I am pretty sure Salas set a Cardinals record with six trips back and forth between St. Louis and Memphis as the extra bullpen man in 2010. Generally, the right-hander did a good job in his MLB introduction.

With the trade of Blake Hawksworth to the Dodgers for Ryan Theriot, a spot in the 2011 Cardinals pen has opened up. Salas would seem to be the favorite entering camp to seize that spot.

Fallers

Allen Craig. With the signing of Berkman, Craig went from the right-handed hitting part of a right field starting platoon to a reserve third baseman/outfielder. While it remains to be seen, my above comments about Carpenter indicate my skepticism that if a full-time third baseman would be needed in the event of a Freese injury that Craig would get that job.

Brendan Ryan. The acquisition of Theriot spelled the end of Ryan starting at shortstop. He does have limited experience playing at the other infield positions and could become a defensive-oriented super-sub if not traded.

Lance Lynn. The re-signing of Jake Westbrook killed off any non-injury hope of a Triple-A starter cracking the 2011 rotation, as did Jaime Garcia the spring prior. Recent vibes from the major league coaching staff indicate they do not consider Lynn ready for the unofficial “sixth starter” role, though that could change with consistent results on the mound.

Kyle McClellan. McClellan is a most important part of the bullpen, yet each spring the club holds open the promise of letting him be a starter, only to snatch it away from him every time. McClellan is a team player and while he has expressed his preference to start, he has proven he will do any job asked. In my opinion, it has reached the point that the organization needs to let McClellan be as good of a reliever as he can be and stop with the “one day he will be a starter” storyline, as it seems clear that isn’t going to happen.

In limbo

Bryan Anderson. Though defense-first catcher Matt Pagnozzi is gone, Anderson, his former job-share partner with Memphis, seems destined for a return to Triple-A for a fourth season. This will not become semi-official until a veteran reserve catcher to replace Jason LaRue is signed, but this seems highly likely. At that point, Anderson will move to the “fallers” group.

Tyler Greene and Daniel Descalso. Unless the Cardinals add another veteran infielder to the roster, there remains a chance that either could make the 2011 club as a reserve. If Ryan is dealt away, their chances obviously improve.

Another factor is who is designated as the reserve second baseman behind Skip Schumaker. If Theriot is restricted to short exclusively, being the only natural second baseman in the mix, Descalso’s chances of making the team could improve. Greene is more interchangeable with Ryan.

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Depending on your point of view, there is either much concern or much interest in the St. Louis Cardinals third base position. With incumbent David Freese out for the season, Allen Craig, moved from the hot corner to the outfield two years ago, made his first MLB appearance at third base Tuesday night.

Whether that is an indicator of a change ahead or a novelty like Aaron Miles pitching in the 18-4 home blowout administered by the Houston Astros remains to be seen.

However, with the bat, despite considerable focus on his low batting average, Craig has shown an early proficiency in plating runs. In fact, he has been among the most productive Cardinals in their first 15 career games in that stat since 1980.

Cardinals since 1980-7+ RBI in 1st 15 career games
(name, RBI, batting average)

J.D. Drew 13 (.385)
Adam Kennedy 12 (.291)
Albert Pujols 12 (.389)
Andy Van Slyke 10 (9-of-61 .173)
Bo Hart 9 (.412)
John Morris 9 (.204)
David Bell 8 (.280)
Tom Pagnozzi 8 (.219)
Luis Alicea 8 (.235)
Chris Duncan 8 (.294)
John Mabry 8 (.302)
John Rodriguez 8 (.356)
Eli Marrero 7 (.256)
Andy Rincon 7 (.206)
John Gall 7 (.222)
Stan Royer 7 (.375)
Allen Craig 7 (6-of-42 .158)

Thanks to researcher Tom Orf for the above table.

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My friend Jason Grey at ESPN posted his top 100 prospects list for their Insider members on Friday. His list distinguishes itself from other well-known rankings in that it is based solely on players expected to make a big league impact this season. In other words, that hot first-round phenom on track to debut in the majors in 2013 is nowhere to be found.

While the orientation is for fantasy use, don’t be confused or concerned about its source. Jason is a pro – a real, trained scout who sees literally hundreds of games each year and is well-ingrained in that community. For example, within an hour of Lance Lynn having completed his three-inning outing on Friday, Jason and I compared notes, each of us having received reports from different scouts at Roger Dean Stadium that afternoon.

Four St. Louis Cardinals made Grey’s list. In fact, they are all in the top 50. I thought it especially timely given Lynn’s impressive outing his first time out.

With the permission of Jason and ESPN, his Cardinals capsules follow. Please respect the rights of the owners and do not reproduce the details elsewhere.

24. David Freese

Freese turns 27 in April and was in a similar position last year, with a chance to win the third base job, but ankle problems stemming from a January car accident were more serious than he let on, and he eventually underwent surgery. He’s a career .308 hitter in the minors, with a .384 on-base percentage and .484 slugging percentage in almost 1,500 at-bats, and his short stroke, bat speed and ability to go the other way with power should allow those numbers to translate well to the major league level. He does tend to get streaky and is prone to going through stretches in which he chases too many pitches, and the signing of Felipe Lopez definitely has the potential to cut into Freese’s playing time, but he’ll be given a chance to take a starting job and run with it.

32. Lance Lynn

The fifth spot in the Cardinals’ rotation is up for grabs, and even if Lynn doesn’t win it during spring training, he might get it at some point this season. A supplemental first-rounder in the 2008 draft, Lynn has cruised through the minors thanks to his good sinker and command of his secondary stuff, finishing with a 2.92 ERA in 22 Double-A starts last year. He doesn’t really have an “out pitch,” but can hit his spots and keep his mistakes in the ballpark, giving him a chance to have some sneaky value if he gets an opportunity.

43. Allen Craig

Craig has a good shot at winning a backup spot in the Cardinals’ outfield, and in the past three seasons, he has played everywhere but catcher and center field in the minors (though he’s not really too good at any of them). His best position is first base, but that’s, um, filled in St. Louis. However, that versatility might allow him to stick with the big club, and the bat can do the rest. The 25-year-old hit .322 with 26 homers at Triple-A last season, which followed a .304, 22-homer campaign at Double-A in 2008, and a .311, 24-homer campaign in Class A ball in 2007. Sensing a bit of a pattern emerging here? He squares up the ball consistently with good hip rotation and loft, and he’s willing to work the count. Playing time could lead to surprising numbers.

47. Jaime Garcia

Garcia is likely to start the year in the minors as he continues his recovery from Tommy John surgery in 2008. He still needs to build up some innings after throwing just 263 of them combined over the past three seasons. He was good enough in the Triple-A playoffs in his late-season return last year to be optimistic about him contributing at some point for the Cardinals with his good curve, solid low-90s sinker and new cutter. The elbow problems have limited his development, but he’s still just 23 and projects as a middle-of-the-rotation starter.

Again, to see the full list, read all of Jason’s in-depth reports, and much more, become an ESPN Insider today. I subscribe and recommend it highly. You can get an even better deal if you first subscribe to ESPN The Magazine (which, by the way, has a great cover story on Albert Pujols this week.)

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