Cardinals 2012 MLB Season Odds
ST. LOUIS, MO (The Spread) – The St. Louis Cardinals are seemingly paying the price for the 2011 World Series championship in the form of a hard-luck offseason.
According to oddsmakers, the Cardinals are 30/1 to win the 2012 World Series and are 13/1 to win the National League Pennant. They’re also 9/4 to win the National League Central Division and have an over/under of 84.5 for number of total wins in the regular season.
The Cardinals spent $54.75 million to upgrade their roster this winter. The club’s biggest acquisition was signing free agent Carlos Beltran to a two-year, $26 million contract, but they also re-signed pitcher Adam Wainwright, catcher Yadier Molina and shortstop Rafael Furcal. They also came to terms with reliever J.C. Romero on a one-year, $750K contract and brought in Scott Linebrink, Alex Cora, Koyie Hill and Eugenio Velez on minor league contracts.
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Of course, the biggest news this offseason in St. Louis was that Albert Pujols flew the coup to sign a free agent deal with the Angels. The Cards also lost Edwin Jackson, Octavio Dotel, Ryan Theriot, Nick Punto and Gerald Laird via free agency.
OUTLOOK: The Cardinals always find a way to compete and they always seem to be in contention. But they’ve also always had No. 5 in the middle of their lineup, crushing balls and making their offense dynamic. Pujols made every hitter around him that much better and it’s hard to know what to make of this current St. Louis batting order. Is there enough talent to compete? Without a doubt. Matt Holliday is as steady as ever, Beltran was a nice offseason addition and Lance Berkman is coming off an outstanding season. Guys like Molina, David Freese and Allen Craig are solid in their roles as well. But will this lineup be as good as it was last year without Pujols? It’s doubtful. The other problem, of course, is that Chris Carpenter has nerve damage in his shoulder that could take a long time to heal. Because nerves take a long time to regenerate, he could be out months or even the entire season. The good news is that Wainwright has looked great this spring, Kyle Lohse is as steady as ever, Jaime Garcia has excellent stuff and the club is really high on Lance Lynn. That said, the Cincinnati Reds have to be the favorites to win the NL Central, and not the defending World Series champions.
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