Enemy Lines

an opposing team's scout sizes up the Cardinals

"If Rick Ankiel and Garrett Stephenson come back, the Cardinals will have an excess of quality starters like no other team in baseball. The team is trying to spin Ankiel's story positively, but there are lots of issues there. He's holding on to the ball too long before releasing it. Plus, a lot of his fastballs are cutting way in on righthanders. Those are both tendencies of guys with mental blocks. The sad thing is, no matter how well he pitches, he'll always be two wild pitches away from another breakdown....

Adding Jason Isringhausen addressed a huge issue for this team. Dave Veres is a natural setup guy, and he was exposed as a closer. This spring Veres didn't look very sharp. He's not hitting the spots like he used to, and his split doesn't have much bite....

I love their catching. When Mike Matheny was a young guy in Milwaukee, he tried to hit homers all the time. Now he just tries to put the ball in play, and he does one hell of a job handling that staff. He keeps guys in control, and he knows how to stop the bleeding and cut an inning down. And my team would love to have Eli Marrero as our starter. He's such a great athlete, they can play him behind the plate, at first and in the corner outfield slots....

Nobody turns the DP as fast as Fernando Vi�a. He's vastly underrated....

It'll be interesting to see how Albert Pujols looks defensively. This spring he wasn't throwing well at all. His approach at the plate is fantastic, though. He really sees the ball well he lets it get into the zone and then he explodes."