Now for the pitching staff...

Yesterday we covered the lineup for next year. Here is what I've got as my fantasy lineup:

1) Free Agent Shortstop - High on base percentage, good fielder
2) Rick Ankiel, RF
3) Albert Pujols, 1B
4) Ryan Ludwick, LF
5) Troy Glaus, 3B
6) Colby Rasmus, CF
7) Yadier Molina, C
8) Felipe Lopez, 2B
9) Please bat the pitcher 9th!!!

Bench:
Joe Mather, OF
Skip Shumaker, OF
Bryan Anderson, C
Brendan Ryan, IF
Aaron Miles, IF

Now for the 2009 pitching staff:

Starters:

1) Chris Carpenter - He is getting older, and has had health problems. BUT... if he is healthy, he is one of the best in the game.

2) Adam Wainwright - He is a great pitcher. With a healthy Carpenter and Wainwright, we have a great 1-2 at the top of the rotation.

3) Kyle Lohse - He is a free agent, so we have to resign him. He has had a very good year. If he can pitch like this again next year, with better run support, I think he could win 15-16 games.

4) FREE AGENT PICKUP - We need to go find one more arm, and spend around 8-10 million to find it.

5) Jess Todd - He is in AAA right now, has had a great minor league career, and was one of the prospects we couldn't part with at the trading deadline. It's time to find out if he can pitch at this level.

Bullpen:
Joel Pinero, Long Relief - He had a terrible year, but we still have him on contract for one more year. He is making too much money to send to the minors. I wish we could trade him.

Mitchell Boggs, Reliever - He could be a long relief type of guy, or a hard throwing late innings guy. He has always been a starter, but I don't think with his age (25) and relative lack of "electric" stuff, he is going to be great at the Major League level. I think he could be a very good reliever though, because he could throw harder for only an inning or two.

Tyler Johnson, Lefty Specialist - A lot of people forget about him, but he was crucial to our World Series title a few years ago. He can get lefties out. He is coming off a major injury, so we have to hope he is back to full health.

Josh Kinney, Reliever - Another guy who helped us to a world series title, then got hurt. He throws hard and has good stuff. If he is healthy, he'll be in this spot.

Jason Motte, Late Innings Setup guy - He throws 100 mph, he is nasty, he has a bulldog mentality, and an improving slider. If he shows he can handle the pressure and have decent command, he should be here.

Kyle McClellan, Primary Setup man - A lot of people want to throw Kyle into the rotation, ala Adam Wainwright. I don't think that is a terrible idea, but I don't know if his arm can handle that. He has GREAT stuff, and has had a really good year as a rookie. However, he has not been good lately, and has not been good when "overused" at times this year. Does that sound like a guy you want throwing 180+ innings next year? I think he is great in this role, and with a better bullpen, he doesn't have to get used as much, making him even better.

Chris Perez, CLOSER - Say it TLR, he is the closer. I think this is the one spot we don't have to spend a lot of money. The kid has closer written all over him. If he were up here at the big club all year, doing his thing.... IF, IF, IF, IF, IF..... we might be in first place.

So my pitching staff goes like this:

Starters:
Carpenter
Wainwright
Lohse
FREE AGENT
Jess Todd

Bullpen:
Pinero
Boggs
T Johnson
Kinney
Motte
McClellan
Perez

I think we can win a lot of games with this pitching staff. The top 3 starters are very good, and with a good Free Agent + a good-as-advertised Jess Todd, the rotation should be solid. Our bullpen should be exponentially better with this group of pitchers. They are young, but they have good stuff. As we learned, the hard way, this past year, over the hill veterans might not be such a good idea!