So no Meche, Lilly or Schmidt. No Bonds. No Gonzo. Not even Dotel.

That's ok. I wouldn't have wanted the Cards to make any of the deals those guys ended up with, except Schmidt of course, who, as has been stated, never wanted to come here. Burnett money for Meche? $5 million for Dotel? $16 million for Bonds? No thanks.

Looking at the Crystal Ball I forsee:

Miguel Batista at 3yrs/$21mm

A young Pirate lefty in exchange for Duncan

In the words of Joe Strauss, an "expanded role" for Scott Spiezio, namely, the left field job.

This gives us a rotation of Carp, Reyes, Batista, and either Wells, Wainwright or "Ma-Duke-elanny" to round things out. In the field we return the same team except Spiezio settles in in left and Kennedy takes over at 2nd.

Relative to 2006, I see improvement in left, center, catcher, and the starting rotation, and no part of the team will be any worse, except for Pujols who will slump to .328/.415/.640

The Cards win 91 games and the Central division unless Houston brings back Clemens and Pettitte, in which case we're competing for the wild card.

Grade for Jocketty and Co. this offseason: B

Thoughts?