The Cardinals have about 5 players who would qualify for this award. The rich guy in Matt Holliday, the better than Albert Pujols Carlos Beltran, the defensive juggernaut and heavy hitting catcher Yadier Molina and the World Series MVP/Hometown Hero David Freese. 2 of them (Beltan and Molina) have been consistent, while Holliday and Freese both have seen their struggles (Holliday at the beginning of the season and Freese over the last few weeks, even though DF23 has hit well over the past few days. Lastly, there's shortstop and trade deadline acquisition Rafael Furcal,(who looked awful in Spring Training according to reports), who is becoming a great leadoff hitter again after signing a 2 year, $14 million deal in the offseason in the wake of Pujols' exodus to Anaheim.

Carlos Beltran
.302-14-38 Projections .302-53-143
Matt Holliday .271-10-32 Projections .271-38-121
David Freese .270-10-33 Projections .270-38-124
Yadier Molina .314-6-23 Projections .314-28-87
Plus Defensive Capabilities
Rafael Furcal .341-2-21 Projections .341-7-79

Beltran is obviously the favorite so far. He and Molina along with Rafael Furcal have been the only consistent hitters really, who have played everyday. Matt Holliday struggled early on, David Freese has struggled the last few weeks, but now Freese is turning it on. Furcal is leading regular players on the team in hitting and has shown a revival.

These stats are obviously are inflated, but they are what each player is on pace for. It would be career high in Home Runs and RBIs for Beltran, Freese and Molina and Home Runs for Holliday. These numbers are a bit far-fetched, but show that the offense is driving this team. In yesterday's loss, they still scored 8 runs, but Jake Westbrook gave up 4 runs in the first inning.

The Cardinals aren't playing the brand of Baseball they were at the beginning of the year, but could still turn it on again and regain first place in the NL Central, which is currently occupied by the Reds. The pitching has been good, but it seems like each pitcher is slowing down a bit in May.

My Pick : Carlos Beltran, Outfielder