All Decade Team Part 1: St. Louis Cardinals

Mark Prior. Kerry Wood. Derrick Lee.  Sitting in class today, I was having a friendly convo with a friend who is also a Cubs fan.  We got to talking about general things, and he made the claim that while he admitted the Redbirds have had the most success in the last decade, the Cubbies had just as many great players.  I argued, that the Astros would hold this honor.  So, I got to thinking, and decided to start a 6 part series on the 2000-2010 All Decade Teams in the NL Central.  If the Pirates held onto all their prospects, would their team be stacked?  Do the Cubs really match up with the Birds?  Let's take a look in Part 1 today, the Redbirds:
First, some quick criteria.  In order to qualify in the lineup, a player must have a minimum of 500 plate appearances.  To make the starting rotation, 50 minimum starts, just to get rid of any rentals.  Bench players were anyone who has played for the team and was based more upon gut really than anything.  One reliever was chosen.

So, based on that standard, I present my picks for the 2000-2010 St. Louis Cardinal's All Decade Team:

1B)  Albert Pujols  .331/408/1230- No offense to Big Mac as he was quite the entertainer, but no argument whatsoever here.  Albert may go down as not only greatest Card of the decade, but maybe ever if he can catch The Man.

2B)  Tony Womack .307/5/38- This one is a crap shoot.  The Cards have such a merry-go-round of second baseman this decade, I threw darts at Womack and Vina in the end.  As part of the Murderer's Row lineup and putting up great numbers, I went with Womack's slight advantage.

SS) Edgar Renteria .293/60/388- This was not a crap shoot.  Between Renteria and Eckstein, I went with one of my all-decade favorite players.  Regardless of if "clutchness" really exists, it seems like Edgar always delivered.  He played great on both sides and was too fun to watch not to be the clear winner here.

3B) Scott Rolen .286/111/453 - The guy was great.  He's still good now.  Not only did he provide a great bat, but his unbelievable glove in the field made him one of the elite 3b in the entire league year in and year out.

LF) Matt Holliday .324/41/158- Matt is currently one of, if not, the greatest LF in the league.  He has been nothing short of great for the Redbirds and should continue to be an elite player on this next decades team.

CF) Jim Edmonds .285/241/713 - Looking at this list, it really is amazing how many excellent offensive, clutch weapons the Cards had that could also prowl the field.  Jimmy was a hitter for the dramatic, but his glove makes him one of the funnest Cards to watch.  Hopefully, Colby can learn from Jimmy Baseball.

RF) JD Drew .289/78/228 - Based upon numbers, this one was also difficult with Ludwick and Larry Walker both meeting the 500 AB rule.  Walker was only a one year guy, so he was first gone.  Luddy and JD have comparable numbers, but I think, despite him being a giant pussy, Drew is just the better player.

C) Yadier Molina .268/41/325 - I love Yadi's defense.  I loved Matheny's.  Mike taught Yadi a lot of the amazing plays he pulls off today.  Again, very difficult decision.  Really my only reasoning here is in this decade, Molina provided more pop and won a ring.  All respect for Mike.

Bench:
Mark McGwire- Can't think of a scarier, one swing game changer coming off the bench
Larry Walker- Lefty coming of the bench, very very scary
Placido Polanco- Definition of a great bench guy. Plays every position, pesky as hell at the plate.

Rotation:
 1) Chris Carpenter 84-33 2.97 ERA
2) Adam Wainwright 66-35 2.97 ERA
3) Matt Morris 82-48 3.81 ERA
4) Darryl Kile 41-24 3.54 ERA
5) Jeff Suppan 47-32 3.94 ERA


Reliever:
Jason Isringhausen  2.98 ERA  217 Saves

The front part of the rotation is a lock, no doubt.  Carp and Waino have been unreal good and Matt Morris was very solid in his career.  Kile was also very good, but the 5th spot really came down to another tough decision.  While Mulder had the greatest stuff I think, and many others like Looper, Piniero, and Loshe have semi-comparable numbers.  Suppan was the best this decade for the birds and grabs the 5 spot.  As much as I'd love to throw Rick Ankiel into a spot, I can't.

Well, there is the Card's All-Decade team.  Feel free to argue, but upon early looks I can't imagine a more potent decade lineup.  Dangerous.


Thanks for reading. Go Cards!