Every year, once the season ends, the United Cardinal Bloggers, a blog I write about the Cards for, holds a roundtable discussion. Via google email chat groups, one person sends out a question in the morning and the rest of the crew answers. Today, I posted my question about the hottest topic at Busch right now. The Shortstop Dilemma.
This is my official question/paragraph opener to the group-
Butler University
Pharmacy Class of 2015

-Tom Knuppel
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I’ll admit to enjoying the Tulo talk because if nothing else St. Louis did it on the team’s terms. Yes, every team knows that SS is a need under the Arch but not for an unlikely deal. Andrus could be an option with the right pieces going to Texas but the most appealing in my opinion could be dealing with Oakland again.
Lowrie has proven to be less of a gamble and already was a target for the Cards on a few different occasions. Reading the letter of the law in regards to the question, however, I’m going to stick with Tulo just because it makes the potential lineup even scarier. We can talk about 2015 and on at a later date 😉
-Joshua and Christi Gilliam
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As long as it’s someone better than Kozma, I won’t be too picky. If I can have someone that can hit .275 and have comparable defense to Kozma, then it would be perfect.
My preference would be the 2003 version of Edgar Renteria. Barring that, the preference is Elvis Andrus because of his age (25), speed (165 steals in 5 MLB seasons) and adequate hitting (796 hits in 757 career games). Cardinals lineup needs an infusion of speed (Andrus and Kolten Wong would create havoc for opponents) and, with Andrus, Cardinals can have a premier shortstop who hasn’t even entered his prime years yet.
Mark Tomasik
While Andrus is proven, he has the extra baggae of the large contract. Profar would be under team control for at least the next 5 years and at a much cheaper rate than Andrus.
Profar gives the Cardinals more payroll flexibility, especially when all these young hurlers start reaching arbitration in a few years.
While he is not as proven as Andrus (or the others), he has tremendous upside and, in my opinion, is worth the risk.


