One of the biggest differences between me and the stereotypical baseball fan rears its ugly head around this time every year: I just can't get excited about spring training. Yes, pitchers and catchers reported on Valentine's Day, and full-squad workouts began soon thereafter, but all that means nothing to me. The only day marked I mean, it's not like these guys take this stuff too seriously anyway. And these nationally televised spring training games - who watches this stuff? Is a Chris Narveson start that appealing to the viewing public?

Still, even though I don't really want to watch the Kyle Snyders of the world facing Rick Ankiel all day long, that doesn't mean I'm not thinking about baseball. There's fantasy drafts, roster moves, far-flung rumors, plenty of intrigue. Everyone has an opinion about what their team should or shouldn’t be doing. Even yours truly, anti-spring training extraordinaire, has to get up on a soapbox every once in awhile. And with the Cards, there’s plenty to talk about. So here’s my wish list for the next month and, well, beyond:

1) Trade Juan Freaking Encarnacion. I don’t care if he gets the Tino treatment, where we pay some of his salary in exchange for a bag of baseballs named Evan Rust, but he just needs to go. With Chris Duncan, Preston Wilson, Jim Edmonds, John Rodriguez, So Taguchi, and even Scott Spiezio on the roster (not to mention Rick Ankiel and Skip Schumaker), there’d be someone around capable of taking his at-bats and putting up at least Juan’s .280/.315/.430 line. Above average defense is not worth that big a hole in the lineup. And none of those guys, with the exception of Edmonds, is going to make anywhere close to $11.5 million in 2007-08. This one's really a holdover from last year - I couldn't stand looking at the guy throughout most of 2006, and I just don't want to have to repeat that in '07.
2) Remain flexible with Adam Wainwright. A scenario, if I may: Jason Isringhausen declares his hip pain-free throughout spring training and pitches effectively. Braden Looper turns into Kent Bottenfield circa 1999 and wins the fifth starter’s job. Wainwright continues to pitch effectively – he pitched three scoreless innings in his first outing the other day – and also ends up in the rotation. On a cold night in early April, however, Isringhausen plants and slips, re-aggravating his hip injury and forcing him to the disabled list for two months. What was a decent-looking bullpen could end up in shambles - if La Russa is insistent on keeping guys in the rotation once they’ve earned a slot (at least, I guess, until Mark Mulder comes back), who would become the closer in that situation? Josh Kinney? Brad Thompson? Ryan Franklin (cringe)? I implore you, Tony: at least remain open to the idea of Wainwright returning to the ‘pen in the event of another Isringhausen injury.
3) Don’t rush Mark Mulder back. As bad as Ryan Franklin, Kip Wells, Brad Thompson, Braden Looper, etc., may be, they still may be better than a Mulder that is less than 100%. The recent news regarding Mulder’s mechanics problems has not been encouraging; in addition, there is not a lot of precedent (based on lboros’ fabulous research over at VEB) for pitchers to have immediate success coming off similar shoulder surgeries. So unless the Cards are really desperate (i.e., Looper/Franklin/Thompson is struggling mightily) when Mulder is ready to return in June or July, they would be much better off to let him work out any problems with his mechanics with at least three starts down in Memphis.
4) Everybody just relax. We just won the freaking World Series, people. The last two defending champs disintegrated into giant balls of angst within both the clubhouse, press and the fan base. Let’s not put ourselves through that. Why sweat the small stuff? Like, for example, whether Aaron Miles is getting 150 plate appearances as opposed to 100, who the fifth starter is going to be, or bugging me about the fact that I totally contradicted my first three wishes with this one. Or getting on Tony. I'd say he's earned a season without Cardinal Nation second-guessing him at the very least. Let’s just sit back and enjoy the play of Mr. Pujols and the boys - win or loss - and coast our way through the first season as defending champs in 24 years. We deserve it.