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The St. Louis Cardinals should still be viewed as serious contenders in the second half of the 2012 MLB season despite the loss of Chris Carpenter.

While the loss of any team’s co-ace starting pitcher is a huge blow, the Cardinals have already shown this year that they have what it takes to weather the storm.

In Carpenter’s absence, the team has put together an impressive first half.

With as many as seven key players on the disabled list at once, the Cardinals pushed through a tough May and a tougher early June to find themselves only 2.5 games out of first place and six games over .500 at the All-Star break.

Given the Cardinals’ tough schedule in June and the problems they faced, they could easily be much farther down in the standings.

Following are four reasons the Cardinals will still be legitimate contenders without Carpenter.

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The St. Louis Cardinals have certainly faced their share of adversity in 2012.

As injury after injury has swept through the team, they have managed to stay competitive. Even through slumps, the Cardinals still remain less than three games out of the National League Central lead.

While the Cardinals disabled list has thinned recently with the return of Skip Schumaker, Allen Craig, Jon Jay and Matt Carpenter, there are still a handful of impact players out of the lineup.

The Cardinals are 7-3 since their return through Monday, July 2. Prior to that, the team was 7-11 in the month of June.

All who remain are making progress, but some faster than others.

Continue reading for updates on those who remain on the disabled list.

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On Friday night the St. Louis Cardinals upended the heavily favored Philadelphia Phillies in a game for the ages. The Cardinals’ Chris Carpenter out-dueled the Phillies’ Roy Halladay in an instant classic as from the first hitter of the game to the final out every pitch was literally a suspense filled moment. 

In fact there was so much story line to this game that there are actually several ways in which the game made history. Here are the top five historical rarities that became current realities in that game. 

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In poker, four aces is a winning hand. In baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies thought so, too. But this year it turned out than one ace tops four aces.

A Year of Baseball Drama

This has certainly been a year of drama for Major League Baseball.

• The two wild card teams were not decided until that very intense last night of the season.

• Three of the four first-round playoffs went to the fifth game

• All four of the final games were decided by one run

The Best of the Best

But the best of these dramas so far was saved for the fifth game between the Phillies and the Cardinals. By that time, eight of the top nine payroll teams were gone from sight, with only the Phillies $173 million payroll left standing. Roy Halladay, one of the Phillies’ four aces, and arguably the best pitcher in the game, was up against his friend Chris Carpenter. Halladay went 19-6 in the regular season, had 220 strike outs and a WHIP just over one. Carpenter finished the regular season at a modest 11-9, and had been knocked out of an earlier game in the series after just three ineffective innings.

But this night, it was a classical pitchers’ duel: ace against ace, with the Cardinals’ one run looming larger as the game progressed. 

• Would Carpenter be able to protect the one-run lead?

• Would the Cardinals have to use their spotty bullpen that had troubled them all year long, and almost cost them their shot at the playoffs by giving up six runs in the ninth inning in the brutal loss to the Mets on September 22?

• Would either team be able to scratch out another run?

• Would Carpenter run out of gas, since he had gone at least seven innings in each of his last five starts in the regular season?

And then it came down to the ninth inning, with the meat of the Phillies lineup due up, the same part of the lineup that had scored three runs in the first inning against Carpenter earlier in the series.  With Utley, Pence, Howard, Victorino and Ibanez, there were four out of five left-hand hitters.

• Utley had the Philly crowd screaming with the long fly ball to deep center,

• Pence grounded out to third,

• and, Howard couldn’t even make it to first base

So there you had it: one ace beat the four aces. 

All of the top nine payroll teams are gone. All of the East and West Coast big-city teams are gone. So middle America gets a chance to fight it out for the World Series crown, in a season to remember.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The opening month of the season is a time for optimism around baseball, as everyone is still in the running at that point. Still, there are clearly teams that will not be in that position for long, and they need to look ahead to what moves they may make at mid season to strength their team moving forward.

There are a number of intriguing options who may find themselves on the trade block sooner rather than later, with no name larger than Prince Fielder, who has been at the center of trade rumors for what seems like years now.

So here is an update on eight of the top potential trade targets and where they are likely to end up if an when they become available this season.

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I gotta’ say…it must SUCK to be a Cardinals fan right now.

After dominating for the last decade (seven playoff appearances in 10 years), the Cards started the ‘10s out with a thud. And, while losing never feels good, St. Louis’ pain was heightened by being ousted by the Cincinnati Reds, a bitter rival.

Still, heading into the 2010 offseason, there was hope in St. Louis. National pundits were quick to write the Reds’ success off as a fluke, and Cardinals fans took comfort in the belief that a top-heavy roster led by Albert Pujols would bring them quickly back to the top of the mountain.

Then began the Pujols circus, a four-month negotiation disaster that got the Cardinals no closer to signing their star to a new deal (Pujols now enters the last year of his contract). As of February 23, the Pujols camp put a moratorium on contract negotiations, as the future Hall of Famer was intent upon focusing on his Spring Training preparations.

Finally, as if angst levels weren’t already at a record high in St. Louis, it was announced Friday that club ace Adam Wainwright would be shelved for the season due to injury (perhaps you heard). Wainwright will undergo Tommy John Surgery, a procedure that takes more than a year to come back from.

Indeed, these days St. Louis is a miserable place to be, and no amount of Budweiser will change that. If baseball in St. Louis was ever in need of a savior, it is now.

Now, more than ever, heads turn back to Pujols. Not only is Pujols’ 2011 performance now more important than ever (though, unless he can pitch, he won’t come close to replacing the value of Wainwright), but the Cardinals organization must really be feeling the heat to get something done to keep their stud in town for the long haul.

Last week, I identified 10 things that needed to happen if the Cardinals were to trade Pujols. Now, I will outline the five things the Cardinals could (and should) do, if they are serious about re-signing their star.

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Our 2011 fantasy baseball projections will be released one-by-one until the top 100 players have been revealed. These rankings consider past achievements, current performance and expected future results based on standard 5×5 H2H settings.

Ready to be blown away?

Since 2005, only one major league pitcher (with at least 900 innings) has an ERA lower than that of Roy Halladay. It’s not Johan Santana. Or Roy Oswalt. Or CC Sabathia. Or Felix Hernandez.

Give up?

Over the last six seasons, no qualifying pitcher has an ERA lower than Chris Carpenter’s mark of 2.88. His dominance has come despite missing all but four starts between 2007 and 2008 due to Tommy John surgery, and he’s still posting ridiculous numbers.

But nobody seems to notice.

Carpenter’s current ADP on Mock Draft Central is 95, while Rotowire ranks him 120 overall. The Yahoo! composite rankings have him just outside of the top 100.

Both Matthew Berry and I, however, rank Carpenter inside the top 60.

Why such a high ranking for the 35-year-old starter (he’ll turn 36 in late April).

Despite falling victim to the sub-2.50 curse last season, Carpenter’s ERA (3.22) ranked 23rd among qualifying pitchers, just behind Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia and just ahead of Jon Lester and Tommy Hanson.

Carpenter’s strikeout totals are average, but his walk rate was above 1.90 last year for the first time since his first season as a Cardinal in 2004. This has allowed him to post stellar WHIP totals.

Carpenter’s go-to pitch – his hammer curve – was better than it’s ever been in 2010, clocking in at 12.8 runs above average (fourth best in the majors).

His contact, first strike and swinging strike rates are all right at the league average, but for Carpenter, that has never mattered.

Expect a sixth-consecutive sub-3.50 ERA (minus the two years he missed to injury, of course) from Carpenter in 2011. He’s no longer a sexy pick, but he’s well worth the price.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: FANTASY BASEBALL INSIDERS

Latest from Fantasy Baseball Insiders:

• Adam Wainwright to Undergo Tommy John Surgery: Updated Pitcher Rankings
• Keeper Conundrum: Bryce Harper or Mike Trout?

Fantasy Baseball Insiders’ 2011 Big Board:

• Top 50 (projections included): Is Pujols Still the Top Pick?
• No. 51: Ubaldo Jimenez
• No. 52: Rickie Weeks
• No. 53: Derek Jeter
• No. 54: Adam Dunn
• No. 55: Justin Morneau
• No. 56: Justin Verlander

MLB Trades: Fantasy Impact:

• Frank Francisco Traded to the Blue Jays, Who Will Be The Team’s Closer?
• Mike Napoli Traded to the Texas Rangers: Fantasy Impact
• Vernon Wells Traded to the Los Angeles Angels: Fantasy Impact
• Adrian Beltre Traded to the Texas Rangers: Fantasy Impact

Previous articles from Fantasy Baseball Insiders:

• Guerrero to Baltimore: Why He’s Better Off in Camden Yards than Rangers Ballpark
• The Sub-2.50 ERA Curse: Why Five Elite Starting Pitchers May Regress in 2011
• 2010 Batting Average on Balls in Play Leaders: What to Expect in 2011?
• 2011 Closer’s Corner: Papelbon, Cordero & Rivera Are the Only Reliable Options

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Is this the smartest move for the St. Louis Cardinals to make?

Moving Carpenter throughout the league would open up viable cap room ($15 million), but his contract expires this year, meaning if he hit the dirt, they would just not re-sign him.

The issue now is that pitcher Adam Wainwright will be out for entire season due to Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. If the Cards want to make any sort of attempt at a playoff run, then getting rid of their ace wouldn’t be the best hand they could deal out. 

Still, though, that extra $15 million in their pocket would allow the Cardinals to have the extra cash that they want to re-sign league standout Albert Pujols.

It’s not that Chris Carpenter openly said, “I want to get the hell out of St. Louis,” or anything—he’s open to the fact that if St. Louis wants to market him to other teams, he’s up for the ride. 

“It’s not up to me,” said Carpenter via Mike Axisa at www.mlbtraderumors.com. “If the Cardinals wanted to trade me, obviously I would go. There’s no question about that. I’m not going hold back or veto or do anything like that if they’re looking to move me.”

If the Cardinals were smart they would hold onto one of the only pitchers they really have left and then go out and look for another pitcher to bring aboard in replacement of the injured Wainwright. 

We will have a better calculation of the chance that Carpenter is moved come midseason. If the Cardinals seem to have no chance of getting to the Wild Card, let alone the playoffs, you might just see him on a different team come summer time. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

When it became known that Adam Wainwright was injured and may need Tommy John surgery, virtually every sports media outlet was all over it.

like any serious sports fan, questions from every angle must have come to your mind:

“How exactly did he get injured?”

“How will the Cardinals adapt to his injury?”

“Does this affect Albert Pujols?”

However, one person that may be of particular concern is Chris Carpenter.

With that being said, don’t be surprised if he moves on. Take a look.

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When you spend a draft pick or auction money on a player, you are paying for their stats, not their name. So let’s look at a few stat lines that can be had at discount.

I did three 12-team mock drafts on three different websites back-to-back and averaged out the draft position for the projected rounds you see on each player. The stat lines are a projection I expect both players to be close to.  

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