Depth is critical...but it only goes so far

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replying the story in its archived form does not constitute a re-publiccation of the story.

Going into a season, it's a General Manager's job to make sure his team is covered on all bases.  Having great starters is one thing...but having solid contingency plans in case something happens to those starters is an another thing entirely.

You need depth everywhere.  Starting rotation.  Bullpen.  Outfield.  Infield.  Catching. 

Everywhere.

But if last season's New York Mets team is any indication...NO team is going to have enough depth to recover from several devastating injuries.  No one.

I don't care how many good backups you think you have.  If your best players get hurt at 1st base, shortstop, third base and center field all go down with significant injuries, how on earth can a GM be expected to fill those roles for a long time?  How can he find replacements to make up for that missing production?

Translation:  You cannot.

That is key when going into a season where a team is expected to dominate its division and contend for a World Series title.

As good as the Cards are all across the board...with Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday, Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter...nothing can stop a very unfortunate barrage of injuries.

Nothing.

Rich Hill is a very nice insurance policy for John Mozeliak as a starting pitcher.  He fills a need that the Cards could have used last year when Carpenter went down early in the season for five weeks...or when Todd Wellemeyer continued to struggle but never got yanked from the rotation because no one was better than him.

As much as Hill will be useful in 2010, he can only man one spot.  And he's not going to dominate for months on end.

So if the Carpenter 5-week thing happens again, they're fine.  But if that 5 weeks turns into 4 months...and another starter misses significant time...Hill will not be nearly enough to keep this thing afloat.

Same goes for the offense.  Allen Craig deserves a chance to play.  He has hit everywhere he's been.  But if Albert or Holliday go down for a while, Craig might get thrown into the fire a little more than necessary.

So be careful when expecting a team to dominate in a run to the division title.  A lot of getting there is luck.  Injuries can kill anyone or anything.

Regardless of how good you are and how prepared you are.