2009 Season Outlook: Shortstop

This is the fourth in a series of posts previewing each position and the pitching staff before the beginning of the 2009 St. Louis Cardinals season.

Out goes one free agent at Cardinals shortstop position. In comes another.

During this past offseason, the St. Louis Cardinals allowed Cesar Izturis to sign with the Baltimore Orioles, much to the dismay of many fans as Izturis was a solid and former Gold Glove winner at the shortstop positon. However, the Cardinals management didn't take long to pick up another big name shortstop early during the winter meetings.

The Cardinals signing of Khalil Greene from the San Diego Padres may turn into a great move for the Redbirds this 2009 season. Last season, Khalil Greene had a somewhat quiet season from normal as he hit .213 with 10 homeruns and only 32 RBIs. Can you guess which number jumps out from those three? 10 homeruns, for a shortstop!. I dont think David Eckstein and Cesar Izturis had 10 homeruns combined last year. Granted he did strikeout alot with 100 strikeouts, I'm anxious to see if continue that power being at probably the leadoff position in the lineup for the Cardinals.

I think 2008 was just an off-year for Greene, just like it was for the rest of the Padres. Having Greene on a stronger contender than the Padres in the weak NL West may benefit Greene. As his fielding goes, he's solid like most Major League shortstops should be. Not spectacular or Omar Vizquel-like, but solid.

I'm not going to go too much into depth about Brendan Ryan. If you want the depth, check my second base preview.

Basically, Ryan is slated for the back-up shortstop job. Depending on what happens at second base with Skip Schumaker competing for the position, Ryan could become the ultimate utility man for the Cardinals this season, granted he doesn't get the starting nod for any position with the exception obviously of pitcher and catcher.

I don't see Brendan Ryan being sent to the minors again anytime this season because La Russa is going to need guys like him to come from the bench when players are tired or hurt and fill the void for the team with an equal if not more amount of talent and versatility, which is basically the type of player Ryan is.

Peter Kozma is third on the Cardinals depth chart for the shortstop position. He was drafted in the 2007 MLB Draft straight out of high school in Oklahoma and was in the minors all of last year.

He made it through the Rookie League and got as high as the single-A affiliate Palm Beach Cardinals last season. His numbers don't really jump off the page during his time with Palm Beach, but according to milb.com, the official site for minor league baseball, Kozma is a fundamentally sound fielder with excellent hitting skills. Going on to say that he has surprising pop in his bat for a guy at his position.

Kozma may not be a guy to shock the world, but it sounds like he does all the right things at the shortstop position, especially when it comes to fundamentals. To be honest, what more could you ask for.

If he has a good spring training, I can see him probably making it out of single-A and into double-A or triple-A. If he plays as good as predicted , he might make that push into the majors toward the end of the season if the Cardinals are in need of a playoff push.

-- John Thomas