Outfield: The Cardinals avoided arbitration by signing Rick Ankiel to a one-year contract, picked Brian Barton in the Rule 5 draft, and signed former MVP Juan Gonzalez to a minor league contract. Gonzalez spent the winter working out at the baseball academy of former Cardinal Eduardo Perez, where current players Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina saw him and have raved about his condition and he has played very well thus far in spring training. Despite being away from the game for two years, Gonzalez has a very good chance to make the team because of the Cardinal’s need for depth in the outfield after the Edmonds trade and because of the Juan Encarnacion injury. I must admit that I have never been a big fan of Encarnacion, a former 5 tool prospect for the Tigers (my hometown team), because he failed to pan out in Detroit. While he never turned in to the right-handed version of Ken Griffey, Jr., he was a starting outfielder and solid contributor at every stop he made and helped the Marlins and Cardinals win World Series titles. For those of you who don’t know, Encarnacion was hit in the face with a foul ball last season while standing in the on deck circle. It was one of those freak incidents that ended his 2007 season, will keep him out for all of 2008 and may possibly end his career. According to reports he has only regained 20/400 vision in his left eye and while he will be missed in the Cardinals lineup, this is obviously one of those situations where regaining his sight and living a healthy life outside of baseball would be a win. Best of luck to Juan Encarnacion in his road to recovery (even from a bitter Tigers fan).
