Matty Mo, Reggie, Abraham Nunez, Cal Eldred, Grudz, Einar Diaz, Al Reyes, and Tavarez have all filed for free agency. Mabry has yet to file. Ray King wants to be traded. Walker has retired, and the way things look will likely be replaced by Brian Giles. Suppan was resigned for $4 million (but could be used in an off-season trade).

Congrats to Jason Marquis (who won the Silver Slugger award for NL pitchers), Jim Edmonds (on his eighth Gold Glove), and Albert Pujols (who just took over the #1 spot in player rankings according to the Elias Sports Bureau.) I'll be looking forward to posting about Carpenter winning the Cy Young and Pujols winning MVP soon.

As far as what I'd like to see out of the off-season... I can't say that I'd like to change too much. I like Giles as a replacement for Walker. If Reggie goes elsewhere, I would probably look to a current Cardinal to fill the hole (Gall, Rodriguez, Taguchi) or maybe platoon the position based on the pitching, and relative defensive difficulty of that particular ballpark. If not, a free agent like a Jacque Jones (who the Cards have shown a slight interest in) might be effective (if he could only hit lefties better. That covers the OF.

I think the only question on the infield is at 2nd base. If Grudz stays, great. If not I wouldn't mind seeing Nunez fill the hole. He's got the skills defensively and his offensive productivity is similar to Grudz. We could also go with an affordable free agent like Tony Graffanino from the BoSox or a more seasoned veteran Ray Durham from San Fran. Even a decent free agent shortstop or utility guy could fill the hole (we're coming for you Rafael Furcal or Jose Vizcaino). Hey, Vina is a free agent as well. Too bad about his bum knee.

Starting pitching is next up. It was excellent this year, but in a division with Chicago and Houston, you could always use another top notch hurler. If Matty Mo heads elsewhere, the name AJ Burnett comes to mind. Pujols was courting him to come to St. Louis at one point this year from what I have heard. If Marquis or Suppan are traded, Anthony Reyes would be the front runner for the #5 spot. I wouldn't mind having another lefty in the rotation either. Mark Redman from the Pirates is a free agent and could potentially thrive here under the coaching of Duncan and the veteran leadership of the rest of the pitching staff.

The Bullpen is a big question mark in my opinion. King is gone, and Taverez looks to be headed that way as well. Cal Eldred is getting up there in years and is a free agent as well. Besides Al Reyes, the rest of the Bullpen is pretty shaky. We have plenty of young talent (Flores, Wainwright, Journell, Pearce) that could potentially fill the roles that we need provided that all have stellar seasons. Most of them are relatively un-proven though. I wouldn't mind adding at least one good veteran arm to the pen, preferably another lefty.

That's about it. We'll see what ol' Walt has up his sleeve this off-season and talk about it some more when the winter meetings are over with.

Until then, go to MLB.com and vote for the "This Year in Baseball Awards". There are some nice Cardinal players and moments on there.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 2:26 PM