No matter what you think of the Cardinals' current roster and how it could be tweaked to make a run for the gold this year, there is not much reason to look back at what might have been.
Almost unilaterally, the players the Cardinals lost — or chose to lose — from last year's division championship team have done little or nothing, statistically, this year for their new teams.
Center fielder Rick Ankiel, now disabled because of a right quadriceps injury, is hitting only .210 for Kansas City, which signed him to a $3.25 million, one-year guarantee with a $6 million option for 2011. He has fanned 22 times in 62 at-bats.
Outfielder Chris Duncan, a two-time 20-homer man plagued by injuries the last couple of years he was with the Cardinals before being dealt to Boston last summer, signed with Washington as a minor-league free agent and was assigned this year to Class AAA Syracuse. He is hitting .247 there with two homers.
Joe Thurston, who played third base more than anybody else for the Cardinals in the first half of last season, signed with Atlanta as a minor-league free agent. He is hitting .217 at Class AAA Gwinnett.
Infielder Brian Barden was the rookie of the month for April last year as he shared third base with Thurston. Barden had only nine at-bats for Florida in the first month of the season with two hits.
Third baseman Troy Glaus, who missed much of the 2009 season with a shoulder problem, was hitting .228 with just two homers through 105 at-bats as the Atlanta Braves' first baseman.
Shortstop Khalil Greene, who had anxiety issues, is out of baseball after declining to report to the Texas Rangers' camp.
Righthander Todd Wellemeyer, part of the Cardinals' rotation for much of last season, is 1-3 with a 5.54 earned-run average with San Francisco and has been struggling to hang onto his spot in the Giants' rotation.
Brad Thompson, a longtime swingman for the Cardinals, started the season in the minors with Kansas City and, after being brought up, has appeared in just 7 2/3 innings.
Julio Lugo, who logged considerable time as a backup infielder late last year, went to Baltimore at the end of spring training. He is hitting .194 as a backup infielder for the Orioles.
Joel Piñeiro, a 15-game winner last year, had a fast start for his new team, the Los Angeles Angels, but, like the rest of the Angels, he has trended downward. Piñeiro is 2-4 with a 5.30 ERA.
Mark DeRosa, the player most fans wanted to see return out of this group, is starting both in the infield and outfield for San Francisco after signing a two-year, $12 million contract. But, through his first 85 at-bats, DeRosa, perhaps still bothered by his bad wrist, was hitting .205 with just one home run.
Righthander Chris Perez has fared as well as anybody. He's missed a couple of saves as the Cleveland closer in place of injured Kerry Wood, but he had four saves and a 2.89 ERA for the first month.
Righthander Clayton Mortensen, who went to Oakland in the Matt Holliday deal, is 3-1 at Sacramento in the Pacific Coast League after finishing last year with the Athletics.
Third baseman Brett Wallace, the former No. 1 draft pick who also went in that trade and then subsequently to Toronto, is hitting .302 with nine homers at Class AAA Las Vegas, but Wallace wouldn't be playing ahead of David Freese, the Cardinals' top hitter to date.
Wallace actually is playing first base for Las Vegas but he probably wouldn't beat out the incumbent for the Cardinals there either.
As for righthander John Smoltz, who was impressive late last season, you can tune him in on virtually every television network short of ESPN.
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