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The Cards aren't likely to challenge for the pennant this year. In a way, that'll make them all the more interesting to watch.

By Aaron Schafer 

Cardinal baseball. It's as much a part of summertime in St. Louis as ice-cold Budweiser, soul-crushing humidity and egg yolk-fortified ice cream. If you were raised in this city, you can feel it approaching, as metronome-predictable as the lengthening days.

In recent years the results have been equally predictable. Each summer, 90 wins. Another division title, another playoff berth. The only real question has been just how late in October the season would continue. That made last year's poor showing a shock to the system of Cards fans. Unfortunately, it's unlikely the glory days are back just yet.

Moreover, when you tune in to watch the Cardinals this season, the team you'll see on the field will be very different from the one you're used to seeing. Gone are many familiar faces: Scott Rolen, in iconoclastic exile north of the border. Jim Edmonds, patrolling center field in San Diego, having seen the writing on the wall. David Eckstein, joining Rolen in Toronto, a casualty of age, declining skills and a team in transition.

The formula for the Cards' recent success was a simple one. Former general manager Walt Jocketty was a master of the deal, consistently bringing in proven veteran contributors. That strategy, however, taxed the organization's minor-league system: For every Mark Mulder Jocketty wished to reel in, he had to bait his hook with a Dan Haren.

When Jeff Luhnow was hired in 2004 to run the drafting operation, the Redbirds' farm system was in a sorry state and ranked as one of the worst in all of baseball. Under Luhnow's stewardship the system has seen a renaissance. The Cardinals are drafting better, scouting better and developing young players down on the farm instead of trading them away. Baseball America, the preeminent authority on the minor leagues, recently ranked the Cardinals' system as the thirteenth-best in baseball. Not quite where we'd all like to see it, but the exponential improvement in a few short years is cause for considerable optimism.

By now you've all heard of Colby Rasmus and been told he's the savior of the franchise. But he is far from the only talent to like in the Cardinals system. The Cards have dedicated themselves to building the next great team from within, and the first fruits of that labor aren't far off. You may not have heard of these players just yet, but you might want to learn their names all the same. You'll be cheering for them soon enough.

Chris Perez, RHP
A wild, woolly, whirling dervish of a pitcher, Perez sprints in from the bullpen to the strains of Prodigy's "Firestarter" and proceeds to attack opposing hitters in a similar frenzy. Perez has been tagged to inherit the closer's role from Jason Isringhausen, and nothing he has shown during spring training has disabused anyone of that notion.

Perez dominated as a closer at the University of Miami, and he impressed Cardinals scouts enough for the team to draft him in the supplemental first round. It's easy to see what the organization liked about him: He combines an intimidating mound presence with an imposing repertoire. He features a fastball he consistently pumps in the 93-97 mph range, a wipeout slider and a pretty good curveball he'll occasionally drop in against lefties.

What he doesn't bring to the table is consistent control. Despite being able to overpower hitters — who struggle to hit better than .150 against him — he creates too many jams, issuing free passes at a rate of nearly one per inning. (Maybe Chris should rethink that intro music.) With only that glaring weakness, Perez has put himself at the doorstep of the majors in less than two years since being drafted.

Clayton Mortensen, RHP
When Mortensen scored an invite to spring training, he became the first Cardinals player to do so the year after he was drafted since Braden Looper in 1997. Mortensen, who went undrafted following his junior season at Gonzaga, suddenly blossomed as a senior. He finally began to grow into his six-foot-four frame (though he's still a bit of a beanpole), and his repertoire sharpened significantly.

He was taken by the Cardinals in the supplemental first round, prompting much carping. Many fans who follow the draft saw him as an overdraft at best; some argued that he represented a deliberate attempt by the team to target a player so mediocre that he'd have no negotiating leverage and, therefore, low bonus demands.

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