Welcome to the 13th of 30 "2008 Team Previews", where I'm - you guessed it! - offering up a little preview of the 2008 season for each of the teams. Nothing super fancy, (I'm not writing books here munecas), just a few notes on what major moves the teams made over the winter and a thought or two on their upcoming season. I'm going in reverse order of 2007 standings, so next up is....

2007 Record: .481 (78-84), 3rd place in NL Central

2006 Record: .574 (93-69), World Series champs (still baffles my mind)

Who's Out: So Taguchi (OF), Scott Rolen (3B), David Eckstein (SS), Jim Edmonds (OF)

Who's In: Kyle Lohse (P), Jason LaRue (C), Cesar Izturis (SS), Matt Clement (P), Troy Glaus (3B), Ron Villone (P)

Notes: Only two years removed from a World Series championship (most of us are still wondering how that happened, or we've just forgotten), the Cardinals have done some much needed house cleaning by unloading Eckstein, Rolen and Edmonds. The first two will take their "scrappy dirtbag (but in a good way!)" act upnorth to Toronto, where they will likely "scrap" their way to another 3rd-4th place finish for the Blue Jays. Edmonds takes his one time stellar glove to my home of San Diego, but injuries have taken their toll in these later years of his career. I'm not sure if there's enough Krazy Glue in this town to keep him together. Unloading these vets is definitely a positive moving forward. Unfortunately, there isn't much to look forward to for the Cardinals in 2008. The mains toryline for this season will be Pujols' fragile elbow, and whether he'll try to play through the pain, or just do the smart thing and get the surgery so he can come back healthy for 2009. The (hopeful) rise of Colby Rasmus is likely to be one of the bright spots for Cardinals fans this year. Sure, they're in the NL Central, but that really just provides false hope. Odds are quite short that they can out-perform the Cubs or Brewers. Cardinals fans will be patient and encouraging as always, so have another Budweiser, and look at that 2006 banner if you get sad.