You can do it!

"I'd bet on Rick Ankiel," remarked Tony LaRussa in an ESPN interview during spring training, and I'm inclined to trust him. I'm not racing to pull out my wallet, mind you, but LaRussa's one of those GMs (Dusty Baker and Art Howe, I'm also looking at you) who gets by further on intuition than anyone should. Not sure what's making LaRussa's spider-sense all tingly about Ankiel: as of this writing, he's been out of the major leagues for three years and he won't throw a pitch until at least August after reconstructive elbow surgery. That's sorta been the drill with Ankiel : surgery, followed by racing to come back too quickly, followed by injury relapse, ad infinitum. This time will be the real test. No really, this time it's for real; I think it all hinges on what happens in 2005. After a meltdown in his first six starts of the 2001 season, Ankiel has been all kinds of awful. He finished 2001 out by getting demoted from AAA, missed all of 2002, sucked it up in AA at the beginning of the 2003 and then missed the rest due to surgery. I can't even think of a good precedent for Ankiel's struggles, aside from the obvious Steve Blass-Mark Wohlers points of comparison. But there's at least two things that won't make LaRussa look like a fool: Ankiel's fastball is nasty, and with a lot of strengthening, he'll probably recover that velocity and might make it as a 7th or 8th inning specialist. Oh, and the fact that Todd Van Poppel, another mega-hyped prospect who has seen his share of ups and downs boasts a career ERA a full point over league average and has already qualified for his major-league pension. With no amazing pitching prospects in the wings, it's about all the Cardinals have to pin their hopes on.