Opening Day forecast: Gray with a chance of rain

[imetsatchelpaige]

According to some veteran posters who shall remain nameless (Scouty), it's Spring Training and nothing counts, nothing to worry about, nothing to see here.
I do not share that optimism about our #1 starter. Trivia question: who is then last #1 Cardinal tarter to have an ERA over 11 going out of ST?
A:______
Sonny Gray is struggling, and a near 13 ERA heading out of Spring is not any reason for optimism. Platitudes abound: "Experimenting," "trying new stuff," "the outing did not matter." He better hope so, because he had nothing, again. Hammered.
On the positive side, the rest of the staff looks solid and deep. It's been many years since I could say that. Few here thought Matz could recover. I thought Mikolas was completely cooked. McGreavy has pitched beyond his experience and shows guts (a 0.6 WHIP should turn all our heads), and Liberatore is at last coming into his own. BP looks very good.
I am hoping I am wrong about our #1, and happy to make amends if that happens. Here's hoping...