St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Chris Carpenter continues to feel the effects from a nerve injury in his arm. That injury cost him most of the 2012 MLB season. General manager John Mozeliak claimed that Carpenter feels numbness and bruising in his right shoulder and hand. Carpenter will probably miss all of 2013. At age 37, retirement is a strong possibility.

Who will replace Carpenter? Kyle Lohse is still on the open market. Lohse is coming off a season when he had a 16-3 record with a 2.86 ERA. Teams are weary of giving the 34-year-old pitcher a huge contract extension. They don't want to lose a draft pick after Lohse rejected his qualifying offer. As far as payroll is concerned, the Cardinals could afford him from the money they'd get from Carpenter retiring.

The St. Louis Cardinals are reportedly comfortable with the young arms in their farm system. Some of their top young arms include Shelby Miller, Joe Kelly and Trevor Rosenthal. Let's not forget that this team never caved in to the demands of Albert Pujols. They replaced his contributions with Carlos Beltran, Allen Craig and other young players. Lance Lynn was also a nice surprise for this team in 2012.