Dayton Daily News

ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

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■ Manager: Mike Matheny (seventh season).

■ 2017: 83-79, third place.

■ Training Town: Jupiter, Florida.

■ Park: Roger Dean Stadium.

■ First Workout: Feb. 14/19.

■ He’s Here: LF Marcell Ozuna, RHP Miles Mikolas, RHP Luke Gregerson.

■ He’s Outta Here: RHP Lance Lynn, OF Stephen Piscotty, OF Randal Grichuk, RHP Seung-hwan Oh, RHP Juan Nicasio, SS Aledmys Diaz.

■ Going campin’: The Cardinals have had one losing season since the start of the century, but are facing immense pressure from fans after finishing behind the Cubs and Brewers last season. St. Louis missed the playoffs for a second straight year, the first time that’s happened since 2007-08. That drought — at least by Cardinals’ standards — was the fuel for a busy offseason that saw them pursue NL MVP Stanton before coming away with Ozuna instead in a trade with the Marlins. Ozuna immediatel­y steps in as the top power hitter for St. Louis after socking 37 home runs last season. He’ll be joined in the outfield by center fielder Tommy Pham, who emerged after years of injury concerns to hit 23 homers and steal 25 bases, while Dexter Fowler is moving to right. Mikolas returns fromJapan to join the rotation. Gregerson enters the spring as the closer but hard-throwing Alex Reyes may move into that role once recovered from elbow surgery.

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