Cardinals not afraid to make moves.

One thing is for sure. Cardinal GM, John Mozeliak, is not afraid to make changes on a team that made it to the World Series.

In a 2-day span, he pulled off a 4-player trade and signed a free-agent. And in doing so, did NOT give up any of the young pitching the rest of the league covets.

Lets start with Friday. The Cardinals knowing that fan favorite, David Freese, was arbitration eligible, was going to make at least 5.3 million, and was coming off a sub-par season, dealt the 3rd baseman, along with forgotten reliever, Fernando Salas, to the Angels for CF Peter Bourjos and minor league outfielder, Randal Grichuk.

By making this trade, the Cardinals can now move Matt Carpenter from 2B to his normal 3B spot. Kolten Wong then will be given the 2B job.

In the outfield, Bourjos will at least share CF with Jon Jay, if not take the job over entirely. The other player the Cardinals received, Grichuk, will begin the season in AAA.

What does this deal do for St. Louis? They get better defensively. Both Freese and Jay had down years in the field. Carpenter and Bourjos will be improvements at those positions, as will Wong at 2B.

This will also vastly improve team speed. Both Bourjos and Wong have the capabilities to steal 20-plus bases next season. A part of the game the Cards were 2nd to last in all of MLB.

The Cards also save 3-4 million by eliminating Freese's salary and also get 2 players that are younger.

Part 2 of the Cardinals busy weekend involves signing free-agent SS Jhonny Peralta of the Tigers.

Since the season ended, it was known that St. Louis was going to look to upgrade at SS. Peter Kozma was barely able to hit his weight. The team looked at making a trade to acquire a SS, but found out real quick that no matter who they looked at, the price was going to be one of the teams young pitchers.

Unwilling to do that, Mozeliak decided to sign Peralta to a 4-yr, 52 million dollar deal. Last season Peralta hit 11 HR's...55 RBI...and batted .303.

The signing gives the team something it hasn't had in a while, a shortstop that can hit.

There are a few thoughts to what the Cardinal starting lineup might be in 2014. Here's how I see it.

CF - Bourjos
3B - Carpenter
LF - Holliday
1B - Adams
RF - Craig
 C - Molina
SS - Peralta
2B - Wong