Somewhere in North America this evening, a baseball writer/columnist is putting together a list of reasons detailing why the local team should have a better showing in 2019.



Many factors will be cited for this, including offseason acquisitions, the harvest of rising prospects, new in-house leadership, positive intangibles and internal improvements.



Obviously analysis like that is premature, traditional and fairly predictable. Smoke is slowly billowing from the corners of the Hot Stove League. The larger transactions are coming. Your favorite team will undergo additional alterations.



So why even initiate a written assessment of a team’s 2019 trending curve that could be rendered obsolete a month from now?



It doesn’t make much sense.



It could be a waste of time and effort.



Except, of course, for this column.



I’m not like those other scribes. (Just kidding.) But seriously, I truly believe the Cardinals...