The St. Louis Cardinals let Kyle Lohse leave as a free agent and then Chris Carpenter essentially retired this winter, but they still entered the season with a deep staff.

The Cardinals' five starters -- Adam Wainwright, Jaime Garcia, Lance Lynn, Jake Westbrook and Shelby Miller -- have a 2.20 ERA, leading the majors through Friday.

"Going into the offseason, we felt like we had eight starters for five spots," general manager John Mozeliak said. "Carp went down, but we still felt like we had depth, and that's why we didn't feel an obligation to chase free agents."