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The St. Louis Cardinals made their first move toward upgrading their offense on Tuesday, trading right-hander Blake Hawksworth to the Los Angeles Dodgers for shortstop Ryan Theriot.

Theriot became expendable earlier this week when Los Angeles signed Juan Uribe, who can play multiple infield positions like Theriot, but has a little more pop.

Theriot, who holds a career batting average of .284, represents a significant offensive upgrade for a team that got a combined .244 out of their middle infielders in 2010, and a .221 mark out of their shortstops.

Theriot also has 165 of his 589 starts at second base, where he could spell Skip Schumaker against lefties. Schu holds a .220 career average against left-handers, and a .303 average against righties. Conversely, Theriot holds a .302 average against lefties, and a .277 average against righties.

A former Cub, Ryan also has experience in the National League Central. He holds a .303 average against NL Central pitchers.

At this point, Theriot will likely lead off, although he will need to improve his .323 on-base percentage from last year, a career low. Theriot brings speed to a previously plodding lineup, as he’s stolen at least 20 bases in the past four seasons. Last year, Albert Pujols led the team with 14 steals.

Now that Theriot projects as a starter in the middle infield, either Brendan Ryan or Skip Schumaker may be expendable next week at the Winter Meetings. The Cardinals would still like to improve their offense, and may package one of their middle infielders in a deal.

Then again, they may decide to head into 2011 with a deep middle infield consisting of Ryan, Theriot, and Schumaker, all relatively low-cost options. Theriot is under contract through 2012, and made just $2.6 million in 2010.

The Cardinals will send Blake Hawksworth to L.A. in the deal. Hawksworth experienced some success as a swingman for the Cardinals in 2009 and ’10, but the Cardinals had a surplus of right-handed relief.

In a not entirely unrelated move, the Cardinals may have solved another issue, signing left-handed reliever Brian Tallet to a one-year deal. Tallet was released by the Blue Jays last month, and the Cardinals, who were looking for a left-handed specialist to replace Dennys Reyes, snatched him up.

Tallet had a 6.40 ERA last season, and coughed up 20 homers, but he also held left-handers to a .176 average. The Cardinals plan to employ him as a specialist, so he may have more success in limited action.

Theriot and Tallet were teammates at Louisiana State University, where they won a national title in 2000. The Cardinals are hoping that they can duplicate that success in the majors.

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I know I am about week late with this, but with a busy work schedule and all the other things that went on in baseball last week, I couldn’t get to it.  I just wanted to comment on the St. Louis Cardinals re-signing RHP Jake Westbrook.

Kudos on both sides on getting this done.

Westbrook is a perfect fit in St. Louis

Kudos to Westbrook and his camp on knowing where his bread is buttered. As we have seen in the past with this retread pitchers in St. Louis, they don’t realize where their bread is buttered. Jeff Suppan, Jeff Weaver, and Joel Pineiro I am talking to you.

After coming over from the Cleveland Indians in July, Westbrook had a 3.48 ERA, a 1.25 WHIP, and a 62 percent Groundball Percentage in 75 innings. The last stat is why Westbrook is a perfect fit St. Louis.

A groundball pitcher plus a legendary pitching coach who emphasizes pounding the strike zone and throwing groundballs plus facing weaker National League lineups equals success. At the age of 33, Westbrook has the chance to be very successful in a Cardinals’ uniform in 2011 and 2012.

Kudos to the Cardinals and their staff for bringing back Westbrook at a reasonable cost. A two-year, $16.5 million contract for a pitcher like Westbrook is a pretty fair deal.

With Westbrook sliding into the No. 3 or 4 spot in the rotation on a regular basis, the Cardinals have one of the deepest starting rotations in the National League. Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Jaime Garcia, and Westbrook is a very formidable rotation.

It’s a rotation that should help the Cardinals compete with the Cincinnati Reds for supremacy in the NL Central. I do think the Cardinals need to figure out a way to make their lineup more balanced in order to reclaim the top spot from the Reds. Right now, their lineup is very top heavy.

Westbrook has a 4.29 ERA, a 1.37 WHIP, and a 59 percent Groundball Percentage in 10 seasons with the New York Yankees, Indians, and Cardinals.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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The St. Louis Cardinals officially kicked off their hot stove season with their first major move of the off-season, inking mid-season acquisition Jake Westbrook to a two-year deal worth $16.5 million. The deal includes a full no-trade clause and a mutual option for 2013.

The deal takes care of one of the items on this offseason’s agenda: finding a fourth starter. If Westbrook can replicate his second half numbers from 2010, the deal could pay off big for the Cardinals in the future.

After coming over in a three-team deal that sent All-Star right fielder Ryan Ludwick to the San Diego Padres, Westbrook dominated the National League. His 4-4 record was not indicative of how well he pitched. He posted an ERA of 3.48 and far outpaced his career strikeout rates. What he really excelled at was getting groundballs. Had he mustered enough innings to qualify, his stellar groundball rate would have only been equaled by Braves ace Tim Hudson.

With the free agent market for pitchers very thin beyond  Cliff Lee, who the Cardinals had virtually no chance of signing. With that in perspective, this deal looks like a bit of a steal for St. Louis. Perhaps, because of his much-improved performance after moving into the National League and under the tutelage of masterful pitching coach Dave Duncan, Westbrook felt he needed the Cardinals as much as, if not more than, they need him.

“I didn’t want it to get to the point where I had the [possibility] of the Cardinals maybe finding somebody else and thinking that I didn’t really want to be there,” Westbrook said. “I knew I wanted to be a part of this team, and I was glad to get something done now. Now I can just not worry about it. I’m looking forward to a full season with the Cardinals.”

Now that Westbrook has been inserted into an already strong rotation that consists of former Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter, this year’s runner-up Adam Wainwright, dazzling prospect Jaime Garcia, and former 16-game winner Kyle Lohse, the Cardinals seem to be ready to sit pat on the starting rotation.

“We’re all thrilled,” General Manager John Mozeliak said. “We really think it sets up our rotation to be very strong in 2011.”

However, Mozeliak hints that the Redbirds may be in the market for a sixth starter, to provide extra depth for a rotation that has experienced some injury issues in the past, although not enough to make adding another starter a necessity.

The Cardinals’ first order of business, however, remains signing an extension with star first baseman and three-time Most Valuable Player Albert Pujols.

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After Albert Pujols won a Gold Glove quite handily, some might have thought he’d be done collecting awards this offseason.

Not so for Pujols, who, along with teammate Matt Holliday, claimed a Silver Slugger on Thursday.

Pujols claimed the first baseman’s award after leading the league with 42 homers and 118 RBI. His .312 batting average was good for sixth in the league. Holliday was one double shy of league-leader Jayson Werth.

For Holliday, the award does mean something. It’s his fourth, and if he wants to improve on his borderline Hall of Fame chances, piling up these awards will look good in the eyes of the voters. He missed out on the 2007 MVP award to Jimmy Rollins, so he’ll need to stack up as many accolades as he can.

But for Albert, the award may have a much more immediate impact.

The one thing that Pujols’s award does is gives us a clearer image of the MVP race. Pujols’s main competitors for his third straight MVP are Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, who also took home a Silver Slugger of his own, and Reds first baseman Joey Votto, who Pujols beat out for the Silver Slugger.

While these awards don’t guarantee Pujols the Most Valuable Player crown, or even make him the favorite, it stills shows that he is a force to be reckoned with. Prior to the Silver Slugger announcement, most people had anointed Votto as the favorite for the MVP.

Now, after sweeping the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger at first base, the coaches and managers who vote on the awards have shown that they believe Albert is unequivocally the best first baseman in the league.

Don’t get me wrong. I know that the votes are locked in, and I know that Albert’s still not the favorite. But for those who banked on Votto (myself included), this has to paint a different picture. Albert’s been anointed as the best all-around first baseman in the game once again, and I don’t know how you can be the best player in the league if there’s a decidedly superior player, offensively and defensively, at the same position.

The winners were Brewers pitcher Yovani Gallardo, Braves catcher Brian McCann, Pujols, Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla, Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, and Holliday, Gonzalez, and the Brewers’ Ryan Braun in the outfield.

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For the tenth time since 2000, the Cardinals have Gold Glovers in their clubhouse.

This time, Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols paired up to make a defensive duo for the Redbirds.

For Molina, this award comes as no surprise. It’s his third straight, placing him on the verge of joining an exclusive club composed of Johnny Bench, Del Crandall, Charles Johnson, and former Cardinal Mike Matheny—the only National Leaguers to win the award more than three times.

“Winning the award for a third year means a lot to me,” said Molina. “It’s why I work hard every day to be one of the best at my position. I’ll continue to work hard to be the first to win four.”

With his most recent victory, the question has become not whether Molina is the premier defensive backstop in baseball, but by how much he outpaces his peers. This season, Molina’s 17 Zone Runs led all catchers, and was nearly double the total of runner-up Humberto Quintero. His 1.6 Defensive WAR also led all catchers by a wide margin, and Molina was fourth in the league in both categories.

Teammates have nothing but good things to say about the backstop.

“He’s unbelievable,” staff ace Chris Carpenter said of Molina, who has been his catcher since he won the Cy Young Award in 2005. “He’s like the guy in the book ‘The Blind Side.’ Everybody talks about the wide receivers and quarterbacks and running backs that make those great plays, but none of that happens if the lineman does not do his job. … Yadi is the unsung hero. He does so many things behind the scenes like calling pitches and blocking balls. It’s not just about throwing guys out. He’s an amazingly smart catcher, and it definitely gives me an advantage having him back there.”

What he really excels at, though, is shutting down the opponent’s running game. He led the league in caught stealing percentage once again this season, with 48.5% of runners caught.

Cubs fans will not soon forget the play Molina made against them last year. With a left-handed batter at the plate and a man on first, Molina deftly picked a breaking ball out of the dirt, wheeled around, and threw around the batter, picking the runner off at first.

Molina currently has 33 pick-offs through his first six full seasons. At that pace, he’ll shatter the record of 81 set by Ivan Rodriguez, and will challenge the major league record of 94, held by pitchers Andy Pettitte and Kenny Rogers.

This should come as no surprise to anyone who has watched Molina play. His laser-cannon arm, plus nearly telepathic connection with first baseman Albert Pujols, are reminiscent of Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, who, like Molina, is the most cerebral player in his sport.

Speaking of Pujols, this was his his second such award, and although he isn’t the revolutionary defensive wizard Molina is, he was still clearly the best player at his position. Albert led the league in putouts, double plays, fielding percentage, and range factor, and led all first basemen in assists.

He becomes the third Cardinal first baseman to win the award twice, joining defensive wizards Bill White and Keith Hernandez.

Pitcher Adam Wainwright and shortstop Brendan Ryan were also in contention for the award, but missed out to Bronson Arroyo and Troy Tulowitzki, respectively.

The winners were Arroyo, Molina, Pujols, Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips, Tulowitzki, Reds third baseman and former Cardinal Scott Rolen, and outfielders Shane Victorino, Michael Bourn, and Carlos Gonzalez.

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Now that the World Series has been wrapped up (congratulations to the San Francisco Giants), the St. Louis Cardinals can look ahead to a pivotal offseason.

In St. Louis, winter isn’t just a season. It’s the time between the end of one journey and the beginning of another. For a city that lives and breathes with the Cardinals, the offseason is usually a time to catch up.

Hold on, Cardinals fans. What happens this offseason may change the face of the Cardinals franchise for years to come.

For once, baseball’s Hot Stove may revolve around the Cardinals, and around a player who is still under contract for 2011. I’m speaking, of course, about Albert Pujols, the best player in the majors today, and possibly the greatest right-handed hitter ever.

As everyone in the 314 area code knows, Pujols’s 7-year/$100 million contract extension will come to an end after the final game of the 2011 World Series, and it stands to reason that he is in line for a large raise. Pujols has made it known that he will not negotiate during the season, so St. Louis has until Opening Day to lock up their star player to a multi-year deal.

However, when, or if, this deal gets done is up in the air. Pujols could certainly get more money on the open market, and he knows it, but he’s repeatedly said he wants to stay in St. Louis.

The situation is still pretty muddled. Pujols hasn’t made his demands clear. He certainly deserves to be the top-payed player in baseball, but unfortunately, the two highest-played players in baseball are grossly overpayed. So, while Alex Rodriguez money may be out of the question, something in the range of Joe Mauer’s contract ($23 million per), would be suitable for both parties.

Also in question would be the length of said contract. Certainly the Cardinals would like to have Pujols locked up for his entire career. While a lifetime contract would be great, look for a ten-or-eleven-year deal. That would take Pujols through his age 40 season.

But that’s looking at things optimistically, from the Cardinals’ point of view.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch sportswriter Joe Strauss, who initially placed St. Louis’s chances of resigning Pujols at 75/25, Strauss now says that the chances of reaching an extension are dwindling by the day, now may be “less than 50/50”.

Some reports are saying that Albert may in fact want Alex Rodriguez money, which is nearly out of the question for the Cardinals. That sort of contract would take up nearly one third of their salary, assuming they don’t open their wallets in a major way. So nothing’s certain.

That begs the question: How much should the Cardinals pay Albert Pujols?

Pujols has clearly been the best player in baseball. He’s already won three MVPs, and is in high contention for his fourth, and third straight. He may be one of the greatest players we’ve ever seen.

So right now, Pujols deserves as much as the Cardinals can give him. But in future years, when Pujols’ production declines, and the home runs slow down, would the contract still be worth it? Yankees fans are already upset about Alex Rodriguez’s “poor” production (.270/.341/.506), which would be welcomed, if not for the fact that he earned nearly $1 million per home run in 2010.

If the Cardinals are paying Pujols in the neighborhood of $27 million when he’s 40, that’s a large chunk of their payroll invested in a guy who may not even be fit to play the field anymore. Unless the National League institutes a designated hitter in the next ten years, such a deal could get ugly fast.

Still, in my opinion, every dollar would be worth it.

In baseball, unlike football or hockey, we don’t remember great teams, but rather great players. This holds exceptionally true in St. Louis, where Ozzie Smith, Lou Brock, Stan Musial, and Bob Gibson all outshone the teams they played on. The Cardinals have always been good about giving their star players the deals they deserve.

Even on the best teams in history, like the famed 1927 Yankees, players like Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig held the teams on their shoulders. One or two future Hall-of-Famers can lift a team to a championship. With Pujols, the Cardinals would have their keystone, and would have the next decade to win that championship.

This can be remembered as a golden age in Cardinals history, similar to the Stan Musial era of the 1940’s and 50’s. Or it could be a return to the 70’s and 90’s, when one or two good, but not great players struggled to lead the Cardinals out of the cellar.

The alternative to resigning Albert is one of the ugliest things to cross the mind of the usually content Cardinals nation in many years:

Pujols will play this season with free agency impending, and most likely put up his usual MVP-type numbers. He heads into the free market, and the Cardinals make a vain attempt to resign him. He ends up signing a record deal with the boisterous, loaded Yankees or Red Sox, the worst case scenario for the humble Cardinals Nation. Despite Pujols being one of the best fielders in baseball, his new team decides to play him at DH, because, with their money, they can afford to.

What happens next is up to the Cardinals. Pujols wants to come back, and I say give him the money. Yes, baseball is a team sport, but I’m willing to admit what many Cardinals fans aren’t willing to say or believe.

I’d rather have ten years of Pujols, the greatest player I will ever watch, play on a mediocre Cardinals team, one that’s likely to make the playoffs, than have the current group of players win a World Series while Pujols wins several with some large-market team.

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Life for the last two World Series MVPs has been overrated.  Winning the trophy has been like a mini-Madden jinx for these players.    

MVP Edgar Renteria helped the San Francisco Giants earn their first World Series title since 1958.

Without his tiebreaking homer in the last game, the Giants may not have won.  It was the second World Series-winning hit of his career.

To thank him, the Giants let him go.

The Cardinals should go try to entice him back to St. Louis before the Cincinnati Reds sign him.  The Reds own a patent on scooping up ex-Cardinals.

A two-time World Series champion, Edgar Renteria had his 2011 contract option rejected by the Giants on Nov. 4.  For the Barranquilla, Colombia, native, the option was worth a reported $9.5-10.5 million.

San Francisco bought the veteran major leaguer out for $500,000, according to reports.

No longer a million dollar baby, Renteria turns 36 years old next Aug. 7.  He’s no spring chicken, but he is still a million dollar ballplayer—ask Cliff Lee. 

Renteria has been missed in St. Louis since 2004.  The Redbirds got horrific production and youth-type mistakes from their shortstops most of last season.

He is a clubhouse leader who is batting .287 for his career and is still more clutch than many younger players.  In fact, he’s probably forgotten more of his clutch hits than the current Cardinals shortstops have made.  In 1997, he hit a walk-off single in the seventh game of the World Series—in extra innings in his sophomore season—with two outs.

A 15-year veteran this season, he was on the disabled list for much of 2010.  He played in the fewest games he ever has.  The Giants almost left him off the playoff roster, but they’re glad they didn’t.

Now he has a big decision to ponder.  The temptation to walk away on top of his game —like many pro athletes wish to—may be too much to allow any team to sign him.     

“It’s always hard to think about retiring,” he said after the Giants’ World Series victory parade.

Not many teams are in the market for aging ballplayers.  Derek Jeter is 35 years old, and his contract negotiations with the Yankees could get messy, according to Hal Steinbrenner.

Hideki Matsui was let go by the Yankees after he won the 2009 World Series MVP.  He was 35 years old.  Matsui signed with the Angels, and they didn’t make the playoffs. 

It wasn’t his fault; in 2010, he batted .274 with 21 home runs and 84 RBI.

Q: Will what happened to the Yankees befall the Giants in 2011? 

A: Most likely.  The Yankees let Johnny Damon walk, too.  Now the Giants are looking at the same scenario: losing a World Series MVP and another important cog in the offense.  

Both organizations put the squeeze play on the money for their World Series MVPs.  That’s a big reason why no one should be expecting the Giants to repeat.

While they may have strong pitching, they could be losing two of their best bats.

Giants shortstop Juan Uribe will turn 32 in January—allegedly.  He has a $3.25 million contract, but free agency is pending. 

The Cardinals need a big-time bat to replace Ryan Ludwick’s. 

Uribe is probably more of a slugger than any middle infielder the Cardinals ever had.  Listed at 6’0″ and a generous 230 pounds, he is built like a running back.  He hit .248 with career highs of 24 home runs and 85 RBI in 2010. 

He lost his starting job with the White Sox to Alexei Ramirez in 2008.  Nobody else wanted to sign him until the Giants gave him a minor-league deal. 

He earned his current contract after batting .289 with 15 home runs in 122 games for the Giants.   

Albert Pujols’s contract is the team’s first priority, and it should be.  Pujols is possibly the best player baseball has seen in the last 15 years.  He wants to win, but he needs help.

The Cardinals opening day starting infield, other than Pujols, hit a grand total of 11 home runs last season.  11.

Pujols re-upping with the Cardinals could hinge on who else the Redbirds sign. 

I hope Tony LaRussa finally learns (1) to feature Brendan Ryan in a reserve utility role, and (2) that Skip Schumaker isn’t a championship-caliber leadoff man.

Under hitting instructor Mark McGwire, last season, Schumaker batted .265 with five home runs and five stolen bases.  He fanned more than he walked. 

Ryan batted .221—a big drop from the .295 he hit in 2009.

Uribe could possibly play third, shortstop or second base, and Colby Rasmus could be groomed for leading off.  If the Cardinals were to sign Renteria and Uribe, they would be adding much needed offensive punch.

By signing Renteria, who hit .330 in 2003 for the Redbirds, the Cardinals would add clutch hitting off the bench.  His veteran leadership skills and winning ways would bring the Cardinals’ quiet swagger back.

Besides swag, both Uribe and Renteria would add solid defense at third—something the Redbirds sorely lacked nearly all of last season.

I want to hear what you all—my seasoned readers—want to comment about.  What do you think about Renteria/Uribe wearing the birds on a bat in 2011?

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Normally I don’t write about pitching coaches, but in this case I will make an exception because I do believe it’s a big deal.

The St. Louis Cardinals announced on Monday at the pitching coach Dave Duncan has signed a two-year contract with a mutual option for 2013. This is pretty big news, and good news if you are a fan of the Red Birds.

As I wrote in my Managerial News and Notes post last week, Duncan is the engine that makes the Cardinals successful as an organization. What he does with these castoffs and misfit pitchers that he deals with is unbelievable.

His resume speaks for itself. Dave Stewart, Storm Davis, Mike Moore, Chris Carpenter, Joel Pineiro, Jeff Suppan and Jeff Weaver. All these pitchers have one thing in common—Duncan turned their careers around and made them, in some cases, Cy Young caliber pitchers.

Duncan will return to a team that, baring an unforeseen trade, will feature Carpenter, Adam Wainwright and Jaime Garcia at the top of the rotation. That is a solid threesome and one of the best in the National League.

It’s the last two spots in the Cardinals rotation where Duncan is going to earn his money. The Cardinals are working hard to bring back Jake Westbrook, who they acquired from the Cleveland Indians and had a 3.48 ERA in 12 starts.

If the Cardinals can bring him back, he would give the Cardinals four solid starters going into 2010. What they do for a fifth starter is anyone’s guess.

First shot would go to Kyle Lohse, who is in the middle of the four-year, $41 million contract he signed a little over a year ago. With $23 million remaining on his contract, Duncan will be asked to work his magic and try to revive Lohse’s career. That’s a very tall task.

Duncan has been in Tony LaRussa’s corner for the past 15 years.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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Early in 2010 David Freese appeared to have become a third base fixture for both the Cardinals and fantasy owners.  Through May he was hitting .318 with 4 HR, 31 RBI, and 22 R in just 176 AB.

However, the wheels were beginning to fall off in June (.234 average) before an ankle injuries ended his season prematurely.  Now, as we begin our preparations for 2011, we are left to wonder exactly what we can expect from him moving forward.

It’s not that the injury should have long lingering effects on his performance.  The question is, is what we saw over the first two months of the season what we should anticipate moving forward or was it a mere aberration.

Before we can get into the numbers, we have to talk about the injuries.  Yes, it is plural, because we have to remember that it actually appeared like he was close to a return in August before suffering a second injury while on a rehab assignment, which is what ended his season.

It was the second consecutive season riddled by injuries, as he suffered from ankle problems in 2009 (as well as had his start of Spring Training delayed due to a car accident).  Last year he had just 258 AB between the majors and minors.

There certainly will be health concerns moving forward, which will help to temper our expectations in general.

Now, onto the actual statistics…

His average in the first two months was buoyed by a .400 BABIP.  We all know that it is impossible to expect him to replicate that type of mark, meaning a .300 hitter he is not.  The luck was going to swing, something we started seeing in June.

Of course, even with decreased luck, more power would mean the ability to hit for a higher average.  That is no guarantee either unfortunately.  In 2010 he had a fly ball rate of just 29.1 percent, certainly a number that is not conducive to hitting for much power.

In the Pacific Coast League in 2009 he had 10 HR and 15 doubles in 200 AB.  Obviously, the league helps to inflate the numbers.  Over his minor league career, his fly ball rate was just 34.7 percent, so there is reason to be skeptical about his power developing into a top option.  He’s already 27-years old, so you would think that if he was going to add power, he would’ve done it already or at least shown more signs of success.

The potential for strikeouts is also there, factoring into concerns over his average.  Last season he posted a 24.6 percent strikeout rate and has a minor league mark of 22.1 percent.  There certainly is a chance that he regresses there, as well, just making matters that much worse.

The bottom line when it comes to Freese is that we shouldn’t get too caught up in a good hot streak in 2010, because that’s the only data we have.  If he had stayed healthy, there’s little doubt in my mind that his numbers would’ve come back closer to what we had expected, as the correction had already appeared to have started.

With that said, let’s take a look at my early projection for him:

.256 (115-450), 14 HR, 65 RBI, 45 R, 3 SB, .313 BABIP, .322 OBP, .398 SLG

Of course, all of this assumes that he is the Cardinals starting third baseman, something that is far from a guarantee.

The projections are buoyed by a 25.1% strikeout rate, a number that is extremely believable given his career performance.  Even at a shallow position, the risk involved with Freese, both in injuries and performance, make him a low-end option, at best, and much better suited as a depth option in deeper formats on draft day 2011.

What are your thoughts of Freese?  Am I being too hard on him?  Do you think he can blossom with regular playing time in 2011?

Make sure to check out our 2011 projections:

Morrow, Brandon

THIS ARTICLE IS ALSO FEATURED ON WWW.ROTOPROFESSOR.COM

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The Cardinals came into this season expecting to challenge the Philadelphia Phillies for the National League pennant and to dethrone the New York Yankees in the World Series.

Yet they were out of contention by the middle of September, in the clutches of a collapse from a first-place tie with their longtime rival, the Cincinnati Reds, and were far removed from being the hottest Redbirds team in three seasons.

Collapse is a more powerful word than the phrase “second-half swoon,” but collapse is more appropriate in this situation, without question.

Redbird Nation is baffled:

How a team expected to swim deep into the playoffs needed CPR, personal oxygen tanks, and a breathing apparatus by the beginning of September is beyond us.

Instead of challenging the Phillies in the playoffs, the Cardinals were eliminated by the Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates with a week remaining in the regular season.

Watching their barroom-brawling rivals run away with the division crown this particular season is a James Bond movie-like bitter and poison pill for diehard Cardinals fans to swallow.

They were 12-6 against the Reds, but their record was an ugly 26-33 against the rest of the division, and 46-50 against teams with a losing record.

Again this year, thanks to a second-half swoon that has become the norm over the last three Redbirds seasons, the Gateway City’s Gas House Gang’s gritty baseball team flavor lost its savor under their now-embattled tragic Cardinal of a manager: Tony LaRussa.

The Cardinals were playing like the best team in baseball from the first pitch after the 81^st All-Star Game.  Starting on July 15, their first eight games after the break were played in St. Louis against two of the top NL teams: the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Eight revenge games to start the second half: The Dodgers had swept the Cardinals out of the playoffs in 2009, and the Phillies were the defending NL Champions.

After the infield dust settled, Major League Baseball eyes watched in admiration at the Redbirds’ sizzling performance.

First, the Birds swept the Dodgers by outscoring them 22-9 in the four-game series.  In July, Joe Torre’s squad was still considered the front-runner to win the NL West.

Then, the Cardinals bopped the Phillies in three straight games, taking the series 3-1, and outscoring Philadelphia 23-8 in the four contests. 

Then, in the very next series, in Chicago against their top rivals (the woefully struggling Cubs), the Cardinals were dismantled by yet another team that owned a losing overall record.

The Cardinals’ August began in Houston against the cellar-dwelling Astros.  Houston shoved an 18-4 loss down the Cardinals’ throat; an embarrassing effort that drew the ire of Cardinals fans who experienced the bitter commentary of MLB analysts as well as those from other team’s fans.

But the Redbirds made up for it a week later, by running Cincinnati red—in Cincinnati.  This was the “Scrap Series,” where the Cardinals swept the clashes but ended up losing the conflict.

Cincinnati’s cocky infielder, Brandon Phillips, a breathing conflict on the diamond, fired the then-second-place Redbirds up with his comments that I will not repeat here.  And when he stepped to the plate, the Cards’ rugged catcher, Yadier Molina, dared Phillips to shine across the line.

Phillips did so and the brawl was on to the Reds’ detriment, or so it seemed.

Being swept by his managerial Mad Hatter in Tony LaRussa, Cincinnati’s skipper Dusty “Batman” Baker’s blood boiled as he was seen bristling in postgame interviews.

The Reds went on a division-clinching run after the series’ infamous summer brawl, while the Cardinals started to swoon.

To end August, the Cardinals got swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates and by the Astros, plus Albert Pujols and the St. Louisans were almost swept by the Washington Nationals.  In the last 10 games of the month, the Cardinals record was 1-9.

The swoon was now lasting way past June.  Even though the Redbirds destroyed the Reds by a score of 6-1 in a game played on national television on the Saturday before Labor Day, for all intents and purposes, the division race was over.

How could a relatively young team with a Cy Young candidate (Adam Wainwright), a first baseman vying for the Triple Crown (Pujols), a $25 million enforcer (Matt Holliday), a top NL closer (Ryan Franklin), and a former Cy Young winner (Chris Carpenter) miss the playoffs? 

Before asking yourself “What just happened?” chew on this:

As you know, I believe that the blame has to fall squarely on the grudge-holding mind of manager Tony LaRussa. 

Both LaRussa and McGwire are pond scum, and now we see them for what they truly are. Hopefully, in this long offseason, consequences and repercussions will be the result. 

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