ST. LOUIS, Mo, January 22, 2013 – The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they have agreed to terms with pitcher Jason Motte on a two-year contract for the 2013 and 2014 seasons, avoiding salary arbitration.

Motte, 30, tied for the National League lead with a career high 42 saves in 2012 and became the first Cardinal in franchise history to record every save during the season. The right-hander ranked 9th among N.L. relievers last season with a career high 86 strikeouts, 8th with a .191 opponent’s batting average and T11th in innings pitched (72.0). He also ranked second in the league with 58 games finished.

“We are excited to be able to have Jason under control for the next two years,” said team Sr. Vice President & General Manager, John Mozeliak. “We wanted to recognize what Jason has accomplished for the Cardinals and the role he has played in our bullpen. He exemplifies the type of player on and off the field we want in our organization, and we’re looking forward to having him part of the team for the next two seasons.”

Motte made his Major League debut with the Cardinals in 2008 and since that time has a 17-13 career record with 54 saves. His 54 saves rank 11th all-time among Cardinals relievers, and his 42 saves last season marked the 6th-highest total in a single season, becoming just the fourth Cardinal in franchise history to reach the 40-save plateau (Bruce Sutter, Lee Smith, Jason Isringhausen).

From MLBTradeRumors.com - The agreement buys out Motte’s two final years of arbitration, but won’t delay his path to free agency. He still projects to hit the open market following the 2014 season. Motte had filed for a $5.5MM salary for 2013 and the Cardinals had countered with $4.5MM, as MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker shows. The 30-year-old set himself up for a raise from his 2012 salary of $1.95MM by posting a 2.75 ERA with 10.8 K/9, 2.1 BB/9 and an NL-best 42 saves this past season.

The deal is worth $12MM and includes performance bonuses, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (on Twitter).

Motte’s signing leaves two arbitration eligible players left unsigned: third baseman David Freese and left handed pitcher Marc Rzepczynski.

Instagram Fan of the Day Promotion Announced
Fans encouraged to follow @cardinals on Instagram & share their original fan photo memories using #cardsgram

ST. LOUIS – September 26, 2012 - The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they have launched the Cardinals Instagram Fan of the Day promotion to showcase original, fan-generated photos via the Cardinals social media as part of the team’s end-of-season fan appreciation efforts.

“We are celebrating the best fans in baseball by asking them to share their favorite original Cardinals photo with us,” said Bill DeWitt III, President of the Cardinals. “Thanks to cell phone technology and apps like Instagram, even amateur photographers can take some pretty cool photos.”

Dewitt said the team is urging fans to share original photos of their favorite baseball moment or of themselves, family or friends enjoying Cardinals baseball or just showing their Cardinals pride. To participate in the contest, fans must be at least 18 years of age and on Instagram, follow the team’s account (@cardinals) and tag their photo with the hashtag #cardsgram. Fans can tag as many photos as they like and view photos from other participating fans by using #cardsgram in the search bar ofInstagram.

Everyday throughout the rest of the 2012 season, including hopefully well into the postseason, the Cardinals will showcase one lucky fan’s photo each day on the Cardinals Instagram account, as well as the team’s Facebook (facebook.com /cardinals) and Twitter (@cardinals) pages. The Cardinals Instagram Fan of the Day’s photo will be shared with more than a million fans that follow the club’s official social media channels. Fans can learn more about the Cardinals Instagram Fan of the Day contest atwww.cardinals.com/cardsgram .

If there is one thing we love to do, it is to give away things to our loyal readers.

We give away books, movies, swag and much more on a regular basis.  Today, we were presented with the opportunity to award our fans with what they really want: the ability to go see their team play in person.

In conjunction with some of our favorite blogs, C70 At The Bat and Pitchers Hit Eighth, and on behalf of Sports Vacation Guys, we give you just that opportunity.

No, it’s not a leftover headline from 54 weeks ago, it’s a new one, but one that’s all too familiar.  St. Louis Cardinals’ workhorse, Chris Carpenter hasn’t thrown from a mound in days, and it’s likely to be several more days (at the very least) before he does again.  Manager Mike Matheny reminded everyone this week that you’ve got to ‘work backwards from what you think Opening Day is going to look like’, and prepare accordingly.

Chris Carpenter is being evaluated for carryover injuries from carrying the team on his back down the stretch in 2011.

With that in mind, consider Carpenter the Opening Day starter when the Cardinals and new-look Miami Marlins open their new ballpark (and the season*) on April 4.  Assuming the club would want his last spring training start to go 7 innings & take place 5 days before the opener, which admittedly is probably more rigid that what’s probably really expected, especially now, it turns out to be a very aggressive schedule.  Counting backwards from there, Carp would need to pitch on roughly the following schedule…give or take.

This coming Thursday, the 15th, he would need to throw four innings.  If you don’t already see the big problem here, you’re missing something big.  After this Thursday, it would need to be:

• Tue March 20 – 5 innings
• Sun March 25 – 6 innings
• Fri March 30 – 7 innings (last spring start)

I know, right?

Four more starts between now and Opening Day.  The first of those, we KNOW (or are at least 95% certain) isn’t going to happen.  Assuming he does come back and pitch again in spring training this season, a reach at this point, there’s little hope that he would be opening the season that night in Miami.  Heck, back that schedule down to 6 innings on the 30, and it’s still a longshot.

This isn’t good, Cards fans.  ‘course, we were all saying the same thing 54 weeks ago, and I’d say the 2011 season turned out just fine.

*Kind of.  You know, those games in Japan 5 days prior count, but aren’t supposed to be considered “season openers”.  Plus, if you have to add the tag “for games played on U.S. soil” it kind of loses some luster.

Ask a Cardinal fan about Carlos Beltran and one of two things usually come to mind. His 2004 NLCS performance, when he hit 4 home runs in seven games, or his 2006 NLCS-ending strikeout at the hands of Adam Wainwright‘s curveball. With Allen Craig possibly out for the first month of the season, St Louis appears to be in the market for another outfielder, and Beltran’s name keeps popping up. Would he be a fit in St Louis?

With Matt Holliday in left and Jon Jay in center, the Cardinals would slot Beltran in right. Beltran has spent the majority of his professional career patrolling center field, sliding over to right only last season. Whether he was a competent corner defender is somewhat ambiguous. He saved 1 run on the Dewan plus/minus scale, ranking 13th amongst right fielders, making him average. By UZR/150, on the other hand, he posted a -9.2, which would be below average. By way of comparison, Lance Berkman cost the Cardinals 10 runs in right per Dewan, and was -10.2 by UZR/150.

So should the Cardinals bring Beltran in they would get a defender not much better than Berkman was last season.

At this point of his career, however, St Louis would not be signing Beltran for his defense, but rather for his bat. Beltran is still an elite offensive player. He has not posted an OPS+ less than 100 since 2005. Last year he posted an OPS+ of 152 while splitting the season between pitcher-friendly Citi Field and pitcher-friendly AT&T Park. He’s hit the ball particularly well in limited action at Neo-Busch. Beltran has appeared in 12 games since the stadium opened in 2006, posting a .340/.407/.681 line. Granted, he wouldn’t have the luxury of facing Cardinal pitching anymore, but regardless he seems comfortable hitting in the ballpark.

Beltran probably won’t command $19 million like he did his last 3 seasons in New York, but it’s not unreasonable to think he’d at least command Rafael Furcal money ($6 or $7 million for next season). For that kind of salary, one has to wonder if the Cardinals would cede the starting RF position to him and relegate Craig back to the bench. That in and of itself would be a tragedy; for if Craig proved anything in the post-season, its that he is ready for a full-time job in the Majors.

So does Carlos Beltran fit on the Cardinals team? Probably not; not for the money it will take to sign him. No GM in their right mind is going to pay someone $7 million to be a bench player.

Mike Metzger is an I-70 contributing writer. He tries to blog about the San Diego Padres. Follow him on Twitter.

Last week, Greg Luethen wrote about how he almost missed game six of the World Series. We then challenged fans to tell us their story for a chance to win a copy of the World Series DVD from A&E. The following entries will be receiving a copy courtesy of A&E and all of us here at I-70.

Luke McGowan
My story, much like many others, was one of defeat, exuberance, defeat again, and utter hysteria to end it all. I was at a friends house watching the game and it was just us two. Living in St. Louis and only being miles from Busch Stadium I almost couldn’t handle that I was not at the stadium or at the very least downtown outside of the center field gates; then the game got ugly. I now was happy I didn’t waste my time going downtown, what a deflating loss to end it all. We had stepped out onto the front patio where we were taking a smoke break and I thought to myself ‘this might be the last Cardinals game until April…I have to at least keep an eye on it.’ Through the window of the house I could see the TV and saw Allen Craig’s home run. At that moment I too was even more disgusted with Matt Holliday and why he wasn’t replaced earlier that game. Plagued by Albert’s possible last at bat we went inside to watch the rest of the game, but for some reason I could not sit down. Deep down inside, I had a feeling, I knew it was possible, and it was causing me to be so anxious I couldn’t possibly sit. It was at that moment, when David Freese came to the plate that Greg himself text messaged me “brace yourself, you may never forget the next 10 minutes of your life.” This text turned out to be spot on. The home run by Josh Hamilton in the 10th was the most deflating moment of the entire game. After one of the highest highs, we hit the lowest lows….but little did we know that fate had not spoken. A day I will remember for ever, and a Championship I will share with my grand kids some day. Go Cardinals. #12in12.

Jake McGowan
I was in Washington DC at a tax conference sponsored by Ernst and Young. I enjoy attending this conference each year and had signed up about a month earlier. However, this year my plans had hit a bit of a coral reef. Through the good graces of my son Jack and daughter Grace, I had purchased tickets for games 1 and 7 of the World Series. Game 1 was a great success and a glorious start for the Cards. I then checked the calendar and realized (what a bummer) I could not attend Game 7. It was scheduled for Thursday October28th.

I arrived in DC on Wednesday for the first day of the EY Tax Conference. There were rumors floating about that the Cardinals game might be cancelled that night due to rain. If so, then the final two games would be rescheduled to Thursday and Friday. My flight on Friday was scheduled to arrive in St. Louis around 4:45.

I was elated at the thought that I could be able to attend game 7 after all. Game 6 now took on much greater significance for me. I could not believe I might actually see Game 7 of the World Series. Not only that, but I would be able to take that all-time famous sports fan by the name of Madj (lol).

As soon as the dinner banquet concluded on Wednesday evening I went to a sports bar in Washington DC by the name of Green Turtle. It was about the third inning and the Cardinals were losing when I arrived. I then witnessed the dropped fly ball by David Freese, replays of the earlier Cardinal errors and the two Ranger homeruns.

I was the only Cardinals fan in the place. I didn’t care and was bantering a bit with about 6 younger Ranger fans around the TV. It was a little bit of fun. After all it was the World Series. However, after 7 innings I could not take it any longer. I politely bid farewell to the Ranger fans and told them to come visit us in St. Louis sometime.

It was cold and dark and late and raining as I went back to the hotel. The weather fit my mood perfectly I went to my room watched TV news for about ten minutes and tried to go to sleep.

After about an hour I heard that familiar ching ching from my Iphone which meant I had gotten a text message. Out of curiosity I jumped up and looked to see what was happening. It was a text from my son Luke that simply read, “Best Cardinals game ever.” I though “oh my gosh, what is happening?” Had the Cardinals won and I missed it? I quickly turned on TV in my hotel room to see David Freese walking to the plate.

They were in the 11^th inning. I couldn’t believe the score was tied. My hope and anticipation suddenly woke up. At the same time I felt like I was in a dream. How did this happen? I cannot believe David Freese is coming to bat. Then, WHACK! ~ out to center field sails that majestic line drive that was clearly going to be a game winning walk off homer. The second it went over the fence I instinctively let out a very loud, “Yeeeaaaaaaahhhh.”

The euphoria of the Cardinals win was immediately intensified for me as I realized that I my life long dream of attending a game 7 of the World Series was going to probably happen!

The rest is happy history. I still think sometimes that I was in an amazingly good dream for the whole experience! I got to take my wife to game 7. My soon to be daughter in law Blake was there. She is great. The only member of my family not really involved was my lovely and dear daughter Esther. She doesn’t care about the Cardinals. Haha.

Matt Thiel
My story is pretty simple: I talked a buddy out of selling me his Game 6 tickets. With Game 6 and 7 originally scheduled for Wednesday-Thursday, I scheduled a vacation day for Friday so I wouldn’t have to worry about getting up at 3:30a eastern for work IF Game 7 happened. I had scheduled this vacation day out a week or so before, but with craptastic weather rolling through St. Louis Wednesday, a buddy with tickets to Game 6 and Game 7 shot me a text to see if I wanted to take his Game 6 tickets off his hands and just call off work Thursday too. His girlfriend is a teacher in St. Louis, and definitely had to work Thursday, so any sort of long rain delay would probably mean A). she’s miserable to deal with for the next couple of days or B). they would have to leave in the middle of the game.

I passed on Game 6 tickets on Wednesday. Then…

Thursday comes, and he asks me again ‘Hey, do you want to grab these Game 6 tickets?’. His girlfriend has to work Friday morning, and I don’t since I already had this vacation day set. I passed again since I would be back home in St. Louis in a couple of weeks for a Blues game, and at $225 a pop, it’s a little pricey to watch Jaime Garcia try to collapse.

Then magic happened, and not more than 30 seconds after Freese gallops home, I get a picture mail with no text from my buddy and his girlfriend. Dick move, but appropriate since I talked him out of selling me his tickets twice.

Needless to say, I would gladly pay him with a Brinks Truck full of gold to rewind it back to that Thursday.

Congrats to our winners.

2012 Official St. Louis Cardinals Postseason Pep Rally

DATE: Tuesday, October 4th

LOCATION: The Ballpark Village Lot, located at Clark Street & Broadway.

TIME: 1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Fredbird & Team Fredbird will give away prizes

Trixie Delight, a local rock cover band, will provide musical entertainment

Rick Horton, Todd Thomas & Pat Parris

Governor Jay Nixon

For starters it can get you five to eight years (at 30 per) of the best player in baseball. It could get you another five or so years of roughly 328/43/127. At the very least it will get the Cardinals another 2.5 million fans through the turnstiles and continued jersey sales.

Come this November John Mozeliak is going to have a big decision to make. This decision ties directly into Mozeliak’s future with the Cardinals. The direction Mo and management choose to go with all that loot will determine whether he is the next Joe McDonald or Dal Maxvill. Perhaps the question should read “what should you get with $30 million” rather than what do you get.

Bill Dewitt is the father to Mozeliaks’ son. The situation reminds me of a father who gives his son a $50 bill and tells him he can spend it any way he wants…as the boy walks away the father yells from a distance but don’t spend it all in one place! Granted the scale is different. It is a lot easier to recover from misspending $50 as opposed to $30 million. But if there is a more fitting analogy for the upcoming Cardinals offseason, please someone tell me.

Should the Cardinals choose to invest the money into one player, Albert Pujols, it’s an easy sell to the fans. You keep the best player in baseball in St. Louis and make sure he retires wearing the Birds on a Bat. You create a reason to turn in and come out to the games. The marketing slogan writes itself, “Come out and watch Albert’s assault on the records books.” The fans will file in and the Cardinals will win some games.

The danger in this is a return to the McGwire era. A time when the Cardinals were relevant not for winning pennants or competing for the World Series but for their dominating super star. The games were must see TV and the team set attendance records year after year. And it is safe to say profits were up for Dewitt & Co. Well for myself and many other fans being relevant and winning some games is not enough.

Which leads to the another answer to the initial question. Follow the father’s advice and spread the money around. $30 million can get the Cardinals one player, a 3-time MVP. It can also get them two more years of a Cy Young winning pitcher, two to three years of a switch hitting 5-time All Star and either a legit middle of the rotation starting pitcher or an actual closer.

Anyone who has watched the Cardinals blow 24 saves and struggle behind Chris Carpenter is torn between rectifying those issue and locking up Pujols long term. From a logical, baseball point of view it should be an easy decision. As nice as it is to have the best player in baseball, the best player of a generation, perhaps the best hitter of all time a Cardinal, winning a World Series takes precedence.

As much as I wish the choice was mine, it is not. It is up to a group of individuals as concerned with profits as they are with winning. They will make the decision which way to invest more with their wallets than their hearts. Will it be Albert Pujols or will it be Chris Carpenter, Lance Berkman and Heath Bell.

Either way Cardinal faithful will fill the seats at Busch. But for how long. It has been four years (with Pujols) since the Cardinals last won a playoff game. If the empty seats this season are any indication, the fans are tired of mediocre baseball. The real question is, are the owners?

These are just my thoughts…keep on reading and you’ll get up to speed.

Derek is on Twitter @SportsbyWeeze and also writes for the Rams at RamsHerd.com
Also on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/SportsByWeeze