The early season tailspin of the Cardinals season was due much in part the inability to close games out late. The struggles extended when the search to find the right arm to fill in to the final frame role. Yet, when Edward Mujica took the ball to close out for the first time on April 18 in Philadelphia, everything changed, because Mujica’s performance didn’t. He converted that save for the club, and hasn’t wasted a chance since, and it’s no coincidence that since he established himself even later in games, and this weekend he saved both of the Cardinal wins, running his season total to a perfect 13 for 13.

“Chief” has taken the same lock down performance he brought to seventh inning a year ago over this season, and has firmly established himself as the club’s most reliable reliever. Since arriving in St. Louis last August, he has put up a 1.19 ERA in 45.1 Cardinal innings, an effort that has also seen him perform unflappably in two different roles in the Cardinal pen. “Adding Mujica was huge for us,” pitcher Mitchell Boggs stated regarding his impact upon arrival last year. “He stabilized our bullpen and gave us another proven arm that could go out there night in and night out. We took off as a bullpen when we got him.”

Historically, he was not a final inning arm before coming to St. Louis. His career ERA in the eighth inning is 4.96, while 3.16 in the ninth. Yet, with his success closing out games raising his profile, it makes him a sleeper candidate for a guy having a huge contract year.

Hitting the market with a ninth inning grade is much different than a seventh/eighth inning one. Mujica, who is bringing in just over $3 million for the 2013 season, which was due from his final arbitration year, is setting himself up for a bigger boost due to the presence of one of the most rewarded stats in baseball: saves. And with Jason Motte on the mend and with no easy date to say when he’ll be ready to go, there’s a chance the Cardinals will have to get very competitive to keep him in the stable.

As things stand now, he’s aligning himself to be among the best relievers in the National League this season, and if history shows anything, it’s that a big jump in saves can equal a very solid jump in pay grade. When Brandon League saved 37 games for the Mariners in 2011, he had never bettered six before in a season. He also had never bettered $2.2 million per season either, yet when he neared free agency this past winter, the Dodgers handed him $27.5 million over the next four seasons, much in part due to that breakout year only one season removed. Similar cases can be seen recently with Joel Hanrahan, Grant Balfour and Francisco Cordero. The closer market overall will be very open for “jump biding” this winter, meaning it’s ripe for the over pay, which damages the Cardinals chances at retaining Mujica at a manageable price, even in a setup capacity.

Yet, the need for a return to St. Louis will be highly influenced by the price, as well as the contingencies. Trevor Rosenthal is in the wings, and is being groomed to be the ninth inning arm of the future, regardless of Motte’s status. If the price for Mujica surpasses the $5 million mark annually (which it seems guaranteed to do), is there a chance the Cardinals bow out in favor of parking one of the promising arms within the system in the role for nearly 90% less? With Rosenthal as well as Joe Kelly, Carlos Martinez, and potentially Mitchell Boggs, in the wings, the Cardinals hold over until Motte returns at the back of the bullpen is solid. And while Mujica has been without a doubt one of the great coups of John Mozeliak’s tenure, his continued success could continue to draw his time to close at Busch.

The Cardinals completed their most dominant weekend in recent years over the weekend, completing the rare four-game sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers. The potential of the team has never been in doubt, yet the reality of it had been. The team put that to rest for the moment, as the offense woke up in a major way, cranking out 48 hits across the series, while surrendering only 12 runs across the series. These runs surrendered actually came from the starting rotation mostly, as the bullpen, propelled by some new additions, became a strength for the team, holding the lead in a way that has been uncharacteristic far too often this season.

All in all, the team leaves for the next stop on its current NL Central road spin, firmly ahead in the division and tied with the Boston Red Sox for the best record in baseball. The current six-game win streak the club is on is its second longest in the last four seasons, and also gives them four more road wins than any team in the National League. Here are three of the major factors that have played into the series that was.

1. Heart of lineup wakes up: Many of the struggles of the offense getting started this year has come at the heart of it. Matt Holliday has hit at a rate much lower than his average career output, and Allen Craig was a cleanup hitter than couldn’t hit the ball over the fence…or do much else of anything unless there was already somebody in place. And quite often, Holliday’s issue spilled into Craig’s, and it was just as frustrating to get them started as watching somebody try to bite their own ear.

Well, the power source of the club got to their job over the weekend, and it was no coincidence at all that the team had its best production of the year thus far as well. Holliday stepped into his usual role as a hammer, rocking the Brewers to the tone of a .333 average, 5 RBI and two home runs, including a monstrous 460 foot shot on Friday. Cardinal left fielder also scored seven runs in 3 games, and Craig is the cause of several of those. Craig had a prolific series, driving in seven runs on eight hits, including a double, triple and his first home run of the season. Overall, he hit .470 for the series, and got his clutch-hitting stats up to 22 RBI and a .412 average with runners in scoring position.

2. Baby Birds Hatched: The two most shocking moves of the season were both the comings and goings from the bullpen. In mercifully moving the struggling Mitchell Boggs and Marc Rzepczynski to Memphis to work out their issues, the club brought up two of its best minor league starters to boost the pen. Seth Maness and, more shockingly, Carlos Martinez came up and immediately showcased why they have the billing they brought with them.

Maness, the organization’s minor league pitcher of the year in 2012, made two appearances, and quickly earned his stripes. He induced a bases-loaded double play in the eighth inning in his second appearance to hold off the Brewers and set up the club’s third win of the series. Martinez made a stunning impact, showcasing the high-90’s fastball that made him a Top 25 prospect in all of baseball a year ago. Both showed that the potential of the much-hyped Cardinal system is living up to the eye test standard as well.

3. Thawing Out: After entering the series in the worst stretch of his career, David Freese joined the break out party as well. He had three multi-hit games to start the series, and looked much more comfortable than he had all season. It was an encouraging effort from the laboring Freese to come to life and beginning to bring the much needed balance to the lower half of the Cardinal lineup.

For the sixth consecutive year, the United Cardinal Bloggers, one of the premier organized blogging communities in all of baseball, will be conducting one of their signature projects, the progressive game blog.  This year, the organization has selected the May 4 game in Milwaukee for their focus.

As is the case every year, each blogger is assigned a portion (usually an inning) of the game.  The blogger will not only describe the action but will use what happens in that portion as a jumping-off point for other ideas and topics.  Each blogger will link to the previous portion and the next portion of the game, forming a circular chain that will allow people to see the game through various eyes.

Following the third inning over at Pitchers Hit Eighth, the fourth inning comes to rest here at i70baseball.

Ho Hum Pitcher’s Duel
The progressive game blog almost always begins with the excitement of a fantasy baseball draft.  The writers anxiously await the official press release from UCB founder Daniel Shoptaw to tell us what inning we have drawn.  The storylines flow through our heads ahead of time as we look forward to our inning and anticipate what we may be able to write about.

Imagine my thrill when I drew the fourth inning of a Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals.  A game that pits Adam Wainwright against his counterpart in blue, Yovani Gallardo.  Drawing the fourth inning when two aces are taking the mound is not a desirable position as you would expect both hurlers to be settling in and a fairly easy inning to flow from either of them.

That’s exactly what happened.

The top of the inning would see the Cardinals send the heart of the order to the plate, with cleanup hitter Allen Craig due to leadoff.  The Fox Sports announce team was kind enough to remind the fans at home that Craig has not produced a home run this season, though his runs batted in should more than make up for the perceived lack of power.  Craig, who has been impressive with runners in scoring position, did not have that luxury when leading off the inning.  After two quick outs from Craig and Yadier Molina, a struggling David Freese stepped in and produced his second hit of the ballgame.  Jon Jay ended the inning with the next at bat and an uneventful top of the fourth came to a close.

Wainwright took to the mound in the bottom of the fourth finding a groove that many were worried wouldn’t exist today after a nearly disastrous first inning (you can read about that inning over at Aaron Miles Fastball).   Shadows were creeping in and Wainwright was taking advantage of it as it put the Brewers down in order.

Material for a blog post is hard to come by when pitchers are performing well and the game is simply moving along.  One of the biggest points to take away from the fourth inning is the fact that David Freese seems to be finding his stroke and driving the ball.  Over the last few games he has been hitting the ball with authority and you can tell that he is starting to come out of the slump and timing issues that have plagued the beginning of this season for him.  Additionally, seeing Wainwright settle in, especially after struggling early, and produce shutout innings to keep his team in the game makes it very apparent why he is the ace of this staff.

Stay tuned and check in with On The Outside Corner for the fifth inning of this year’s Progressive Game Blog.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at i70baseball.
You can follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

COMMENTARY | The St. Louis Cardinals have come to terms with ace pitcher Adam Wainwright on a five-year extension that makes the term “lifetime Cardinal” a real possibility just two years after they failed to do the same with Albert Pujols. Doing so shows that general manager John Mozeliak understood that this deal made a lot more sense than the potential investment in the team’s former first baseman would have.

Editor’s Note: I have joined Yahoo Sports as a contributor to the St. Louis Cardinals beat.  You will find my content there on a regular basis, as well as the first few paragraphs and a link to it here on I-70 Baseball.  This is my debut for them…

Just like many fans, I was extremely disappointed when the Cardinals were unable to come to terms with Pujols and he eventually found himself playing in Anaheim. The dust has settled on that deal and clarity has shown that many factors made sense for the team to allow its franchise superstar to leave.

This spring, many fans became concerned that history would repeat itself as the team and Wainwright entered negotiations. The feeling that, for the second time in a span of three years, a foundation piece of the organization would play for another franchise seemed to be developing into reality. The Cardinals and Wainwright announced during a March 28 press conference that the right-hander has been signed to a five-year extension through 2018.

Why was Wainwright retained and Pujols was not?

Read more by clicking here…

With the unknown status of the full extent of Jason Motte’s injury, the St. Louis Cardinals bullpen will be the next unit that is forced to adjust on the run. However, with their closer on the mend, a brand new set of questions will have to be answered in a short amount of time.

When it was revealed that Motte is suffering from a mild sprain in his elbow on Saturday, it immediately reshuffled the entire bullpen’s responsibility. While the depth of arms on the roster, and within the organization, has been much hallowed, the role of closer is not one that is easily passed along. Motte became the first pitcher in team history to gather every save on the season for the team, and his 42 saves tied for tops in the National League. And despite only being the technical closer for the team for a year and a half, he remains one of the most indispensable parts of a team that has long looked for a definite lock on the end of games.

Finding anybody that can take up a mantle that was absolutely held by another is a tall task. While it makes sense to place a similar styled arm in the role, finding the right makeup to match the arm is a tougher equation. There’s a lot more that goes into ending games than just throwing hard for one inning. It’s a mentality, and often it’s not one that is developed; it is it there or it isn’t. “Jason has it. You could tell even before he took on the role,” said assistant general manager and former All-Star Cardinal closer Ryan Franklin said during the Cardinals Winter Warm Up. “Either you have it or you don’t, and you will find out soon enough along the way.”  Little did he know it was a question that the team would have to find an answer for in the near future.

For the time being, Mitchell Boggs will be the answer. After the strides he took a year ago, it is right that he does so. He was the undisputed eighth inning answer last season, and his 34 holds led the National League and he is accustomed to preserving games. Boggs has the attitude and the fire to do so; he has embraced the late-inning role that he has been trusted with. Just one spring removed from having his place on the team questioned, he developed the competitive mentality to continue to compete night in and night out just to stay relevant to the team. The question is not in his arm, next to Trevor Rosenthal, he may have the liveliest arm on the team, but for a team that struggled to win late with some regularity last summer, how he transitions to having his nights moved back one inning could tell the story of how the season goes.

Boggs shift in the mix changes the demand of the rest of the pen as well. The push to replace Boggs in the setup role could prove to be a tougher equation than him replacing Motte. Edward Mujica, who was the defacto setup man for Boggs last fall, will likely become the favorite to be the new setup man, but the role will likely be a time share. Rosenthal, who was the fireman for pitching the club out of tight spots late in the season, will also get the ball in the eighth inning more often. Fernando Salas also receives a more concrete role on the team, with the seventh inning becoming a prime situation to use the former closer in. Joe Kelly will likely see a more variable role in the fashion that Rosenthal and/or Salas had been pegged for out of the pen, if he loses out on the fifth starter slot to Shelby Miller.

The trickledown effect of the loss of Motte for the time being changes what was a definite strength of for the team, a deep and matchup heavy bullpen. With Rosenthal not being able to float as easily between the sixth and eighth innings, it changes how quickly Mike Matheny can let his starters off the hook. And it puts an even higher demand on scoring enough runs early for the offense that the tight game isn’t as often of an occurrence.

Yet the question for Boggs finds it’s way to every other arm in the bullpen equation: can they answer the call to their new demand as easily as their previous one? The answer will have to be found on the run, and if there isn’t one, it won’t be able to be planned for. Whether its the  return of Motte, the emergence of Boggs or even who takes the ball in the sixth inning now, with the end of the story changing, nothing else earlier is the same.

The St. Louis Cardinals will open the season with the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 1.  Last season, the group of bloggers known as the United Cardinal Bloggers (UCB) pulled together to provide fans with an easy way to preview each series the club would participate in.  The collaborative effort became known as The Bird’s Eye View.

The UCB has once again drawn their collective talents to bring fans this newsletter service at the beginning of each series.  People who register for The Bird’s Eye View will receive an email on the first day of each series providing an in depth look at pitching matchups, key components and emerging news for the Cardinals and their opponents in the series.

The writers here at i70baseball are proud members of the UCB and will contribute to The Birds Eye View periodically throughout 2013.  We invite all of our readers to sign up for this email report by filling out the form located here.  Don’t worry, your email address will only be used to send you a copy of The Bird’s Eye View before each series the Cardinals play and will not be used for any other purposes or promotions.

February brings Spring Training, baseball games, and baseball discussions back into the forefront of our minds.  Meanwhile, every February the United Cardinal Bloggers host their first roundtable discussions of the year.

The premise is simple, one writer asks a question and the other writers from around the UCB get a chance to answer with their thoughts about the St. Louis Cardinals.  This continues from day to day for three weeks and concludes with a question from the man himself, Daniel Shoptaw.  You can follow along over at the official UCB site by clicking here.

This year, i70baseball was tapped on the shoulder to open the discussions up.  The question I posed to the group centered around the changes in baseball this year:

This year, Major League Baseball will engage in perpetual interleague play.  For the first time, interleague games will be played throughout the season, taking away the ability to adjust rosters based off of new requirements.  No longer can the Cardinals send a pitcher out for the week to pick up an extra bat.

With players like Carlos Beltran and Rafael Furcal, the DH has been used often in the past as a way to get a veteran an extra “day off” without losing his production in the lineup.  Some players are uncomfortable with the routine of a DH, sitting and effectively pinch hitting three of four times a game, and would prefer to be more involved.

So the question is this:

Will perpetual interleague play help or harm the Cardinals this season?  Why do you feel the way you do?

The answers are displayed in the slide show below, with the author’s site logo being displayed with their answer.  Please take the time to look through all of the answers and visit the various author’s websites to read through the various voices of the UCB.

Aaron Miles Fastball

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Christine - Aaron Miles Fastball

My opinion is it’s not really going to affect them much either way. As Dathan said, it’s not just the Cardinals facing this in a vacuum – every other team is as well, so every other manager is going to have the challenge of balancing his lineup differently. To me that’s the key: how Mike Matheny is going to handle it. It’s more of a responsibility for him to find the right piece to plug into the DH spot on the right day for it to not be a problem. The pieces are there – it’s what he does with them that will make the difference. Supposedly weak bench or not, I certainly haven’t heard or read any of the “experts” saying the Cardinals will be weak offensively, so having to use a DH at other times beyond the previous set interleague games shouldn’t make a difference.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball
Follow him on Twitter here.

It gets lost in the shuffle sometimes just how important of a Cardinal Scott Rolen was. And with his career perhaps coming to a close this week, it’s a ripe time to take a look at why. Perhaps it’s because it ended on such a dismissive note that what he represented in St. Louis at such a high point in the franchise’s history.

How will he be remembered? Overall, he’ll stand up tall with the people that watch his era. Not to the statuesque level of Chipper Jones, but really, there’s not many, if any, that played the hot corner in the last 15 years that were any better than him. A seven-time All-Star, 1997 Rookie of the Year and owner of eight Gold Gloves. But it’s the glove that truly stands out, because with the exception of Brooks Robinson’s escapades on the hot corner, nobody has ever done it better. There are some that would say he ever surpassed Hoover in the glove game, a claim that could amount to blasphemy by some, but has some credence with many. But the ground that Rolen could cover while standing at 6’4″, and combined with one of the best infield arms ever, makes it valid.

But what is it about Rolen that makes him not be more revered as a Cardinal? Was it the silent, perhaps even standoffish way he went about his business? Dig a little deeper, because he has some legit claim to be in the discussion for greatest Cardinal third baseman ever. That’s a not too shabby group that includes Ken Boyer, Mike Shannon and Whitey Kurowski. After being acquired as at the trade deadline in 2002, he embarked on a remarkable six year run with the club. Among all third baseman in franchise history, he is second in second in home runs (111) and doubles (173) and fourth in RBI with 453 despite hitting behind Albert Pujols and Jim Edmonds the majority of his time with the club and missing much of the 2005 season.

He returned in time to help the club rebound from that disappointing 2005 season. He played huge, and slightly forgotten, role in taking the club to its second World Series in 2006; one where he built up eight hits in 19 at-bats, including a home run and three triples. This was his crowning moment as a Cardinal, but soon shoulder injuries would keep him off the field for much of the rest of his time with the club. While he has gone on to have strong campaigns with the Toronto Blue Jays and Cincinnati Reds, his career truly peaked as a Cardinal, and reached a point where he showcased just how great he truly could be.

So what is it that keeps Rolen from being a more embraced member of the franchise’s history? He doesn’t really get an exceptional reception from fans when he returns, especially considering what he contributed to a very recent era. Perhaps it’s the way he faded away at the end, or that there was nothing of great lasting return received for him. Maybe it’s the feud with Tony LaRussa that kept him from relishing many returns with the club. Perhaps it’s his affiliation with the club’s fiercest rival the last few seasons in Cincinnati, that hasn’t allowed for many moments of reflection.

Whatever it may be, if his decision to decline coming to Spring Training with the Reds, a team he recently said is the only one he’d consider returning to this year, it’s time to embrace the man more in St. Louis. He’s a virtual baseball nomad by a career sense; he could never go back to Philadelphia to a warm reception, and he spent the shortest tenures of his career in Toronto and Cincinnati. St. Louis is where he deserves to come back to eventually, for the recognition an outstanding player of his level deserves. Maybe, with some time and reflection, both sides will learn how to properly place each other.

Every year, the group known as the UCB (the United Cardinal Bloggers) come together on one massive project known as the United Cardinal Bloggers Annual.

I-70 baseball has been a proud member of the UCB for almost three years and we have contributed to the Annual every year of our existence.  This year, a post dedicated to the memory of my father was chosen as the “Post Of The Year” and included in the publication.  I also contributed a brief look at the history of the Houston Astros, their rivalry with the St. Louis Cardinals, and their subsequent move to the American League.

The result of all the hard work this year is a 25-chapter ebook dedicated to the memory of Stan Musial that takes a look back at the 2012 Cardinals and a look forward to 2013.

National writers Will Leitch and Drew Silva check in with their own thoughts in the book as well as 18 bloggers from around the internet.

The 2013 United Cardinal Bloggers Annual is available as an e-book at the Amazon Kindle store for $4.99. The book can be read on any of the devices in the Kindle family as well as by downloading Amazon’s free reading apps for your computer, tablet or smartphone.

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.