This weekend marks the last weekend for seven more months that we won’t have at least some Major League Baseball to enjoy.  Of course, the season has already started, but MLB is balancing on the fence between “we’re excited to play games in Japan, and give those fans something to enjoy” and “we still want to make Opening night between the St. Louis Cardinals and Miami Marlins a huge event”.  Another spring full of meaningless games has almost come to an official close, and the next chapter will begin in a matter of days.

The same is true for our beloved St. Louis Cardinals.  Well chronicled are the events of this past offseason, and departures for various reasons: retirement, free agency, re-prioritizing things in life, as well as moving on to other organizations (in the National League Central…for now) to name the most commonly recognized ones.  Since the Cardinals won their 11th World Championship five months ago, no fewer than three Hall of Fame-caliber people have left the organization, you could easily argue a higher number.  That doesn’t even count losing Dave McKay, Jeff Luhnow, and Barry Weinberg, among others.

Let’s see: Back, Gone, Gone, Back but still injured from this night, Gone, Back, Gone

New roles have been filled by new faces–some faces are new to the major-league level, and some are new to a non-player role, but few (if any) are new to the Cardinals organization. So, as the redbirds head into the 2012 season to defend their World Championship title, they’ll be doing so with a very different look of leadership in that dugout, that bullpen, and even on the field. But that is not news to you or I, or at least, it shouldn’t be.

It’s time, as we go into this final weekend without meaningful baseball games, and reflect on the Cardinals’ recent past, be thankful for what we, as fans, were able to enjoy.

And then, friends, it is time to move the hell on.

I’ll be the first to admit, I’m likely to mention Tony LaRussa and/or Dave Duncan in future articles and conversation here & there, but it’s time for all of us to get past what has been, and get excited about what’s about to be!

Albert Pujols?  He’s gone, ok?  But I’ve said before that, just like basketball or golf, baseball is not a game where one player can dramatically impact the outcome as much as in some other sports.  He was one man, he’s gone, and the Cardinals are still a very, very strong team if you’d not noticed.  Whether you wish him the best, wish him the worst, or something other than either of those, you’ll have to do so from halfway across the country, starting most nights at 9:10pm Central Daylight Time.  He’s not a Cardinal anymore–let’s respect what he accomplished while wearing the birds on the bat, and move on.  Berkman’s solid, Craig is more than adequate, and Adams looks very very promising.  There’s no “hole” at first base for this team.

LaRussa’s gone too, and sure, a large portion of the fanbase is still hungover from the huge party they threw when he announced his retirement.  But, love him or hate him, he won baseball games, and there are two more World Championship flags that fly over Busch today than were here when he arrived.  He revolutionized the way bullpens are used in the game today, and I suspect there’s no shortage of relief pitchers (and agents of these relief pitchers) who are grateful for the changes he brought to the game.  There will be things about his management style that will be missed, just as there are things that won’t.  But, he’s gone.  Mike Matheny is the new skipper, and he’s the one Cardinal nation needs to get behind and support–not blindly defend his every decision, but support him in his role as the leader of this ballclub.

Duncan may very well be the first pitching coach elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.  Plenty of others have said that, including some of the national media folks, so it isn’t just me drinking the Kool-Aid.  This man is a once-in-a-generation type, and will sorely be missed.  Lilliquist is more than capable, and you know what?  He’s going to have to be, because the Deacon is no longer around.  His priceless expertise, the books upon books upon books he’s known for keeping, the calming spirit he brought, and the magic he bestowed on the Woody Williamsessesess’ of the league are great memories of the past, but will not be a part of the future.

Many thought Walt Jocketty could do no wrong during his tenure at the helm as General Manager in St. Louis.  He moved on, and things worked out just fine.  St. Louis is a city (and a fan base) that loathes change of any kind–it makes the entire area very, very nervous.  The guys over at Joe Sports Fan have countless examples of fans who are walking around “the 314” TODAY wondering why Bo Hart & Stubby Clapp aren’t on the 40-man roster.

“Bring back ________” is a common mantra, because there’s such a strong aversion to letting go of the past.  I CLEARLY recall the day the old arena near highway 40 (I live here, I don’t have to call it “Interstate 64”:) and Hampton.  Traffic stopped on 40 when they were getting ready to bring “the old barn” down.  Protests were held.  Tears were shed.  Listen, I’m not saying it didn’t hurt a little bit inside when that last section of Busch II fell to the ground, but you can’t keep up and stay competitive in this business if you don’t grow…and growth, without change, is impossible.

So, peace out, Albert, Tony, Dave and others.  Thanks for what you gave to this city, the Cardinals franchise, and the memories we have because of the things you did.  Thank you for the best years of your lives, and for living lives that allow us to pass stories and lessons on to our children–the next generation of Cardinals fans.  We might not exchange Christmas cards, but hit us up on Facebook, and we’ll probably like a photo or a comment here & there to stay in touch.  But, since I root for the name on the front of the jersey before rooting for the name on the back, I’ve gotta let you go.

Somewhere in the whirlwind that is known as the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals off-season, a very key piece of the organization left the club without much fanfare. Events quickly moved from World Series parade, to Tony LaRussa’s retirement, to the Albert Pujols negotiations, to Dave Duncan’s leave of absence, to the Winter Warm Up. I can not think of another team that had so much turnover  immediately following a World Championship as the Cardinals experienced. In the midst of the flurry of off-season activity it is certainly understandable how a key move made but a small splash.

Lunhow,

Cardinal Nation barely had a chance to catch its breath from World Series Game 7 before Tony LaRussa announced his retirement. In the following weeks Albert Pujols, Joe Pettini, and Dave McKay all moved on to other clubs. Cardinal pitching coach Dave Duncan announced that he would take a leave of absence to be with his wife as she continues her battle with cancer.  When the Cardinals take the field against the Miami Marlins on April 4, 2012, Jose Oquendo will be the only uniformed coach that has been with the team since 2009.

Despite all of the turnover within the club, there is great optimism within the Cardinals front office, the team, the coaches, and a majority of the fan base at the prospects for the 2012 season. Before completely shifting focus to 2012, I want to reflect on a 2011 departure that gets less attention, but has tremendous organizational impact. On the very same night the Los Angeles Angels were finalizing a deal to sign Albert Pujols, the Houston Astros named Jeff Luhnow their new general manager.

Jeff Luhnow was the head of the Cardinals scouting and drafting department. He established a strong presence in Latin America for the team, and brought the Cardinals into a new era of player development that used both scouting and analytics.  He worked for the team from 2003 until this past December. Since 2005, Luhnow turned the Cardinals farm system from one of the worst in baseball to arguably one of the top five in the league. This was done in spite of the fact the Cardinals never had a top ten pick during any of the drafts he oversaw.

Luhnow is not a “baseball insider” that worked his way up through the ranks. He was more comfortable with spreadsheets than with scouting reports when he was hired by the Cardinals. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in economics and engineering, and earned his MBA at Northwestern University. Prior to joining the Cardinals in 2003, he worked in mechanical and chemical engineering, spent five years in management consulting, did entrepreneurial work, and served as a vice president of marketing for Petstore.com.

In the early part of the last decade, teams had to quickly adapt to the new emphasis on analytics brought about from the release of the book “Moneyball”. The book highlighted the Oakland Athletics success, despite an incredibly small payroll, using advanced statistics to find market inefficiencies in player evaluation. Luhnow was one of the early baseball analytics experts given a front office job. He was hired to make sense of the new analytics and improve the Cardinal’s international scouting. He quickly integrated database analysis into personnel decisions.

Said more simply, Luhnow drafted and developed enough talent to allow the Cardinals to win two World Series titles in six years. He leaves the club well positioned to compete in 2012 and beyond. The Cardinals can not pay top dollar for more than four or five players every year, due to being a bottom-third market city. To have Matt Holliday, Lance Berkman, Chris Carpenter, and Carlos Beltran, they must find production from young, cost-controlled players to have a competitive team year in and year out.

Beyond just analyzing numbers on a page, Luhnow implemented “bio-mechanics” within the Cardinals player development process. Pitchers were taught the mechanics, rhythm, and tempo that aid them in remaining injury free. Former big-league pitchers worked with young Cardinal pitchers on the mental aspects of the game needed to be able to compete at the highest level. Hitters worked with video not only as a means to scout opponents, but to improve their swing and approach at the plate. This does not seem to be such a big deal in 2012, but not many other teams were using video to this level in 2004.

Luhnow was hired by Bill Dewitt against the wishes of then GM Walt Jocketty. It was a front-office riff that would eventually lead to Jocketty’s departure following the 2007 season. Little did Jocketty know at the time just what Luhnow was building between 2005 and 2007. The 2005-2007 drafts produced Allen Craig, Daniel Descalso, Jaime Garcia, and Jon Jay. Also in those drafts were players used in the trades for Matt Holliday, Rafael Furcal, Octavio Dotel, Edwin Jackson, Marc Rzepcynski, as well as Luke Gregerson and Chris Perez.

There are an abundance of prospects in the system that project to be impact players: Shelby Miller, Oscar Taveras, Tyrell Jenkins, Carlos Martinez, Matt Adams, Ryan Jackson, Kolten Wong, Zach Cox, Trevor Rosenthal, John Gast, Jordan Swagerty, and Joe Kelly, among others.

As the 2012 season fast approaches, there will be a lot of new faces for Cardinals fans to get used to. One of those faces is the man hired to replace Jeff Luhnow, Dan Kantrovitz . If he performs his jobs well, Cardinals fans won’t feel the loss of Luhnow. He has big shoes to fill. Matheny has already made clear that he will place a large emphasis on advanced scouting and metrics.

Any success Kantrovitz has will be built upon the foundation of integrating scouting and analytics that Luhnow brought to the organization. Luhnow should be remembered as a key piece to a great era of Cardinal baseball. I am glad the Cardinals will not have the Astros as division foes but for another year. Although they are a very bad baseball team at the moment, I fully expect them to be a force to contend with under Luhnow’s leadership.

The St. Louis Cardinals’ offseason continued its roller coaster ride this week after Thursday’s announcement that longtime pitching coach Dave Duncan was leaving the team indefinitely to focus on caring for his wife, who has been battling brain cancer. Obviously, personal lives and relationships always trump everything else, and Duncan’s priorities seem to be in order. But the pitching staff he leaves behind has to find a way to do its job without him, and a number of those hurlers have never had a different pitching coach at the Major League level.

It seems like these stories pop up every other day since the Cardinals won the 2011 World Series. First Tony La Russa retired, and then Albert Pujols bolted for greener pastures. Jeff Luhnow is gone. Dave McKay is gone. All these names Cardinals players and fans have seen as mainstays for so many years have disappeared from the register.

Duncan looked like one of only a few holdovers from the old regime. His contract covered him for the 2012 season, and he had an option for 2013. But he has more important things to attend to right now, and his time wearing the Birds on the Bat has come to an end as well. Now the longest-tenured coach on the Cards’ staff is Jose Oquendo. Number two is Mark McGwire.

Duncan’s importance to the Cards’ pitching staffs over the years is impossible to overstate. And many nails will be no doubt bitten down to the nub wondering if that magic he worked on so many Cardinal hurlers over the years is gone forever. But it may not be that way at all.

For the last 12 seasons, the Cardinals have listed exactly two starting catchers at the top of their depth chart: Mike Matheny and Yadier Molina. Now Matheny is the team skipper, and Molina is still behind the plate. Both are among the most highly regarded in their abilities to call a game and handle a pitching staff. Duncan is largely the reason. And when Papa Dunc had to leave the team near the end of August to be with his ailing wife, recently appointed Cards pitching coach Derek Lilliquist stepped in to take his place. All he did was preside over the staff while they were helping to orchestrate the greatest regular season comeback in baseball history. Even Chris Carpenter has stepped in for some coaching opportunities…remember when he found that flaw in Adam Wainwright’s delivery, just before Waino went on a tear to nearly win the Cy Young Award a couple years back? Certainly Carp didn’t wake up one day in tune to every other pitcher’s mechanics. That’s the hallmark of Dave Duncan, and he’s passed his wisdom on to a number of people in the Cards’ organization.

Perhaps we’ve seen the last of the days where a Kent Bottenfield or a Woody Williams find new life under Duncan’s direction. But maybe the Cardinals no longer need that “dumpster-dive” mentality. They have a full pitching staff now, and all those guys know how to get the job done. And the depth in the minor leagues certainly offers a lot of promise as some of the veteran free agents cycle out of town. Plus it’s impossible to know what the future holds. The Cards seem to have a pretty good grasp on player development these days. That makes it a lot easier to take surer bets rather than the projects Duncan specialized in.

It hurts to lose Duncan, and the reason why is even sadder. The Cardinals cannot possibly replace him; the guy should probably be the first coach to go into the Hall of Fame. But he has left this team in capable hands…hands into which he put the tools to succeed. And after all, the coach can only do so much. Execution still has to take place on the field, and that’s true no matter who sits in the dugout.

Chris Reed also writes for InsideSTL Mondays and Bird Brained whenever he feels like it. Follow him on Twitter at @birdbrained.

In a brief news conference this afternoon, the Cardinals announced their coaching staff for 2012.

Very few surprises here, in all honesty. The only exception being the expected addition of an established coach for the bench. The Cardinals remained within the organization for all positions.

Chris Maloney, who has served as a manager in the minor leagues for the Cardinals, has been promoted and will take over duties at first base for Dave McKay who is being “reassigned within the organization”.

Joining McKay will be longtime bench coach Joe Petini as he is replaced by Mike Aldrete. Aldrete has served as assistant batting instructor and has been rumored for a promotion for some time now.

Meanwhile, third base coach Jose Oquendo, bullpen coach Derek Lilliquist, and hitting coach Mark McGwire will all return under new manager Mike Matheny. Dave Duncan had already confirmed his return and that was reiterated today.

The surprises here come at third base and on the bench for me. I expected the Cardinals to give Matheny a more seasoned veteran at his right hand. Aldrete has put in his time and has a lot of respect within the organization but one has to wonder if this was the right time for his move.

Aldrete started coaching in 2001, working in the Diamondbacks’ minor league system for three years before joining the major league staff in Seattle as a first base coach in 2004. He would return to Arizona as the hitting coach for the following two years before arriving in St. Louis as the assistant hitting coach in 2008.

Oquendo returning to coach third base shows a dedication to the team and confidence from the team. Many felt he was slighted by not being named manager and, hopefully, this shows that there are no hard feelings. It makes one appreciate the Cardinal way of life when you look at the fact that Ryan Sandberg left the Cubs organization when he was passed over for a job that many felt was “his”.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball as well as the Assignment Editor for BaseballDigest.com.
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.com.
Follow him on Twitter here.