While not something I originally planned on including today, it is important for all of us here at PH8 to express our condolences to the Walters family. We were fortunate to get to know P.J. while interviewing him on UCB Radio, and I look forward to watching him overcome this tragedy and again honor his daughter in a St. Louis uniform.

This last grade was always going to be the hardest, so it is fitting that it was saved for the grand finale! A Tony La Russa club uses the entire pitching staff much differently than any other MLB franchise, and this normally results in high marks across the board. 2008 was disappointing from the standpoint that the Cardinals did not make the playoffs, but they did find a third hurler to join Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter at the top of the rotation.

Kyle Lohse turned a late spring signing and an impressive campaign into a long-term deal with St. Louis. While the timing seemed odd for the contract, it did allow the team to turn their sights onto other needs. Braden Looper and Russ Springer were not retained and Carpenter was backed up by Kyle McClellan heading into ’09 Spring Training.

With the five starters pretty much set in stone, most of the attention was put on rebuilding the bullpen following Jason Isringhausen’s seventh and final year with the Cardinals. Ryan Franklin, Chris Perez, Jason Motte, and McClellan all were candidates for the ninth inning with no clear cut favorite in the mix. Throw in lefty newcomers Trever Miller and Dennys Reyes and it all equals a whole lot of questions with few answers.

A healthy Carp and Wainer combo together with Lohse were joined by a huge surprise to kick April off right. Joel Pineiro failed to harness his potential in two stops before coming to St. Louis as an afterthought. Coming in as either the fourth or fifth starter, Pineiro sailed into May 4-0 with a glimpse of what was to come down the road.

The only downside of the rotation was Todd Wellemeyer, who couldn’t match his surprise production of ’08 and continually frustrated everyone with his lack of consistency.

Originally a question mark, the Cardinals’ bullpen found some traction early in the form of Franklin. He locked up the closer role and cruised to an All-Star berth while mentoring the inexperienced reliever corps. Motte, McClellan, and Perez all found their groove in May, while Miller was proving to be a key pick up for the NL Central contenders.

Mitchell Boggs began another Memphis to St. Louis travel tour, as he was the one called upon to fill in for Lohse. It would be the end of the season rather than the start that showed where Boggs’ future lies, but he proved capable of keeping the contests close and that was all the Cards were asking.

After trading away Perez, Jess Todd, and Clayton Mortensen, a newcomer joined the rotation in August. Boggs had already pushed Wellemeyer to the bullpen, but it was veteran John Smoltz who gave the staff a boost during the dog days of summer.

Smoltz didn’t look anything like he had earlier in the season with Boston, and St. Louis was happy to give him another shot at the playoffs. Coming down the stretch, Pineiro was closing in on a record while two members of the staff were seemingly going head to head for the Cy Young.

I wish I could end there on a high note, as September and October only brought frustration and disappointment to a stellar pitching staff. Neither A&W or Carp walked away with the hardware, and Pineiro used his lack of walks to secure his spot as a top potential free agent. Franklin failed to maintain his torrid pace, coming back to earth with three blown saves and a near 8.00 ERA to close the regular season.

Not all was doom and gloom, however, with Motte and Blake Hawksworth anchoring a much improved set-up crew. The future is bright thanks to a combination of former prospects and Dave Duncan still calling the shots. The playoffs left the Cards hungry, and the grades also leave room for growth.

Rotation:

Carp, Wainer, Pineiro — all pitched like aces and score solid A’s

Smoltz — defied the odds to complement the trio above, B+

Boggs — bend but don’t break works better in the bullpen, C

Lohse — hard-luck lost season makes contract look worse than it is, D+

Wellemeyer — not much you can say here, F

Bullpen:

Franklin — tough end to season doesn’t deter from the whole picture A-

K-Mac — local boy made good proved he belonged in a big way, B

Miller and Reyes — situational lefties may have been the key in ‘o9, B+

Motte, Hawk, Thompson — up and down campaign shows promise, C

Aside from Albert and Yadier, the one standard on recent St. Louis teams has been pop from the left side via the outfield. 2009 was shaping up to be no different, at least before the injury bug turned the Cardinals’ OF into a MASH unit.

August brought a completely revamped look to the outfield, as only Ryan Ludwick remained as an Opening Day starter. Rookie Colby Rasmus and newcomer Matt Holliday joined him to lead the Birds on the Bat to the postseason, but it was a wild ride to get there.

Rick Ankiel and Chris Duncan provided glimpses of power to go with playing in pain but never could find the consistency to stay on the field. Tony La Russa stood by both long-time players until even he say the writing on the wall, but it was an injury in May and a trade in July that set the stage.

Ank amazed everyone with a tenacity to overcome obstacles every year, so it was a surprise that an early May crash with the wall opened the door for Rasmus. I fully expected the former pitcher and longest tenured Cardinal to bounce back well before the team said he would especially after Ludwick went down as well.

Then the June swoon took over and caused the first domino to fall as only Rasmus managed to hit over .250. This prompted the Mark DeRosa deal and left many wondering if anything else was to come. As the rookie’s struggles at the plate hit July, it was time for Ludwick to shine. Later we found out Rasmus experienced his own health concerns, adding to the laundry list of medical problems for St. Louis.

Duncan’s 1-for-27 stretch in July sealed his fate, and the Cardinals did the best thing for all parties and dealt him to Boston. The vacant spot in LF didn’t last long, however, as John Mozeliak gave TLR and Pujols XMas in July. The Holliday deal can be debated for hours and hours, but the bottom line is that the team needed a jolt in the worst way.

DeRosa failed to provide a lift after he also fell to the injury bug, but he was primarily brought in for third base. Ankiel seemed best suited for the bench by this point in the year so the only move left was to look outside the organization. Yes, I was against the trade for many reasons but looking back now I’m happy I was wrong. Holliday provided the best protection AP had seen in months if not years and winning returned like clockwork.

No one could have predicted the torrid pace Holliday set (.586 average with a nearly .900 slugging clip) in case anyone forgot the eight games to finish out July. Coming full circle as a unit, the St. Louis outfield ended the regular season in impressive fashion by proving what a little protection can do in the middle of a lineup.

As bitter a taste as the playoffs were, the stage was set in 2009 for the future of the Cardinals. Colby Rasmus scored high marks in many facets of the game and showed why a number of teams tried to pry him away over the years. Ryan Ludwickcontinued his breakout ways and became even more of a danger when moved out of the clean-up spot. Holliday did everything that could be asked of him as a Trade Deadline acquisition, and the postseason will be sweeter the second time around.

I almost stopped trying to figure out individual grades for the outfielders, mainly because the end result should mean something. But as in most things, the truth hurts and Lil’ Dunc and Ank are living proof of that. Both players end their St. Louis careers on down notes, scoring D’s along the way.

Ludwick and Rasmus both fall into the B/B- range with plenty of ammo to use going into 2010.

The star of this show saw only 63 games wearing the BOB, but it was enough to walk away with A+ marks. Holliday may never be able to repeat what we saw the last two months of 2009, but he will have every opportunity to etch his name among the Cardinal greats.

Now that the current St. Louis shortstop appears off the Troy Glaus recovery program, I felt it was a good time to close out the infield on our, ahem, rather late look at the 2009 Cardinals. Brendan Ryan has every opportunity to lock down a key defensive position for as long as he wants it, but that was not the case heading into the off-season after the 2008 campaign.

Long-forgotten Cesar Izturis (I had to look up who was the starter back in ’08) was not retained, and the St. Louis front office started a trend in December that would remain in effect until July — look out for that info next week! San Diego became the trade target for another left-side infielder, and Khalil Greene was the big acquisition for the offense.

At the time of the deal, I thought it was a no-lose situation for both player and team. The Padres had all but given up on Greene, and a fresh start with the Cardinals had done many other players well. It was also low risk due to a one-year contract that had no strings attached and seemingly only cost a couple of minor league relief pitchers. Oops is the only way to describe how that trade worked out.

Greene has now found himself out of baseball after a recurring bout with social anxiety disorder, and I wish him well in his recovery. While the cost of Mark Worrell and Luke Gregerson can be debated later, the Cardinals proved they were willing to use an improved minor league system to get back in the playoff hunt. This philosophy has to be continued as long as St. Louis wishes to employ the services of Albert Pujols and Tony La Russa which is a strong recommendation.

Back to the task at hand, the Greene situation came to a head early in the regular season but resulted in my pick for surprise of the decade. Yup, I’m going there and here’s why — Brendan Ryan had long lost his prospect status due to injuries and erratic play. TLR could have renamed his doghouse for No. 13 but then the opportunity to shine finally landed on the game’s best mustache. He won the utility infielder role coming out of spring training mainly due to the fact that no one was sure how well Skip Schumacher at second and the 3B rotation were going to hold up in April.

Ryan plays reckless at times and shows his youth far more than is needed, but St. Louis doesn’t make the playoffs without him anchoring the infield in my opinion. He stepped in flawlessly and allowed the front office to address other concerns that ultimately have the team where it is today. That makes it all the more special and unexpected at the same time plus it never hurt that Ryan was sure to do something that made the manager shake his head. I don’t know about you, but I for one love that quality in a ballplayer in the right situation.

Let Pujols and Yadier Molina get all the defensive recognition — Boog was my pick for Gold Glove consideration last year. He makes plays in the field that shouldn’t even be attempted at times, and I enjoy every minute of it. He scores a high A on defense from me, and the expectations couldn’t be higher heading into 2010. As for his offense, I’m not sold that he should be at the top of the lineup. I actually preferred him as the second lead-off man anchoring the nine hole but sadly, those days appear behind us.

Enough with that business, my final grade stands at an A- only because I want him to run more. He should have the green light all the time and be free to give the opposing teams fits from any base. This may be far-fetched I realize, but it is also a recurring theme that would better suit the Cardinals in my opinion.

I’m going to rank the rest of the shortstop crew together, simply because no one stood out of the crowd. Khalil and Tyler Greene, Julio Lugo, and Brian Barden all took turns holding Ryan’s position in a C-/D+ way. If 2009 is remembered for nothing else, I hope it is the start of a long tenure for the best I have seen since the Wizard.

As a failed former third baseman, I know just how crucial and difficult this position can be to a successful club. This becomes even more apparent when multiple players are used to try and lock down the hot corner. Some teams can hide an offensive liability around the diamond but rarely, if ever, does the 3B spot stick without the total package.

St. Louis employed a unique effort last year to say the least, but only because Troy Glaus became a non-existent piece of the team while on the disabled list. David Freese began and ended 2009 as the best option, but it took a wild ride for him to come out on top. Instead of looking at every individual, my look at the Cards will be done in a different format so here goes nothing.

MAR/APR: Freese did start Opening Day after Joe Mather all but gave away the spot towards the end of Spring Training. He didn’t look right, however, and ended up on the DL which gives us the lead in for multiple options. The first two who stepped up (literally) were Brian Barden and Joe Thurston. Using the opportunity to their advantage, both became rally starters instead of momentum killers in the lineup. Either one could have nabbed NL Rookie of the Month honors, with Barden taking home the surprise hardware (A-).

MAY/JUNE: How quickly the tide can turn…leaving the Cards with a giant hole and Mo on the phone. Even after the trade for Mark DeRosa, the luck was not on the St. Louis side when you combine THE injury and sub-par play by all parties, including newcomer Tyler Greene. Just take this one stat to heart — all players combined to hit a pair of home runs over both months or one less than Khalil Greene smacked against the Royals (D-).

JULY/AUG: DeRosa came back too soon, he admitted as much. Unfortunately you get very little points for guts, so I’ll chalk it up to being tired of seeing Thurston running into outs. He does get more points for hitting a team-leading seven home runs in July, but that pesky wrist surely contributes to the 18 strikeouts as well. August saw another huge power outage for DeRo and the gang, but then again another newcomer was pulling up the slack. The Cards were on a roll and Super Joe played very little, two things that made me very happy over the summer (B-).

SEPT/OCT: Expanding the rosters brought back Freese and long-forgotten Glaus but didn’t do much for the offense. While St. Louis was on cruise-control into the postseason, the quartet at 3B forgot how to hit a baseball, finishing with more strikeouts than hits. The only possible bright side was a home run by Freese, who overcame his injuries and gave a glimpse of what the future might hold (C-).

Not even a math major could try and figure out those numbers. When everything is factored in, I’m left with a tough decision. No one would consider the DeRosa trade a success, but it was an upgrade over everyone else who attempted to man the spot. Mather was my favorite choice after hearing about Glaus, but that idea went much the same way a lot of 2009 did.

In a strange twist, the injuries may have helped the big club in a huge way. The DeRosa deal and then injury forced another move in July. All of the roster shake-up caused a certain 2008 draftee to get promoted to Memphis. With Brett Wallace blowing up the prospect radar, the last piece of the puzzle was complete. Now that wouldn’t make me reconsider things…

Final grade C- in what could ultimately be one of the strangest years in my memory for any position in recent Cards history.

Let’s once again take a look at everyone who spent time with the Redbirds at second base this season.

Skip Schumaker

I don’t want to say Schumaker became a second baseman by default, but it’s safe to say that there weren’t a lot of options when his name surfaced.

Adam Kennedy had been released and the team did not have a viable internal option.  Brendan Ryan would’ve been the best bet, but he became the de facto shortstop when Khalil Greene landed on the disabled list with psychological issues.

Enter Schumaker.  A true “Cardinal Way” guy, Skip didn’t bat an eye.  He took extra ground balls with Jose Oquendo.  He took extra ground balls with Joe Pettini.  He made it work.

Most importantly, he didn’t let his glove work affect his performance at the plate.

Therein lies the debate when trying to grade Schu.

His bat maintained, his glove came around eventually, but he was still a below-average second sacker defensively.

Josh gave Schumaker points for his, er – testicular fortitude, for even making the move at all.  The fact that he became serviceable in the field by the end of 2009 was nothing short of remarkable.

Indeed, Schumaker completed what can only be described as a successful move right on the defensive spectrum.

But what to make of his overall value to the team – his grade – when evaluating both bat and glove (among other gameplay factors)?

According to Fangraphs, Schumaker’s value in the field was reduced by almost 12 runs by moving to second base from the outfield.

According to the same site, Schumaker’s value at the plate was slightly down as well – fewer runs driven in, fewer stolen bases – but not as significant as the fielding drop.

Luckily, Schu has plenty of time to continue his improvement in the middle infield, signing his new two-year contract to avoid arbitration.  As Derrick Goold mentioned in his piece about the contract:

(Schumaker will also soon eclipse his starts in the outfield: 162 in OF and 124 at 2B.)

Hell, the guy is almost a more experienced big-league second baseman than outfielder.  If only he’d known he would play the infield as a youngster…

Plenty of room to improve this grade – and I expect it to be higher around this time next year.

Grade: B-

Julio Lugo

Coming over in a trade for Chris Duncan, Lugo was essentially a freebie for the Cardinals.  It was clear Duncan was on his way out of town anyway, and the Red Sox paid Lugo’s tab (and will in 2010 also).

As a freebie, Lugo contributed the second most starts at second base for the Cardinals in 2009, with 17.

Lugo wasn’t much better in the field than Schumaker, but he chipped in with the bat a bit.

At the very least, he was, in his short time with the team, the most influential backup at second base.

Grade: C+

The Field

Ugh.

I don’t really count Ryan at this position, because he assumed the shortstop job.

I thought Brian Barden deserved more time with the club after his scorching April, but he was playing third base mostly.

Other than them, ugh.

Grade: D

—–

Overall grade: B-

Schumaker’s dominance of the playing time here outweighs the lack of great backup options.

Our initial goal was to have this series done by say…Turkey Day or so but in my mind President’s Day makes a lot more sense. And here’s why — the Cardinals had no clue how the last three months were going to play out and the results to me were still going to be skewed by the playoffs.

Problems solved!

I can now look back at the last campaign without any distractions, but the first mission proves to be a difficult one. How do you judge a player who has no history at his position? Who do you compare him with? And most importantly to this exercise, what stats weigh more in the grand scheme of things?

Welcome to St. Louis Speculation 101!

While Nick will have great answers to the 2B questions, I’m left searching for numbers that make sense to my stat-less way of thinking. This proved to be the best model to illustrate how my brain works. For the life of me, I can’t seem to put offensive numbers and defensive parameters together in a neat package. Combining the team offense with positional defense gets the job done for what I hope to prove.

Skip Schumaker this time last year was not guaranteed much heading into 2009 Spring Training. Then the chatter started, beginning with posts both here and here that left plenty of question marks. Mike’s entry started the head-scratching, and Dan’s contribution only added more fuel to the fire. I still wonder what could have been if the Redbirds had used ST as an audition rather than a rapid-fire learning session, but the results can not be understated given the outcome.

Enjoy the show as your feature presentation is about to begin!

Schumaker should get a solid A for just about every category after making the transition from 4th outfielder to starting next to AP. Don’t get me wrong, I am a Skip fan but many bets would have been lost had someone told me that St. Louis makes the playoffs with No. 55 still starting at second.

With that in mind, my rankings are set up a bit odd this time around. Just how good (and cheap) was the production at the top of the line-up? Grade A if you ask me since Schumaker didn’t miss a beat on the offensive side of the field. He is a strong bet to receive a nice raise this year and a potential long-term deal may not be far behind, especially when you factor in these numbers.

Felipe Lopez from that list stands out, but Skip need not worry about any competition this March. Lopez would be a nice addition for the roster, but his defensive shortcomings make him primarily an insurance policy that is still too expensive. Derrick Goold’s take from last month paints a clear picture but man, I say let’s make a deal that benefits both parties today!

Now that my rant is over, back to the task at hand. Schumaker also gets grades from me in two remaining categories: Defense and Line-up. The first is actually harder to score given preconceived feelings about the experiment that has become a reality. The Secret Weapon earned his paycheck and then some last season by transforming Skip into a serviceable MLB 2B.

Again I admit to lacking in the stat sense of the game but passing the eye test still means a lot from my living room. The Cardinals have a double play combo with potential to stick around much longer than just the upcoming campaign. The credit has to be given where it is due and while Schumaker gets an A for effort, he scores a B with plenty of room for improvement. (On a side note, TLR and the rest of the St. Louis brain trust gets an A+ for creativity)

Rounding out my score, the one area where I have trouble is the line-up. All fans know who bats first, but I want the missing piece of the puzzle as well. Skip’s move to second ultimately opened a long-term space in the outfield where Matt Holliday now resides. With a very potent 3-6, my fear always comes back to the beginning. Schumaker has proven he can get on base in front of the big guns, but will the stop sign ever be lifted? Yup, whether or not it is his fault, a grade of C is all I could muster due to one stat.

Four. Nope, that is not even the number of times a base was stolen by the primary lead-off man. It is, however, the combination of both attempts and makes — ranking him tied for ninth on his own team in that category. Yes, I realize the team and player both had a great 2009, but a final tally of a B leaves room for doubt especially when talking about payroll for the upcoming decade.

That is not what this series is about, and I plan on devoting plenty of time to that very subject in the near future. My intention wasn’t to use the entire post on a single player, but honestly only Julio Lugo deserves even a little print. His grade is incomplete due to coming over mid-season and not knowing exactly how to classify him in terms of position. The rest of the gang is better off employed elsewhere, and that leads us to where we started.

Adam Kennedy found new life back on the West Coast and turned it into another year in the sun. As William Yoder speaks my mind, AK seems destined to be a bridesmaid. He wasn’t the first choice for the lowly Nats, and his release from the Cards played a role in the biggest surprise of  ’09. I guess this proves we should be thankful for life’s small favors and that a happy clubhouse trumps $ every time.

Hey, remember this series? Let’s see if we can knock out a few more positions before pitchers and catchers report, eh?

By games played at the position of first base:

Albert Pujols

I, much like other (all more esteemed) folks writing around baseball, am beginning to run out of superlatives to use for The Machine.

A third National League Most Valuable Player Award.  Led the league in runs, home runs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS+, and total bases – among other categories.

There really is no need to expound upon the offensive prowess and exploits of Pujols. He continues to produce at a high level at the plate, leading the Cardinals back to the playoffs.

So why the grade you see below?  Isn’t Pujols the best player in the game? Most complete at his position?

Not so fast. He CAN be those things.

In my opinion, Albert stretched himself a little thin in the 2009 season trying to do too much, to be too much, for his team. I know that’s not necessarily a bad quality to have, but it resulted in some regression in a couple aspects of Albert’s game.

Gold Glove potential at first base gave way to the most errors Pujols has committed since 2005. Pujols’ UZR has declined from 18.8 in 2007, to 8.5 in 2008, to a paltry 1.3 in 2009.

Sure, the Cards don’t necessarily pay Pujols to be a Gold Glover, but he certainly has the ability.

I am willing to buy into the camp that believes Albert may have been overcompensating for outfielder-turned-second-baseman Skip Schumaker.  Ranging for more balls than he would’ve with a “classically trained” second sacker to his right.  Attempting to make many plays himself rather than depending on Skip being a fundamentally sound infielder.  Hopefully this can change as Schu moves forward in ongoing seasons on the infield.

Another area where Albert can improve – and arguably another where he may have been pressing as the leader of the 2009 squad – is baserunning.  AP has always been praised as a smart ballplayer, and a very intelligent baserunner.  He has an uncanny ability to read pitchers, evidenced by his sixteen stolen bases in 2009 despite being, shall we say, “speed challenged.”

Where my concern lies is with Pujols’ twelve outs on base to lead the team.  Compared to a 46% success rate taking the extra base, a rate good for third-worst in his career, and it seems Albert felt an increased need to push the issue in 2009 to force runs to score.

Will Matt Holliday’s full-time presence in 2010 ease some of this burden for Albert and make him once again the complete, even-more-brilliant player that will make a push for a $30 million annual payday following the 2010 season?

Grade: A

The Field

It will be interesting to see if anyone winds up spelling Mang at first base in an increased backup/relief role in 2010.  Pujols logged a lot of starts and a lot of innings in 2009, and one can’t help but wonder if he should have an additional day or two off as his career progresses.

Regardless, 2009 saw Yadier Molina and Chris Duncan, of all people, tying for second-most games played at first base.

That’s all I need to know to take a pass on grading anyone but Pujols here.

Grade: Incomplete

—–

Overall grade: A

We’re off to a good start with A grades for both the catchers and first base. It occurs to me that second base might start some of the lower grades.  After all, we’re not grading against the challenge faced by the player incumbent in that position.

Hey, maybe we’ll even get around to writing these more often than every few months.

Today’s post took much longer than I planned for two reasons. The first is related to the Cardinals but the second, is well, not even close. For those that know me, my love for movies is nearly on par with that of a certain St. Louis sports team. We are going to keep this rolling along, but the movie references will be staying.

Instead of writing up my review of Albert Pujols yesterday, my fiance and I took in a matinee. She is a big fan of horror movies, and there just happens to be a nice selection of choices playing. Before I say anything else, please don’t take just my opinion when deciding if you should go and watch a flick. But given the price of seeing anything on the big screen, I feel it is my duty to share important details with our loyal readers.

Paranormal Activity, with a link for anyone who has not heard of it, should be playing in your city by now. It was done in the ‘Blair Witch’ style and could have really hit the mark as an underground classic. I will say that both of us slept just fine last night and won’t be getting the DVD due to being very disappointed (think being a fan of the Rams). Whatever you may read before deciding to go, it is worth your hard-earned money to do plenty of homework about it first.

With that interruption aside, the week of Albert could not end without dishing out top honors to the best in the business. The MJ of baseball as I said Wednesday night, Pujols plays with his own brand of flash that doesn’t always rub everyone the same way. Whether it is watching his mammoth home runs or ranging farther away from the bag on defense, the St. Louis first baseman does things no one else in baseball can even think of matching. Love him or hate him, AP scores an A across the board in all categories.

Hitting– Um, numbers don’t lie and the Cardinals must do whatever possible to lock up the MVP for the remainder of his HOF career. Pujols is starting to enter the discussion of greatest right-hand hitter ever and being healthy can only help the cause. Now I see why the player and the team didn’t give away anything in September even as the numbers were declining. St. Louis wanted the advantage come playoff time, but Joe Torre was leaving nothing to chance. Albert at even 80% scares the daylights out of opposing managers and for good reason as he notched an A+ from the batters’ box. Here’s for keeping El Hombre right around 95-99 for 2010 and away from any home run contests.

Defense– All the crazy talk about moving the Gold Glove winner away from first base just go to show that even the best is not enough for some people. Pujols offered to man 3B in the spring but was politely told that others would take over for Glaus. I mean, how else do you say no to No. 5? The 2009 campaign did see a drop in some stats while another record was achieved, making it a push and an A- in my book. Albert had to carry the load offensively and probably felt the pressure to do the same in the field while looking at the likes of Joe Thurston and Khalil Greene across the diamond. He did lead the team in errors with 13, but a confident DP combo of Ryan and Schu to finish the year also netted Pujols the assists record and momentum heading into next season.

Conclusion– Much like the Blues play second fiddle to the Cards in St. Louis, trying to find a back-up to Albert was nearly impossible. In theory De Rosa could have played more at 1B until I saw that no one was given an opportunity because somebody was hogging all the time over there. Pujols started all but five games at first, and his increased base running aptitude meant that he was a weapon on all phases of the game. He scores an A for tying his career high with 16 steals but it was an injury to another player that leads me to believe in the 160 games logged in 2009.

Joe Mather couldn’t have asked for more in Spring Training. TLR had changed his number (7) and had all but awarded the starting job at third to the late bloomer. Then a 1-28 slump took the wind out of his sails, and not even a late charge in March allowed Mather to break camp with St. Louis. After struggling through April in Memphis, two surgeries followed to repair his left wrist and the season ended at AA Springfield. I still feel he can be a nice addition to the major league squad, and that will be just one of many story lines to watch down in Jupiter. Overall, Pujols gives the team an A for 2009 with thoughts to who backs up the star yet to come.

As Josh mentioned yesterday, we are embarking upon a month-long (or so) series of report cards for the 2009 Cardinals, and he kicked it off with his grades at the catcher position yesterday.

Now it’s my turn.

Yadier Molina

Yadi has long been well regarded in big league circles as an outstanding defensive catcher, one of the best. His 2009 campaign did nothing to tarnish that image.

Molina did, however, continue to improve at the plate – posting a career high .749 OPS.  Not ground-rattling by any stretch, but at a premium position with premium defense, Molina is clearly a plus player for the Cardinals.

Using the outstanding catcher defense metrics/research from Driveline Mechanics, Molina ranks as the fifth best defensive catcher in MLB for 2009 at 6.6 runs above replacement, or approximately between 0.6 and 0.7 WAR to the Cardinals just from his defense.

Ranking fifth best in batting WAR among catchers as well, Molina is the only catcher to rank in the top five of both categories, and is joined by Joe Mauer as the only catchers to rank in the top ten of both offense and defense WAR (italicized numbers represent a top-five in the respective category):

Obviously, we’re only talking about one prevailing factor here, Wins Above Replacement, but it’s a pretty convincing one.  Yadi was a top four catcher in MLB in 2009.

Grade: A

Jason LaRue

Jason LaRue saw his catching time decrease by about 160 innings from 2008 to 2009, but he still provided the Cardinals with exactly what they were expecting from him while backing up the starter: very little defensive drop-off.

LaRue threw out one-third of would be base-stealers (5 CS of 15 attempts) during his  26 starts behind the plate (and some mop-up time) and allowed only one passed ball all season.

In fact, LaRue ranked 30th among MLB catchers in the same defensive runs metrics from Driveline Mechanics linked to above.

His bat appears to be fading (what was left of it) with age, as average was up, but walks and slugging were down.

Overall, as Molina’s time increases, LaRue can only do what is asked of him, and he did that admirably.

Grade: B+

Matt Pagnozzi

A 27 year-old rookie, Matt Pagnozzi made his way to the big club in September when rosters expanded and didn’t embarrass himself.

(What else can you say about a guy who plays five games in garbage time?)

Projections for next season are for another time, but I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if Lil’ Pags found his way onto the big league club full-time as the backup catcher next season.

See explanation of LaRue’s 2009 role above for reasoning.

Grade: Incomplete

David Freese

I would’ve rather seen the MLB catching debut of Jason Motte instead of Freese, but I don’t call the shots around Busch III.

Grade: Just get healthy enough to play third base, David

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Overall Grade:  A

The Cardinal catchers ranked highly in defensive performance, something clearly a focus of the Tony LaRussa years in St. Louis.  Molina’s bat continues to improve, and he’s only 27 years old.  The Cardinals have Yadi locked up to a very team-friendly contract, and amazingly he still appears to have room to improve.

One last tidbit, as a point of interest of yours truly: Cardinal catchers (and pitchers, arguably) only allowed 44 stolen bases on the season, lowest in the majors.  The catchers threw out 28 would-be base-stealers for a CS rate of 39%.  That means there was a total of 72 attempts against the Redbird catchers, or 22 attempts fewer (!) than the next team (Houston, 94).  MLB average attempts were 127.

The Cards’ catchers are really good.

How fitting is it that nearly all candidates to take home the top pitcher of the year award have the Molina boys to thank in some way. CC has Jose and last year’s winner, Tim Linecum, plays catch with Bengie. While it is easy to put Carp and Wainer on a pedestal, enough isn’t said about the man behind the plate, and Yadier has only to look down the first base line to see the other Cardinal player with as much job security.

With no clear up and comer in the system, St. Louis is set for years at catcher and that is where the look back at 2009 begins. Most forget how young (27) he still is, and that makes the scrutiny Molina faces all the more head-scratching (looking at you Al). His offense will always take a back seat to what has to be considered the best defensive skills in the game, but Yadi shouldn’t be hitting above seventh anyway.

TLR defends his backstop more than anyone I can remember, and that tends to get old at times (say, yet another double play). But one thing is for certain in my opinion. There is nobody else in the Major Leagues I would rather have for the next five years catching my pitching staff. He calls a marvelous game and knows exactly when to shake things up with each individual hurler. The extra dynamic brought to the table with possibly the best arm ever makes every it an adventure for any and all base runners.

But where does Molina and the rest of the crew grade out for the past campaign? I am taking the first crack at nailing the mark, and Nick gets his shot tomorrow. We want your opinion as well by posting your views below or sending us an essay if so desired. I have my handy new e-mail to try out and all comments are welcome at josh@pitchershiteighth.com.

Yadier Molina — I wrestled with how to break down his overall score but think I found just the right mix. His defense gets a solid A. I am leaving a sliver of room for it to get a + in the next year or two. As much as his batting is improved, a B+ is as high as I could dish out on offense due to the lack of speed on the base paths. Whether or not the manager was authorizing the jogging, I do hope that is something that disappears sooner rather than later. Overall I give #4 an A- with a nod to the front office for the team friendly contract.

Jason LaRue — As back-up catchers go, it is hard to not want him back except for the cost angle. Molina played seemingly everyday no matter what amount of pain he was in, so LaRue was left with little work. The former first round draft pick appeared in ten fewer Cardinal games than his first season with 60 less at-bats. With that in mind, his .240 average was the highest since 2005 and garners a B- for not hurting the NL Central champs. Always known for his work calling a game, I do remember ‘cowboy’ settling down a young bullpen on more than one occasion and that gets him a B+ with a solid B grade overall.

St. Louis may have lost points when Bryan Anderson wasn’t healthy enough to get his shot in September, but it was fun to hear the radio call of David Freese giving his all in extra innings. By far this is the one position that no one worries about when looking at the Cardinals, and they score a B+ for the year. Make sure to join Nick and I tonight for UCB Radio at 9:30 CST and have your grade sheet ready for inspection.