Award 1: Cardinal Player of the Year

Comment: Berkman was the most-valuable Cardinal and led the team in win-probability added. Pujols was a close but clear second.

Award 2: Cardinal Pitcher of the Year

Comment: Carpenter led the staff in WAR by far with 5.0. Garcia was a distant second with 3.6.

Award 3: Regular Season Game of the Year

Comment: The Sept. 24 comeback proved the team’s never-say-die mettle. The game graph was one of the most delightful of the season, not to mention Ryan Theriot’s 10.78 leverage-index plate appearance, the highest of the team’s season.

Award 4: Post-Season Game of the Year

Comment: As someone who remembers the 1986 World Series Game 6 (as a Mets fan), we must say that the 2011 Game 6 takes the cake, with not one but two utterly improbable comebacks.

Award 5: Surprise Player of the Year

Comment: A surprise is something unexpected or astonishing. Berkman’s return to prominence may have been greater than planned, but it was just that: a return. Kyle Lohse, on the other hand, tossed career bests in FIP (3.67) and xFIP (4.04). Given consecutive ballooning-FIP seasons from 2008-2010, no one (not even Dave Duncan) could’ve expected Lohse’s best campaign of his career at age 32.

Award 6: Disappointing Player of the Year

Comment: Rasmus had the deck stacked against him, with his manager unwilling to support him through a prolonged slump, which in turn led to a cascade of problems. A couple of minor injuries along the way didn’t help (abdominal muscle pull, calf strain), but ultimately Rasmus didn’t come close to following up his high-expectation-setting 4.3-WAR 2010 season (1.3 WAR in 94 games). As for the others, realistically low expectations meant that their poor seasons couldn’t be disappointing.

Award 7: Cardinal Rookie of the Year

Comment: Craig posted the fifth-most WAR among NL rookies and led the Senior Circuit’s noobs with a .399 wOBA.

Award 8: Pre-Season Acquisition of the Year

Comment: The fact that Berkman didn’t have any competition in this category shouldn’t detract from his worthiness. He was quite possibly the best offseason acquisition of any team last winter.

Award 9: Mid-Season Acquisition of the Year

Comment: Given the price paid for Dotel, Jackson and Rzepczynski and the lack of contract longevity for the first two, we couldn’t consider any of them (even Dotel, who had the most impact, with 0.9 WAR) as the best. Furcal didn’t provide the offensive bang or the defensive solidity that the team expected, but at the time, it was the best move.

Award 10: Most Anticipated Cardinal

Yes, Adams is exciting and put himself on the map this year. But the most anticipated is still Miller, even if some shine is off the apple due to his worrying “drug of abuse” suspension.

Award 11: Best Individual Cardinal Blog (written mainly by one person)

Award 12: Best Team Cardinal Blog (written by two or more people)

Award 13: Best Professional Cardinal Blog

Award 14: Best Rookie Cardinal Blog (began December 1, 2010 or later)

Award 15: Post of the Year

Award 16: Best UCB Project

Award 17: Most Optimistic Cardinal Blog

Award 18: Best UCB Podcast

Award 19: Best UCB Twitterer

Award 20: Best Fake Cardinal Twitter Account

And that brings us to our question:  What does Mike Matheny have to accomplish with this team in 2012 – with or without Pujols – to be considered “successful” in his rookie season?

Another 90 win season? Make the playoffs? Make the NLCS? Just contend? Win the World Series again? Just keep the team upright and drama-free? Etc. Make sure to include the reasoning behind your answer, perhaps even including a comparison between your expectations of Matheny…and what he needs to accomplish to be considered successful in 2012 (is there a difference?).

It’s possible to set expectations regardless of the personnel Matheny has. Actually, we would argue that roster-independent analysis is the only fair way to assess him. Success for Matheny means showing an ability to optimize his personnel (whoever they are), from lineup setting (no low-OBP leadoff men, please) to the rotation to minor-league callups. It also means consistently wise strategy, giving his team the best chance to win, whether it’s the running game or using his best relievers in the highest-leverage situations, regardless of “Save” conditions. It will be vital for Matheny to show restraint and not overreact when proven approaches appear to fail, even for long stretches (e.g., not putting on more hit and runs when the team is hitting into double plays). For someone with no managing experience, having patience with the long season and concepts like regression may be the most difficult. One unique challenge for Matheny will be helping the team adjust from a command-and-control environment to something conceivably less so. Clubhouse control will look different — perhaps a more self-policing approach — so Matheny will need to shepherd that change, most likely by relying on the team’s veterans, who have a somewhat checkered record of leadership (see the Game 2 walkout).

Those criteria to us are more an indicator of a manager’s success than wins and losses, which are mostly dependent on players, and certainly not playoff success, which of course is a crapshoot.

No. The problem for the Cardinals may not be whether they pay more than 9/$200 million, but whether they have to. Given the scarcity of teams who both need a first baseman and can afford Pujols, the Cardinals will have only slightly more competition than they faced last winter, when they had sole negotiating rights. And John Mozeliak has a bit of a history here, handing Kyle Lohse a four-year deal before he hit the market and outbidding — who, we’re not sure — for Matt Holliday. So the relevant question is: Would they need to pay him more than 9/200? Though we expect at least a couple of other teams (e.g., Rangers and Angels) to bid, we doubt they would approach that mark.

As far as the bargain of his past contract goes, this is a non-starter. Both parties voluntarily entered into the agreement back in 2004, each believing that the deal was fair. Pujols, for all he knew, could’ve blown his elbow that spring and never played another game, and the Cardinals wouldn’t have asked for their $100 million back. Neither should Pujols “ask” for it back as he negotiates the next deal.

Ray gives some well-considered reasons why the idea of paying him “whatever it takes” isn’t helpful. And as Tom already intimated, we’re already beyond reasonable with a nine-year deal, when a seven-year deal starting in an age-32 season is even pushing it. To put it into perspective, Miguel Cabrera got “only” eight when he was 25. Even Barry Zito’s contact — regarded as one of the worst all-time — is only seven years and $126 million and even that was signed when he was 29.

Yes, baseball is a business, but that doesn’t mean that the owners are the only businessmen. Players are not serfs with limited rights (anymore) but highly compensated professionals in their own regard. Ownership has a downward force on salaries, but players exert an similar force upward, so the idea that “baseball is a business” should only be understood in neutral terms (other than the fact that the sport being a business has enabled us to witness the best baseball on earth). Albert Pujols has as much chance (or as some seem to believe of the organization, an obligation) to act “with his heart” as the management does. To hear Pujols tell it — “It’s not about the money. I already got my money. It’s about winning and that’s it.” — the World Series title (and two in the last six years) is all he needs.

[Today's United Cardinal Bloggers roundtable question is from Christine Coleman of Aaron Miles' Fastball on behalf of her blogging co-conspirators, Miranda and Tara.]

The first two questions have looked ahead but Miranda, Tara and I are not quite ready to forget what the Cardinals have accomplished in 2011 only days after the World Series ended – and not just October, but the race to get there. We know the September surge and October playoff run were definitely team efforts. But, just like there’s an MVP for the NLCS and World Series, we want to know your opinion of who made the biggest contribution during that entire turnaround.

Our question: who is your most valuable Cardinal from Aug. 25 on?

As much as Chris Carpenter rallied the club with his indomitable spirit, Lance Berkman provided an unflappable, calm performance in leading the team after Aug. 25 with a .446 OBP. More contextually, though, he led with an incredible 1.879 WPA (Pujols had 1.332; Carp 0.396) — his hits mattered most. Big Puma’s Game-6 plate appearance epitomized what he brings to the club, both tangible — he knocked “only” a single, but it (.468 WPA) was worth more than all three of Pujols’s Game-3 home runs combined — and intangible — he approached the at-bat with the insouciance of a spring-training appearance and yet, as F. Scott Fitzgerald put it, “with the single-mindedness of a burglar blowing a safe.”

Which brings us to our second point. Unlike in years past, when Tony La Russa’s high-performing teams tensed up in the absence of an easygoing veteran presence  (as helpful as they are, one imagines that it’s difficult to relax around La Russa and Pujols), the 2011 Cardinals came back to win because they played with a free and easy spirit. We credit Berkman in large part for that.

Who is your No. 1 choice to replace Tony La Russa as Cardinals manager, and why?

Our top choice is Joe Maddon. We see a couple of different paths that the Cardinals could take. First, if they do want to consider Maddon (whom we, like others, have advocated in the past) but only after his 2012 contract ends, they could go with an interim manager next season. Granted, nobody likes the unsettled aspect of the interim manager, but it actually affords the flexibility to either pursue Choice A (in this case, Maddon) or to extend the interim manager (not unlike the 1+1 contract for Lance Berkman). The second option is to hire a “permanent” manager, of course. The most popular pick here is Jose Oquendo, but we have yet to see much objective argument for him, other than some anecdotal evidence that “players trust him.” However, this point is hardly clear, since as third-base coach, he regularly had players (Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, et al) distrust his baserunning judgments to the point where he became invisible. It’s hard to see how someone who has such little respect in a relatively small part of the game would somehow be able to command it as manager.

Albert Pujols is no longer a Cardinal and has moved on to greener (see what I did there?) pastures.  Put your General Manager hat on for me and tell me what moves you feel need to be made if the team desires to be competitive in 2012.  Is there a key free agent or specific position that Mo should attempt to upgrade?  Should he stand pat?  Anything other than reacquiring Pujols is on the table.

Part of the wisdom of re-signing Lance Berkman was to provide insurance for just this scenario, so the pieces rotate into place: Berkman plays first, Allen Craig goes to right field. That of course still leaves a firepower gap for the offense, which was the team’s strong suit in 2011. Happily, for whatever productivity loss the team incurs with Craig, it gains in payroll, so the Cardinals could afford to buy some offense.

The open spots then are shortstop and second base, with the possibility of centerfield. The rotation of Wainwright, Carpenter, Garcia, Lohse and Westbrook has some high highs and low lows, but overall is actually set up better than 2011’s was. We’re not convinced that a secondary LOOGy should be high on the shopping list, given their relatively low replacement value (for example, take Arthur Rhodes — please!).

Going outside the organization, the Cardinals might end their shortstop revolving door by bucking up for Jose Reyes, though his 2011 OBP of .384 belies his .341 career average. The price tag obviously matters here. Maybe it’s the former Mets fan in me, but Reyes would revive some of that top-of-the-lineup thrill from the Herzog years. And if Cardinal fans can embrace lifetime Astro Lance Berkman, surely they can warmly receive Reyes, right? Otherwise, we agree with Malcolm that Drew would make lot of sense at shortstop, but clearly Arizona, who extended his contract earlier this year,  thinks so too. We’re not sure Mozeliak has any more high-talent ne’er-do-wells to offer in trade. Thinking outside the box a bit, Carlos Beltran (yes, the hated Beltran and another ex-Met) would be a fascinating late-career short-timer (had the fourth-highest WAR among RFs last year). The only problem would be positional, since he probably couldn’t return to center.

Certainly finding a new manager is a important, but the pool of would-be managers isn’t as scarce as top players, so we would actually deprioritize it. And given that the team likely wouldn’t need to spend as much on its manager as it did La Russa (~$5 million), they could use the extra payroll on the field.

Facing the bottom of the Brewers’ lineup, Kyle Lohse continued to pitch to contact, keeping the ball in the strike zone — nine strikes to one ball (he finished the game with 67% strikes) — but not getting a single swinging strike in the fourth. After Mark Kotsay and Jonathan Lucroy found gloves on their balls hit into play, the always-spazzing Carlos Gomez reached Lohse for a two-out double. Though rightfielder Lance Berkman had some fielding problems later, Gomez would’ve been on second regardless of whether Berkman or Jon Jay were fielding. Gomez actually hit a pretty good pitch, low and outside, which may’ve been out of zone (the Brewer centerfielder has a relatively poor contact rate on balls outside of the zone, with a career O-Contact rate of 59.9%)

That brought up Yovani Gallardo, himself a decent-hitting pitcher — he’s third among active pitchers in career home runs:

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used

Perhaps because Lohse was in the zone so much, Gallardo offered at the first pitch — very similar to the 85-mph slider on which Gomez had doubled — and popped out to end the threat.

For some reason, Nick Punto — with a .322 career OBP — was batting leadoff for the Cardinals Saturday and got his second chance of the young game to start an inning. Unfortunately for the home team, he was as feckless in his second attempt, striking out looking to the form-regaining Gallardo after working a full count. Gallardo received called strikes on the inside and outside edges of the plate, then tried to get Punto to fish for a couple of curveballs low and away, then pounded a fastball up and in for strike three. Gallardo moved on to work over Colby Rasmus, freezing him on a 94-mph fastball over the inside half, on the heels of the same pitch just a few inches inside.

Thus emboldened, Gallardo got a charitable strike call on a high slider to start off Albert Pujols, who in 21 plate appearances boasted a .476 OBP and .625 SLG vs. the Milwaukee righty. But Pujols, in a replay of his first-inning at-bat, grounded out to shortstop trying to pull an outside offspeed pitch. That seems to be the Cardinal slugger’s problem this year, continuing an alarming trend from 2010 in which he literally hit only half his career wOBA to the opposite field. This year isn’t much better, as he is at only .239, compared to his career mark of .335. Pujols would later take an outside pitch the opposite way but ground out feebly to Prince Fielder at first base.