TOWER GROVE — The Cardinals have called off the carousel. With a deal done Monday, the Cardinals have put Skip Schumaker in position to do something that hasn’t been done since Fernando Vina manned the pivot, all while further defining not only what the team will look like in 2010 but 2011 as well.

As reported in this morning’s paper, the St. Louis Cardinals and their sudden second baseman finalized a two-year, $4.7-million deal that skirts…

TOWER GROVE — The 2010 edition of the annual Baseball America Prospect Handbook has reached shelves and if you flip to page 366 for the start of the St. Louis Cardinals entry the number that is most striking isn’t anywhere in the Top 30. It’s actually the number of players missing from that 30.

A total of 15 names from the 2009 list have dropped off the Top 30 for 2010. Fifteen. Half.

Six of the prospects…

TOWER GROVE — Before getting back to baseball, a quick story: Way back in 1998, The Times-Picayune had no use for an extra sidebar jockey at the New Orleans Saints game, so the paper graciously loaned me one Sunday afternoon to The Boston Globe. The New England Patriots were in town and the Globe said it could use an extra hand. I moved seats and was rewarded with one of my favorite quotes from another…

TOWER GROVE — A week or so before the most recent Winter Meetings — back when the St. Louis Cardinals and outfielder Matt Holliday were only playing footsie — I spoke with an agent who brought up how Holliday’s deal would only be the beginning of the big spending for the Cardinals.

This was back when Holliday’s agent Scott Boras was comparing Holliday to Mark Teixeira and the $180-million deal the first baseman landed with the…

DOWNTOWN — St. Louis Cardinals first baseman and the reigning MVP Albert Pujols spoke to the media today about Mark McGwire becoming the hitting coach, about McGwire recent admission and about how far along on he is on his rehab.

He also talked about his contract. There was plenty about his contract.

Most of the newsier morsels from Pujols’ appearance before the media at the 14th annual Winter Warm-Up can be found here, over in the news…

DOWNTOWN — Just as Kyle Lohse had said a few hours earlier, St. Louis Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright agreed that “on paper” the club should have one of the best rotations “in the league.” Both righthanders spoke to the media Monday as part of the 14th annual Winter Warm-Up, and all four of the in-pen starters have made appearances here during the weekend.

The rotation isn’t any different at the top, with Wainwright, Lohse and ace…

DOWNTOWN — St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa agreed that the muscle-bound years of steroid use in baseball presents players, managers, Hall of Fame voters and fans with a “confusing era.” He discussed Monday what being a manager during that era — especially a manager with two star players who have now admitted steroid use during that time — means to his legacy.

Quick aside: For these videos, I’m testing out some new hand-held technology…

DOWNTOWN — With most of the attention Sunday on Mark McGwire’s first public appearance in St. Louis as the Cardinals’ new hitting coach, outfielder Matt Holliday – the other story of the winter; he of the largest contract in club history — had only a cameo appearance. And, yes, he answered questions about McGwire.

But he also offered his take on being a player in baseball’s post-steroids era.

“I’ve obviously never taken part in any of that…

DOWNTOWN — In two packed-room sessions with fans, St. Louis Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak fielded questions from fans — including one that warned him his answer “could get him fired” — and talked about the roster he hopes the team takes into 2010. There were, as you’d expect, plenty of questions about Matt Holliday and the biggest contract in Cardinals history.

The questions ranged from the length of the deal to Holliday’s agent, Scott Boras.

At…

DOWNTOWN — Both of them lost significant time last season to injury, and both St. Louis Cardinals prospects Jaime Garcia and Daryl Jones will be coming to spring training next month healthy and eyeing openings on the major-league roster.

“I’m going in there basically to showcase,” said Jones, an outfielder who was just added to the 40-man roster this past autumn. “Showcase to (Tony La Russa). Showcase to the team.”

Garcia, a lefthanded pitcher, said he heard…

MISSION VIEJO, Calif. — A few times this past week, we’ve written about how Mark McGwire hopped into the cage to take his cuts during batting practice sessions with a couple St. Louis Cardinals hitters. Put up a video of it in yesterday’s entry, but it became apparent that it should have been busted off and placed in its own entry.

Super Shutterbug Chris Lee and I were trying to think of another time we saw…

MISSION VIEJO, Calif. — The St. Louis Cardinals new hitting coach Mark McGwire has thought privately for years about how to re-enter baseball as an instructor and how to get back into the game in a position to do what he has come to love — talk hitting. There were obstacles. As discussed this week, he was concerned that the suspicions of his steroids use would impede his ability to coach. He also was wary…

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — During the 90-minute batting practice at an indoor cage Wednesday, the hitter who tagged the baseball the hardest and tested the nets ability to slow its ascent the most was actually the guy who was supposed to be coaching the hitters, not being the hitter.

“I really enjoy hitting,” Mark McGwire explained. “I really enjoy showing the guys what I’m trying to teach.”

As if he was part of a hitting group with…

SOUTH GRAND — So an unexpected thing happened on the way to finishing the research for a promised 10@10. You may have heard. Some news broke. That was followed by some more detailed news complete with comments, some additional interviews with current players who received personal calls from Mark McGwire on his Come Clean Monday, and then finally some opinions (Bernie’s here and Bryan’s there).

The promised look into the best Nos. 3 and 4 hitter combos…

TOWER GROVE — Some may call it a fire hazard, but I call it backup: Stacked in my office, not too far from my desk, is a bushel of sports sections — actual newspapers, imagine! — that span the noteworthy and important moments from the past eight years or so. There are papers from the 2009 All-Star Game and papers from Mike Danton’s arrest. There are papers from Rick Hummel’s induction into the National Baseball Hall…