TOWER GROVE - The bountiful stats Ryan Ludwick put up this season, the career-high wins for pitchers like Kyle Lohse and even the radar readouts from rookie Jason Motte – as big as those numbers were, the digits that continue to define the Cardinals 2008 season are these: 31.

Everyone knows what that number is.

The first question of the Return of PostCards forces us to discuss what that number means. The Cardinals blew 31 saves this season, but a blown save does not always mean a loss and it does not always come in the ninth inning. It’s a superficial statistic, one that’s usage outweighs its importance. That is explored in the first question. There is also an inquiry about how Ludwick’s breakout could mean an MV3 Revival, how it’s possible the Cubs keep spending money, and what it would be like to have Manny Ramirez wearing the Birds.

Think about that for a moment.

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While you attach a dreadlocks to your Cardinals cap in preparation, on with PostCards:

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Q: The Cardinals blew about 30 saves this season; don’t have the exact number at hand. How many of those games did they go on to lose?

– Larry Harnly, Springfield, Ill.

DG: Excellent and germane question. Leave it to Larry to steer me toward research that is important to have at my fingers this winter. The Cardinals blew 31 saves this season. This much we know by heart. That total led the National League, and it came three shy of tying Colorado’s record for blown saves in a season since 1969.

But how did those 31 saves show up in the standings?

The Cardinals lost 19 of those 31 games and were 12-19 in the games with a blown save. The pitchers tagged with the blown save were 5-12 with 14 no decisions. Nine different relievers had at least one blown save this season for the Cardinals, led by Ryan Franklin’s eight. (Note: One of his blown saves came in a game that no runner he was responsible for scored or changed the outcome of the game. As a statistic, blown saves have their faults.) But Franklin didn’t have the most losses tethered to his blown saves.

Keep in mind when a pitcher throws - seventh inning, eighth inning, etc. - is going to skew these because a blown save, unlike a save, can go to anyone who throws in a save situation, be it in the sixth inning or the 11th inning. How the blown saves break down, reliever by reliever, and the team’s record in the blown saves:

Ryan Franklin … 8 blown saves … Team: 4-4 … Player: 2-3

Jason Isringhausen … 7 blown saves … Team: 2-5 … Player: 1-4

Kyle McClellan … 5 blown saves … Team: 1-4 … Player: 0-3

Chris Perez … 4 blown saves … Team: 0-4 … Player: 0-2

Russ Springer … 2 blown saves … Team: 1-1 … Player: 0-0

Randy Flores … 2 blown saves … Team: 1-1 … Player: 1-0

Ron Villone … 1 blown save … Team: 1-0 … Player: 0-0

Mark Mulder … 1 blown save … Team: 0-1 … Player: 0-0

Brad Thompson … 1 blown save … Team; 1-0 … Player: 1-0

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Q: I thought you, with your statistical bent, might enjoy this oddity. I was following a Cardinal game in September via MLB.com, and the Cards had the bases loaded. When I checked the scores of other games, I was surprised to see that EVERY ONE of the games in play at that moment had the bases loaded! A screen shot (in a Word document) is attached.

- Bill

DG: Good catch. Check the outbreak of freckles - each red dot represents a base runner - at the top of the screen capture that Bill sent along with his email.

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Q: I was wondering what your thoughts are on the Cubs payroll. According to Cot’s baseball contracts they were at almost $120 million this year. With contract increases (all of those big contracts are catching up) this goes to $140 million. Plus, they still want to keep Kerry Wood, Ryan Dempster, and get a bat. How is that possible?!

– Kevin Weber

DG: The Cubs will be, arguably, the most fascinating team this offseason — not only because of their latest flameout in the playoffs, but because of that For Sale sign in their front yard. The buyer of the Tribune Co. is taking bids on the Cubs and plans to spin the franchise off to the highest/best bidder (one of the finalists is NBA maverick Mark Cuban). How much the Cubs can do with uncertain ownership is an unknown. General manager Jim Hendry, as The Chicago Tribune recently pointed out, has a one-year option for the 2009 season and he must exercise it before the end of the year. It’s unlikely that the Cubs will have a new owner in place by then, so he’ll be leaping into a void. He’s done well enough at Wrigley to possible entertain a more secure offer elsewhere.

The Cubs have already started spending for 2009. They exercised the $7-million option on Rich Harden. Kerry Wood will likely return for a fair offer, and there’s been some speculation that the Cubs will do a rich, one-year deal to bridge the transition to Carlos Marmol as closer by 2010. Ryan Dempster will have to agree to a hometown discount, an I-love-ivy deal for the Cubs to keep him. Because really, what the Cubs need is not easy to find and it is expensive: a lefthanded threat to play right field. Heck, a bona fide bat to play right field. The Cubs lineup needs a lefthanded presence - the Dodgers showed everybody that - and the Cubs would like that presence to come at the expense of at-bats for Kosuke Fukudome. (Or, at least, Cubs’ fans would.) They may have to find that bat via trade, dangling at least shortstop Ronny Cedeno.

There are, obviously, two ways the Cubs could go without a known owner. They could pull a Blues and shed their Chris Prongers and shy away from signing any other Chris Prongers. Or, they could spend like sailors, beef up on back-loaded contracts (see: Alfonso Soriano) and let the next owner dig out from the mess.

If it ain’t their money, anything is possible.

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Q: The Cards got a wonderful year out of Ryan Ludwick and a good year out of Rick Ankiel (until he got hurt). But, Ludwick did strike out quite a bit (the ONLY blemish I can find) and Ankiel still swings at too many slow pitches out of the strike zone. Given that both are still fairly young in terms of major-league at bats, what’s your (or the Cards) take on how much upside remains for each as an offensive player? Do they (along with Albert Pujols) potentially represent a new MV3?

– Ray

DG: Step away from the keyboard. Catch your breath. The Cardinals have a perennial All-Era hitter in Pujols, and that’s … well, that’s where the description ends. They are now a team with an MVP, not MV3. There is every likelihood that Ryan Ludwick could improve on his breakout year and not match this year’s production. His improvement would be in consistency across a season, not in raw totals. His slugging percentage could jog up a bit, but it could climb by doubles, not with a 40-homer season. Rick Ankiel has to show he can stay healthy for a whole season before he gets the tag of being a 35-homer guy. Is he capable of hitting 30? You betcha. Are all three? Pujols is a given. The other two are not. Ludwick and Ankiel are intriguing talents for 2009 - certainly capable of driving in 100 runs or cracking 35 homers. But track record is a tool. Hyperventilating about Ludwick improving on his 2008 or Ankiel staying hot for an entire season is just that … hyperventilating … until they do it and do it again.

The Cardinals don’t need an MV3 to contend.

They need the MVD - more viable depth.

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Q: I liked the ‘what if’ articles you did recently and was wondering your thoughts on this one: What if … The Cardinals had traded for Manny? How different would the season have turned out? Who would we have traded, could we have matched what the Dodgers sent?

– Chris

DG: If Manny Mania came to Mound City, the Cardinals would have had two of this generations best three righthanded hitters back-to-back in the lineup. Tony La Russa would have his impact bat. Pujols would have seen more pitches to hit. So Taguchi’s legacy as The No. 99 would be in jeopardy. And fans would have really seen what it’s like to have an adventure in left field. In short, we would have had plenty to write about.

We probably would have been writing into October, too.

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Powered by questions, every week during postseason, Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold will answer fans’ emails in a mailbag blog called PostCards, a spin-off of Bird Land. To comment and discuss the mailbag visit the PostCards blog on StlToday.com. To submit questions write PostCards@post-dispatch.com or file them as a comment on this blog. With all questions please include your name and hometown.

Questions can also be asked at Bird Land @ Facebook, or over at my “bird feed” on Twitter.

PostCards will run online exclusively at StlToday.com.

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