CLEARWATER, Fla. — Pity Pete Kozma. Through no fault of his own he’s spent the first few years of his professional career doing exactly what was expected. Good glove. Consistently improving bat. Agility in the field that portends of a major-league shortstop with the potential for a reliable, average-oriented bat. That’s why the St. Louis Cardinals drafted him with their first pick in 2007.

The trouble is … He’s not Rick Porcello.

The story has now lapsed…

JUPITER, Fla. — Less than 50 feet from his locker in the St. Louis Cardinals clubhouse and on his way to the kitchen for a snack, outfielder Colby Rasmus cannot help but walk by a stack of copies of Baseball America. It’s right there by the shelves of bubblegum and sunflower seeds.

The current issue might be of especially interest to Rasmus as it’s the annual rankings of the Top 100 Prospects in baseball. One of the…

TOWER GROVE — Back during those 100-win salad days of 2004 and 2005, the St. Louis Cardinals’ tremendous success at the major-league level was a facade for what anyone with an eye on the minors knew, and knew well: It all could be fleeting.

A sobering reminder of the situation they put themselves in came the winter after the Cardinals juggernaut run to the National League pennant and World Series in 2004. Baseball America, viewed by…

WEST COUNTY — The St. Louis Cardinals decision not to offer Braden Looper arbitration by this week’s deadline can be measured in the innings they have to prove they can fill, the dollars they may have saved, and the years of security he may gain.

But don’t forget to count the prospect the Cardinals won’t get.

As a Type B free agent, Looper offered the Cardinals the opportunity to assure a supplemental (i.e., sandwich) round pick in…

TOWER GROVE — After more than 8,500 votes, 173 comments, dozens of spin-off threads, a few lively exchanges over at the Facebook page, and the hours of one talented Post-Dispatch illustrator, it is time to unveil the monument that you helped chisel:

The St. Louis Cardinals Mount Rushmore.

Back during the limbo between playoff series, Bird Land asked the simple question: What four members from Cardinals’ history would you carve into a Mount Rushmore of the franchise? We…

TOWER GROVE — This unfortunate news from St. Louis Cardinals media relations director Brian Bartow:

The St. Louis Cardinals organization was deeply saddened (Sunday) when it learned of the passing of Fred McAlister, the team’s long-time Scouting Director (1980-1993) who had most recently served as a Special Assignment Scout for the team. … McAlister was a part of the Cardinals’ organization since 1945, when he signed as a player out of high school. He played in…

Don Gutteridge, the last living member of the Gas House Gang and the 1944 St. Louis Browns pennant-winning club, died Sunday at his Pittsburg, Kan., home, where he’s remembered as a “baseball icon” and a recent author. He was 96.

Gutteridge played 12 seasons in the major leagues, starting as a Cardinals’ farmhand who made his debut in 1936 and continuing through turns with the Browns, the Boston Red Sox and finally, in 1948, the Pittsburgh…

TOWER GROVE – With the draft approaching, Cardinals vice president of player procurement and farm director Jeff Luhnow is a traveling man.

Constantly traveling.

There’s less than three weeks before the draft and soon the Cardinals will be holding scouting workouts at various sites around the country — and scout meetings at each place. While the Cardinals held a mock draft this past winter to help get more familiar with the amateur players available this June, and take…

SOUTH GRAND — Starting with a possible trade partner that probably doesn’t have what the Cardinals are looking for and ending with a question about the chances of a fan-favorite outfielder trying on an infielder’s glove, this week’s edition of the mailbag is loaded with all manner of things middle infield.

Oh, and there is also an advocacy of a four-man rotation.

Reliever Russ Springer is back. Rico Washington gave everyone a great story. And Brendan Ryan…

TOWER GROVE – The PostCards inbin was overrun with spam and the Cyrillic alphabet – who knew four years of Russian would help me wade through questions for a baseball mailbag? спасибо Большое. One email that had the subject line: “Thanks Houston/We Have Liftoff!”

Thought for sure that was a love letter to Brandon Backe. But no.

It was a religious group’s mass email with a space travel pun. Houston? Liftoff? Getit? Dah. (Just wait until the Cardinals’…

JUPITER, Fla. — The Cardinals’ brass headed for the Dominican Republic today for a barnstorming visit that includes a meeting with more than a couple dozen agents.

Cardinals GM John Mozeliak and two of his top lieutenants — assistant general manager John Abbamondi and farm director Jeff Luhnow — left the spring training facility this morning for a one-day jaunt to the Dominican. This evening, the trio of Cardinals officials will meet with more than 20 agents as part of…

DOWNTOWN — Thanks to the writers’ strike, the best ongoing drama we’ve had this winter is “Courting Johan”, a reality TV series featuring heavy favorites and what is likely to be a surprise ending with a blockbuster payout.

There even was a cameo appearance by the local club.

You might have missed it.

It was early on, perhaps even in the pilot episode, when the Cardinals called the Minnesota Twins to ask if there was a chance they…

TOWER GROVE — Returned home after a delayed, fogged, re-routed and serpentine trek back from Prague to be greeted by a true sign of spring: Lindy’s Fantasy Baseball was on the airport’s magazine racks.

Ah, preview mags. 

Flipped through Lindy’s on the last leg of the flight home and loved scanning the mock draft and the predicted statistics. One of the first places I turned was to the list of ”Hot Properties”, or 40 fantasy rookies to watch in…

DOWNTOWN — To hear Cardinals president Mark Lamping describe it, John Mozeliak stepped out of Walt Jocketty’s shadow the day after Jocketty was fired. That was in action. In word, Mozeliak spread his wings Tuesday during a staff meeting at Busch Stadium.

It was there that, according to Lamping, Mozeliak told staff members that any of the barriers, any of the burned bridges or hurt feelings or bruised relationships that had developed during the previous baseball…

TOWER GROVE — After taking three of four from Arizona, manager Tony La Russa told the assembled members of the Fourth Estate that those wins “were only important” if the Cardinals made the most of the weekend series against last-place San Francisco.

They didn’t.

So, what could have been a 5-2 homestand that gobbled up games in the quest for .500, instead became a salvage of sorts with a 4-3 record with only one game gained. Not…