TOWER GROVE — With the subtraction of the salaries for Mark Mulder, Braden Looper, Scott Spiezio, Juan Encarnacion and Jason Isringhausen (though possibly only briefly for him), the St. Louis Cardinals have a raw total of about $29 million in expiring contracts from their 2008 payroll. But presented with the question on whether the Cardinals had $25 million to even $30 million of flexibility for the coming season, an organization official was direct with his answer:

“You might…

SOUTH GRAND — The only thing worse than Major League Baseball moving toward the World Series becoming some sort of neutral-site circus would be to dismiss the idea entirely and ignore all of the suggestion its inspired.

Coming out of the rain-delayed 2008 World Series and staring at a 2009 postseason that likely won’t end until the first week of November, the drumbeat for change echoed around baseball coverage. “Neutral Site” was the new black. ESPN’s…

SOUTH GRAND — Would have had the weekly PostCards posted much earlier this morning if the first question — from the sharp, witty and ever-adept keyboard of regular Frank Fuhrig, of course — had not been as much a homework assignment as a question.

It’s written less for a mailbag and more for a syllabus.

One element of the St. Louis Cardinals’ interest/chances in landing San Diego ace Jake Peavy is the amount of money the Cardinals…

TOWER GROVE — In hindsight, the Cardinals have realized they based a lot of their expectations of success in 2008, particularly when it came to pitching, on hope.

Hope was inconsistent, at best, and was recently diagnosed with impingement.

The Cardinals expected no fewer than three starting pitchers to return from serious injuries and contribute — at least one in a significant way — to the 2008 team. From Mark Mulder (shoulder), Matt Clement (shoulder) and Chris Carpenter (elbow,…

JUPITER, Fla. — Cardinals starter Matt Clement, more than a year removed from shoulder surgery, will alter his throwing program in the coming days and is not expected to be ready for opening day, as previously planned.

“In all honesty, I will be surprised if he’s ready for opening day,” pitching coach Dave Duncan said. “And I’m not too sure even if he is ready, we wouldn’t likely have him compete somewhere else just to get…

JUPITER, Fla. — Taking his game outside for the first time in months, Cardinals righthander Matt Clement began what he hopes is a normal spring training with his first throw off a dirt mound.

In between whacking clumps of mound off his cleats, he said he felt strong.

“It’s been two years since I’ve been doing a normal spring training schedule,” Clement said. “Everything is progressing as normal.”

Rain — yes, rain, you poor snowbound readers — interrupted the…