(updated 5:05 p.m.) HOUSTON — The Cardinals jet to the desert after this afternoon’s game for what could amount to one big, festive and unexpected Class of ‘06 Reunion in Arizona.

Lefthander reliever Randy Flores will join the team Monday when rosters expand to their September limit, manager Tony La Russa confirmed Sunday morning. Josh Kinney said Saturday that he will join the team at Chase Field on Tuesday. Chris Carpenter, fresh from his light bullpen session…

TOWER GROVE — So before baseball gets knee-deep in performance-enhancing slop tomorrow — check out the late night Associated Press report; the P-D story with a local bent is up now — it’s time do a little trolling through the non-tender reports.

The deadline is tonight for teams to tender contracts for the 2008 season to arbitration-eligible players and others with renewable contracts. The process usually spits out a gem or two, including a certain…

TOWER GROVE — On Monday, the Cardinals and anyone else who coveted him got an eyeful of why Jake Westbrook was destined to be one of the most sought after free agents this coming winter. He held Boston to two runs during 6 2/3 innings of work for the Cleveland Indians.

And, take a breath sinker aficionados (sinkeristas? sinkerthusiasts?), Westbrook coaxed 14 groundouts.

He  got three inning-ending double plays.

No wonder he’s been on the…

DODGERTOWN, Fla. — Cardinals’ first baseman and annual MVP favorite Albert Pujols entered Tuesday’s game against the Dodgers with a .244 batting average and no home runs — though there was that one in Fort Lauderdale that probably could have been. Hall of Famer Rick Hummel will take a look in tomorrow’s paper at the spring Pujols is having, the  doubles vs. homers,  and how he’s aiming toward having his swing together for the final…

JUPITER, Fla. — Just when it seemed there was more talk about the Cardinals’ starting rotation competition than there actually was a competition, a young righthander with a gnarly pitch and a renewed confidence in chucking it is forcing his way into the conversation.

Meet this year’s Adam Wainwright: Brad Thompson.

In the first salvo of what may bloom into a competition, Thompson threw three perfect innings, getting six ground outs, one strike out and…

UPDATE:  When originally writing this I  was operating from my final/approved draft of the rankings.  There was an additional/updated draft of the rankings completed before Baseball America published the Handbook. These reshuffled rankings  had additional performance and information to  use and thus  altered some of the rankings. I apologize for any confusion, but I’ve  provided both  in the blog.  All the better for the debate. You get a better view of my leanings and great…

TOWER GROVE - Back from holiday and I see not much as changed. The Cardinals starting rotation is still, as Joe Strauss likes to say, a “work in progress” and the free agent market continues to defy logic. Spoke with Scott Boras on Sunday and he wished to convey the quote you saw in today’s paper.

I wished to ask how Jeff Weaver’s deal makes sense.

Let’s follow the train of thought here. As he…

TOWER GROVE - Winter Warm-Up is on the horizon. The writers’ dinner is fast approaching and I have some pithy comments to concoct. Recently bought my plane tickets to Jupiter - stow the jokes, folks - and after tomorrow the Hall of Fame won’t be the story.

Baseball, 2007 style, will be.

OK, OK, the Hall of Fame will  forever be the story this year.

Yet there was nary a question about the Hall of…

SOUTH GRAND - The rising price of baseball players has made Moneyball more relevant than ever. Not the statistical side of the book that got so much attention, but the market theory portion of the book - the part where the Oakland A’s identified a corner of the baseball world that was undervalued and exploited it.

We may have found this year’s:

Average.

Rifle through the contracts being offered starting pitchers and you see Gil…