TOWER GROVE — The first edition of this offseason’s PostCards mailbag begins with a favorite parlor game of the press box: Take the best player on the team. Put him on the trading block. Wonder just what it would take in return to make a deal happen. Stir and … Presto! Instant debate.

In the St. Louis Cardinals’ case, that’s Albert Pujols, the best hitter in the game, and a fine place to start when we peer…

TOWER GROVE — In addition to working on the Community Prospect Poll Part 1 that will appear in a few minutes, I spent the morning visiting with an old friend: The Inbox at PostCards. Cleared out all of the digital sludge — from the letters that begin “Hello Dearest One”, to those written in Russian, a few offers to upgrade the web design of these here pages and even one invitation to participate in something…

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — During his daily morning briefing with the media today, Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon said he was reading a copy of Branch Rickey’s book last year and realized that before Rickey, Rogers Hornsby and Sam Breadon came along the Cardinals weren’t much. And, yet, Maddon went on to say the Cardinals now standout as one of the most successful franchises of the past century.

“It’s very complimentary” that people now talk…

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. — Two of the St. Louis Cardinals’ minor-leaguers took the international stage Tuesday night in the World Baseball Classic — one in a flickering but starring role and the other doing what was needed.

Former first-round pick Adam Ottavino pitched three superb innings for Team Italia against Venezuela in Toronto, throwing three shutout and striking out three against one walk. Ottavino whiffed Magglio Ordonez on a breaking ball. The only hit he gave up…

JUPITER, Fla. — This morning, the St. Louis Cardinals minor-league staff is bunkered in here at Roger Dean Stadium for the final hours of their pre-camp meetings. This afternoon, about the time the meetings end, pitchers will start reporting and within the next couple days the backlots will bloom with minor leaguers. Even as minor-league camp opens for 2009, there are certainly plenty of questions about who is headed where and what is expected when…

TOWER GROVE — The list of players offered arbitration is in, with 24 free agents getting the notice from their former teams and not one St. Louis Cardinal. While the deadline revealed more about who won’t be a Cardinal in 2009 than who will be, the list of players not offered arbitration will expand the Cardinals’ shopping list.

Houston opted not to give Randy Wolf an arbitration offer and the Astros, with Mike Hampton on the way,…

TOWER GROVE — In this crowded field of mailbags and Q&As and message boards and chats and blogs there are only so many questions about Skip Schumaker playing second base to fuel so many different give-and-take platforms. Good thing PostCards has Frank Fuhrig.

The mailbag was loaded with questions answered better elsewhere or answered often before, but on election day into the hopper Fuhrig fired this gem: Who manages the St. Louis Cardinals in 2010?

The poll…

SOUTH GRAND — When looking at propects through the prism of the “Three-P Approach” mentioned yesterday, perhaps there needs to be a fourth “P” added: Pop.

Not pop as in power, but pop as in dazzle, Q-rating — the charismatic qualities of a prospect.

Consider Pete Kozma.

As the comments at the bottom of yesterday’s poll helped illuminate, Kozma, the St. Louis Cardinals first-round pick in 2007, is sliding in these rankings without much reason. He is arguably…

TOWER GROVE — An overload of interactivity here at the bellwether, as the week includes the award exit polls, the prospect polls and forthcoming mailbag (PostCards@post-dispatch.com). The Bird Land Community Top 30 election continued over the weekend with between 647 and 708 voting for your picks as the Nos. 3-5 prospects in the St. Louis Cardinals organization.

At last check, there was a tie for No. 5, with 3B David Freese and C Bryan Anderson receiving…

TOWER GROVE — One of the last awards to be handed out in the annual weeklong roll-out of the Baseball Writers Association of America awards is the one award that’s dominated so much conversation around St. Louis this month — the National League MVP. Here’s a safe best: Somebody with ties to St. Louis will win it.

Heck, the winner will be a player who calls St. Louis home during the offseason.

But before we find out…

TOWER GROVE — Gentlemen, start your transactions.

General managers from around baseball are converging at AIG’s favorite hangout in Dana Point, Calif., today and all week for the first round of window-shopping and swap-talking. Unlike last year when the pitching market was headlined by Carlos Silva and trades were the currency of winter, this offseason has the high-watt free agents (CC Sabathia and Manny Ramirez) and the superstar trade chips (Jake Peavy and Matt Holliday). There…

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 — When San Diego decided it had to explore trading Cy Young Award-winning ace Jake Peavy, the first hurdle to clear was the righthander’s no-trade clause. The Padres approached Peavy’s agent, Barry Axelrod, who told me the other night that Peavy, when requested supplied a list of five teams, all in the National League.

The St. Louis Cardinals, as has been reported, were on that list. They were one of Peavy’s Fave 5.

That alone…

SOUTH GRAND — So much of what the Cardinals consider doing and end up doing this offseason to improve their roster will be watched and judged through the Chris Carpenter prism.

When Carpenter is healthy, so are the Cardinals’ chances.

When he is not … Well, that is the question presented to the Cardinals this season as they choose whether they will build a team on the hope that Carpenter won’t be limited by the nettlesome nerves…