CREVE COEUR — They are at very different stages in their careers, at very different positions and they were talking about two very different subjects, but St. Louis Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter and minor-league outfielder Tyler Henley hit on the same theme during interviews I had with them Wednesday.

In discussing how his career changed when he won the Cy Young Award back in 2005, Carpenter described how expectations changed around him. He wasn’t just the…

TOWER GROVE — Of all the statistical bubblegum that is packed into Bill James’ annual Handbooks, among the best to chew over and stretch to the point of popping is the predictions for the coming season.

ACTA Sports recently emailed me the 2010 predictions for several members of the 2009 St. Louis Cardinals — predictions that are featured in Bill James Handbook 2010 — and while it doesn’t take a “statistical oracle” (as The Wall Street Journal…

TOWER GROVE — As many as seven of the St. Louis Cardinals better prospects must be added to the 40-man roster in the near future or the team will risk losing them through the Rule 5 draft in December. The process of clearing space on the 40-man roster has already begun.

Jarrett Hoffpauir, a Class AAA second baseman, was picked up off waivers late last night by the Toronto Blue Jays. (See the Toronto take on…

TOWER GROVE — Some members of the St. Louis Cardinals brass, including VP/farm director Jeff Luhnow and assistant general manager John Abbamondi, traveled west this week to see the Arizona Fall League and the prospects there in person. They were greeted with a marquee start — against their players.

Stephen Strasburg, the Washington Nationals’ No. 1 overall pick in last year’s draft and widely billed as the best pitching prospect to reach the draft in years,…

DOWNTOWN — One of the best bats in the St. Louis Cardinals system and one of the most reliable arms at their minor-league affiliates won the team’s organization awards for 2009. Outfielder/third baseman Allen Craig, who led Class AAA Memphis to a Pacific Coast League championship with his power, won the Player of the Year Award from the team. Righthanded starter Lance Lynn, who had a cameo appearance in Triple-A about a year after he…

TOWER GROVE — The St. Louis Cardinals pickoff combination of catcher Yadier Molina and first baseman Albert Pujols continued its monopoly of one of baseball’s fast-rising awards for defensive play. The Fielding Bible is in its fourth year of handing out awards for the best defensive play at each position in an attempt to do what the Gold Glove sometimes fails to do with its annual leanings toward incumbency and offense.

Four years of Fielding Bible…

TOWER GROVE — The Bird Land Community Top 21’s top 10 is completed, and we’re just about halfway through the annual ranking of St. Louis Cardinals prospects by readers here at the blog. The overarching lessons of the first 10 are two-fold: Voters have adopted the perceived franchise emphasis on winning now/contributing now and the Cardinals system, as a whole, is significantly diluted, even lacking.

Second baseman Daniel Descalso, who had one of a handful of…

TOWER GROVE — In one of the most dominant World Series pitching performances of our era, Philadelphia Phillies lefty Cliff Lee tied-up one of the finest lineups in the game last night, striking out 10 New York Yankees and authoring a complete-game in Game 1 at (New) Yankee Stadium. It was, in short, arguably the best World Series start by a NL pitcher since Bob Gibson.

But is it better than Hoot’s?

Lee needed 122 pitches to…

TOWER GROVE — Another day, another runoff.

The fallout from the high-end changes to the St. Louis Cardinals’ depth chart of prospects appears to be close votes and very few clear-cut, obvious prospects who stand out above their peers. The vote for No. 9 in the Bird Land Community Top 21 is another example. Tyler Greene and Daniel Descalso are separated by a total of nine votes at last check. Greene has received 29 percent of…

TOWER GROVE — This morning, St. Louis Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright was announced as his peers’ selection for the National League Outstanding Pitcher, as discussed over on the breaking-news blog, Cardinal Beat. The Players Choice awards, founded a little more than a decade ago by the players’ union, doesn’t have the historical oomph or bonus panache of the more revered hardware — the MVP, the Cy Young, etc. — but do they serve as indicators…

TOWER GROVE — In what probably was the closest vote yet in any Bird Land Community prospect poll, Eduardo Sanchez, the fireballer righthanded reliever, took 52 percent of the vote in the runoff and will be your No. 7 prospect on the Top 21 poll this year. Lance Lynn, the steady starter, will be No. 8. At 4 o’clock St. Louis time on Monday one vote separated the two.

So, I gave the poll another day…

DOWNTOWN — One of the elements of his decision that preoccupied Tony La Russa as he considered whether to return as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals was message vs. messenger. He mentioned that this afternoon as he explained how he came to weigh whether his message had grown tired or if the players had grown tired of the messenger, no what he had to say.

In his press conference, the video of which is below,…

TOWER GROVE — The poll for No. 7 in the Bird Land Community Top 21 jockeyed back and forth all weekend, with some comments even declaring a winner — or, rather, declaring an opinion about the winner — just as the tide shifted. With about 775 clicks counted, Eduardo Sanchez led Lance Lynn by four votes at last check this morning.

Each received 34 percent of the vote and every other prospect is just about 200…

TOWER GROVE — It would be tempting to begin any look at the St. Louis Cardinals’ bullpen and its search for additional power sources with the fact that the Cardinals relievers had the fewest strikeouts of any bullpen in the National League. Their 340 were the least in the majors by 21 behind Tampa Bay.

While that stat is telling, it’s not entirely revealing.

The Cardinals’ relievers also had to pitch the fewest innings of any bullpen….

TOWER GROVE — The Arizona Fall League is settling into gear, and while Stephen Strasburg is the headliner out at the annual gathering of some of the better prospects in baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals have sent some noteworthy names out west. A few are making up for lost time. A few are trying to extend their strong seasons. And more than one is trying to find a way onto the organization’s radar.

Several, as you…