THE WATERCOOLER

QUESTION: You hear much talk among Cardinal fans about players taking a “hometown discount” to play here in St. Louis. Matt Holliday is the centerpiece of “hometown discount” talk right now. In your professional opinion, how much weight do professional ballplayers give to being in a certain town, playing for a certain manager or having a certain kind of locker room chemistry? At the end of the day, doesn’t money do the talking in almost all cases of free agency?

RICK HUMMEL

Rarely does a player not follow the money, and I think you find that true even more in football than in baseball. I think this especially is true in the early stages of a player’s career, when he first can become a free agent, and his agent is hell-bent on getting the best offer. Near the end of that career, if a player hasn’t won before or is comfortable where he is, his attitude may change.

BRYAN BURWELL

Money is going to ultimately decide everything when it comes to any business. But who can blame them, when they have an opportunity to secure the financial future for their family for decades? The hometown discount is a myth. Players want to win and get paid. If they can win and get paid, they will take a little less money. But if they can’t win but they can get paid? Cha-ching.

JEFF GORDON

Every player is different. Some need to find a comfort zone to succeed in. Others, like Reggie Sanders, can move from team to team and do very well at every stop. This can be especially important to pitchers, who live or die with confidence. St. Louis developed a nice pitching atmosphere, which makes it easier to retain key free-agent pitchers. I think St. Louis is a good fit for Albert Pujols, who reigns as king of the clubhouse. As for Matt Holliday, he didn’t choose to come to St. Louis in that deal from Oakland. He seemed like a good fit here, but it’s not like he fell in love with the place. I would be surprised if he didn’t go to the highest bidder.

DAN O’NEILL

There is overwhelming evidence that money is the bottom line. Jeff Weaver is a recent case that underlines that - comes to the Cardinals, has the most success he’s had in years, but takes more money to go elsewhere the following winter. Ultimately you have to hold the players responsible for that, because their names go on the contracts. And I don’t necessarily blame them for that. The loyalty aspect, or lack thereof, works both ways. But most players rely heavily on advice from their agents, so I think a lot depends on the agent. The Cardinals will find out because they are not going to sign either Holliday or Mark DeRosa before they enter the market.

THE WATERCOOLER

QUESTION: The Cardinals have been scuffling of late, just as the 2006 team did down the stretch before going on a World Series run. Do you see any similarities between the two teams, or is it entirely different this time?

JOE STRAUSS
The biggest difference is health. The ’06 team was racked by injuries to David Eckstein, Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen and Jason Isringhausen. The cumulative effect nearly took them down in the stretch before an inspired bullpen performance, a rejuvenated Rolen (assisted by a well-timed cortisone injection to his shoulder) and Eckstein’s return from an oblique problem allowed the team to make its push. This 2009 team has far fewer health concerns but is being dragged down by inconsistent offense. Call it what you like — poor plate discipline, indifferent clutch hitting, cruise control — this team has not looked like the sum of its offensive parts for some time. A spark from Ryan Ludwick, now hitting sixth in the order, would be helpful. The fact that Matt Holliday is now on a 10-game hitting streak doesn’t carry much weight when the lineup is struggling at the Nos. 5-6 spots. It would be foolish to write off a team that looked like the league’s best in August. However, a different approach must be found before next Wednesday’s Division Series opener, it would seem.

BERNIE MIKLASZ
I understand the similarities — namely, a dull and losing performance late in the season, especially by the hitters — but it’s a stretch. The 2006 Cardinals didn’t have its regular lineup for much of September. Injuries were a factor. CF Jim Edmonds had 28 ABs in September; SS David Eckstein had 23. Outfielder Juan Encarnacion had a hand/wrist injury, and though he kept playing, the condition would later require minor surgery. Guys like Aaron Miles and Preston Wilson received a lot of at-bats. Scott Rolen’s shoulder was especially sore, and he batted .225 in September. Trade acquisition Ronnie Belliard hit .214 in the final month. As for the pitching, Jeff Weaver had yet to take his magic carpet ride, and the bullpen was unsettled, with Jason Isringhausen transitioning out and Adam Wainwright entering as the closer.

The way I see it, the problem right now is one of decompression. The Cardinals basically had a playoff spot secured a month ago, and they haven’t been able to stay wired up.

RICK HUMMEL
The situations aren’t entirely different but this time the Cardinals have two bona fide No. 1 starters in Carpenter and Wainwright to take into any series in the playoffs and they had only Carpenter they really could count on in 2006. The World Series champion of three years ago, though, was a much more experienced team inasmuch as almost all of the prominent players, with the exception of Wainwright, had been in postseason play before. This year, the Cardinals will have a starting second baseman, shortstop, center fielder and right fielder who haven’t been in the postseason.

JEFF GORDON
Every team is different and every season is different. This team should be better equipped with front-line pitching, a (theoretically) deep offense and a solid back end of the bullpen. On paper, this is a much better team. But this team is also hitting below its potential right now, which has to be unsettling for Tony La Russa. The ’06 team proved that anything is possible come playoff time, good or bad.

GERRY FRALEY
The 2006 team was injury-riddled and unable to keep its best lineup on the field at the end of that season. This club is in far better health, at least according to the public pronouncements of a secretive organization. A healthy team that cannot slap around Homer Bailey is having lineup problems. In 2006, the Cardinals knew they would get better as soon as they were healthy. This club does not have that to lean upon going into the post-season.

KEVIN WHEELER (Host of “Sports Open Line” on KMOX)
I don’t see similarities between the ’09 Cardinals and the ’06 Cardinals at all. The ’06 team was falling apart down the stretch trying to get healthy while losing games. That team was 13-15 in August and 12-17 from September 1st on, for a grand total of 25-32 down the stretch that included a 7-game losing streak in the 3rd week of September. The ’09 Cardinals were 20-6 in August and are 13-12 in September entering play on the 30th. That’s 33-18 compared to 25-32, which isn’t even close. It’s +15 compared to -7, using Tony La Russa’s way of looking at things. The ’09 Cardinals are also a lot healthier and have a much more stable pitching situation.

In ’06 the Cardinals starters toward the end of the season were Chris Carpenter (3.09), Jason Marquis (6.02), Jeff Suppan (4.12), Mark Mulder (7.14), Anthony Reyes (5.06) and Jeff Weaver (5.18). Look how ugly those ERAs are and then toss in the fact that Jason Isringhausen was collapsing because of his bad hip and a young pup named Adam Wainwright was still emerging as a reliever and you had pure, unadulterated panic down the stretch.

This year they’ve got Carpenter (2.30), Wainwright (2.58), Joel Pineiro (3.44), Kyle Lohse (4.84) and John Smoltz (3.18) in the late season rotation and while Ryan Franklin has struggled more of late than he did early in the season, his ERA is still just 1.95 and he’s saved 38 games in 43 chances. Franklin’s 7.56 ERA and .382 opponent batting average in September is scary, no doubt, but that isn’t enough to compare the ’09 Cards to the ’06 Cards.