Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan has arrived at an answer for the most immediate question confronting his starting rotation this offseason. He knows what would be the most-fitting result for the National League Cy Young Award.

He wants a tie.

"It's almost impossible to choose between Adam (Wainwright) and Chris (Carpenter)," Duncan said this week from his offseason home. "I'm hoping, even though I know it's unlikely, that when the votes are counted they both get the same amount."

The more pressing questions will take a little longer to answer.

The Cardinals' starting staff finished 2009 as one of the most effective in the game. Only the Los Angeles Angels starters combined for more wins than the Cards' 69, and the Cardinals' rotation was the only one in baseball to pitch more than 1,000 innings — doing so with a 3.66 earned-run average. That success, and the NL Central title that came as a byproduct, was built on two pillars: Wainwright and Carpenter.

Wainwright (19-8, 2.63 ERA) was honored by his peers Wednesday as the winner of the Players Choice award for NL outstanding pitcher.

A day earlier, Carpenter (17-4, 2.24 ERA), who missed most of the past two seasons because of surgeries, won the players union's award for NL comeback player of the year.

Combined, the two righthanders went 36-12 with a 2.45 ERA. No other teammate tandem had as many victories or a lower ERA.

Both righthanders are returning for 2010, joined again by Kyle Lohse, who had a season filled with more flukes and injuries than wins. Joel Piņeiro, who slid into Lohse's role as the worthy No. 3, is a free agent — as are John Smoltz and Todd Wellemeyer.

The Cardinals will construct their rotation around three pitchers, who will make a combined $28 million next season, and confront two issues: The workload of innings pitched this season and the innings that need to be filled for next season.

Smoltz and the Cardinals have expressed mutual interest — and reiterated it privately, sources said — in having the veteran and almost-certain Hall of Famer return as a potential fourth starter.

General manager John Mozeliak said the preference is to fill the fifth spot from within. That opens the opportunity to lefty Jaime Garcia and righty Mitchell Boggs, or possibly Class AAA starter P.J. Walters. Blake Hawksworth was effective as a reliever and the Cardinals are reluctant to shift him. Boggs, Duncan said, could be "a force out of the bullpen," and that will influence his chance at starting.

Garcia, 23, spent almost all of this season recovering from Tommy John surgery. He returned to Triple-A Memphis late in the year and became the ace of the Pacific Coast League champs.

He went 2-0 with a 3.86 ERA in four starts before the postseason, pitching 37 2/3 innings. He's seen as a favorite to eventually be in the rotation, but Duncan raised a concern about the innings expected from the youngster.

"From what I've seen of Jaime Garcia, I think he shows the ability to be a major-league pitcher," Duncan said. "It would take a little change of philosophy on my part and (manager Tony La Russa's) part to seriously consider him as a part of the rotation in 2010. We've never taken that fifth starter spot and rotated it out at times. We felt it was important to stay with five starters to give the others that extra day.

"With Garcia coming'' back from injury," Duncan continued, "can you count on him giving what you hope from a fifth start? You're hoping 180 innings. I don't know if he has shown the ability to handle those innings and pitch effectively."

Finding a consistent way to fill the innings of the fourth and fifth starters will define the 2010 staff, and the Cardinals. A hallmark of the 100-win teams was the steady churn of the rotation. Five starters. Same thing. Every five days. In 2009, injuries and inconsistencies scuttled that rhythm, but Carpenter and Wainwright kept the Cardinals from stumbling.

While Lohse was limited by the first two trips to the disabled list in his career, Carpenter and Wainwright shouldered a bulk of innings. Wainwright set a career high with 233 innings. Limited to 21 1/3 innings total from 2007 to 2008, Carpenter threw 192 2/3 innings.

Duncan doesn't see the workload carrying over or complicating their performance in 2010, believing the offseason and spring training conditioning is key. Having both back as tone-setters gives the rotation an obvious structure — the two aces at the top and a healthy Lohse at No. 3 to steady the rotation. And then, preferably, reliable constants fill in at Nos. 4 and 5.

The blueprint is to have five starters each offer a known quantity of innings and a consistent quality within those innings.

"Consistency means at whatever level it is," Duncan said. "The consistency of a Carpenter and the consistency of a Wainwright is ... every time they go out there, they could throw a shutout. ... Then the level of expectations shifts, and all you want from (the No. 3) is to know what you get — four runs or less, five runs or less. That level of expectation has to be consistent.

"Maybe in your mind that's why you start ordering them 1-2-3-4-5," Duncan concluded. "It's the expectation you have. ... You want that consistency from all five guys. You seldom get it, but that's the goal."

DEROSA'S SURGERY

goes well

Mark DeRosa, the Cardinals' starting third baseman at the end of this season, had surgery Monday to repair a completely torn tendon sheath in his left wrist. DeRosa's agent said the veteran will be cleared for baseball activities in time for spring training.

DeRosa, 34, injured the wrist on June 30, taking a swing against Randy Johnson. He returned 18 days later and played the rest of the season with the injury.

Before hitting .385 in the playoffs, he struggled, batting .200 in the final month of the regular season.

A free agent this winter, DeRosa will spend five to six weeks in a cast, and his offseason workouts will be curtailed for rehab, his agent Keith Grunewald said.

The Cardinals and DeRosa had discussed his return before tabling conversations until after the season.