Our final post of 2008 is an homage to our readers, who voted for our top Cardinal stories of the year, the topic of the United Cardinal Bloggers latest group activity. We selected the poll options, and the readers voted. So without further ado, our — yours and ours, that is — top stories of the year:

#1: Pujols stays healthy to lead NL in RC (30%)
About this time last year, fans, writers, managers and fantasy-baseball managers all worried that Albert Pujols might not make it to the All-Star Break, let alone have another MVP season. It turned out that the reports of Albert’s demise were greatly exaggerated: He produced the second-most Runs Created (160) and his best WARP3 (13.5) of his career. About the only thing he didn’t do was make good on the proposal he made two years and 228 days ago to prove he was clean. There’s always next year, right?

#2: Lohse, Ludwick: One-year wonders? (20%)
Late-offseason acquisition Kyle Lohse and finally-healthy Ryan Ludwick figured to be useful components of the 2008 team, projecting to have 15.0 and 16.7 VORP, respectively. But who would’ve guessed that they would be such vital cogs, thrusting the Cardinals into contention late in the season, each more than tripling his projection (38.4 and 54.8)? The Cardinals rewarded Lohse with a four-year extension at the end of the season; Ludwick nearly found himself shipped to Colorado or somewhere else (and may yet). Which player is more likely to regress to his mean in 2009?

#3: Glaus outproduces Rolen in 3B swap (18%)
Given the reckless Tony La Russa’s big mouth at last year’s winter meetings, we’re surprised John Mozeliak was able to get anything for malcontent Scott Rolen. But he not only divested the team of their overpaid third baseman, he got someone in Troy Glaus who paid off big, ending up third on the team in Win Shares. Rolen, meanwhile, played only 115 games and earned only 12 Win Shares. It was one of the best trades in recent memory, and a fine start for Mozeliak. And with Glaus projecting to create between 80 and 90 wRC in 2009, and Rolen 59 and 71, the trade figures to continue to benefit the team into the future.

#4: Wasted season of Carpenter, Mulder (15%)
What could the Cardinals have done to spruce up their 2008 team with an additional $17 million? We’ll leave that to your imagination, gentle reader, but we’ll bet it would’ve been better than what Chris Carpenter ($10.5 million, 1 Win Share) and Mark Mulder ($6.5, 0) provided. The team wishfully tried to saddle up their old stallions, but, as the old saying goes, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. We hope that fans at least remember the tremendous sunk cost of the contracts and temper their demands for more of the same. For its part, at least the team seems to have learned its lesson and has spurned similar high-upside, high-risk pitchers this winter (see Brad Penny).

#5: Rick Ankiel fulfills expectations (6%)
Depending on whose expectations you’re referring to, Ankiel fulfilled them. Baseball Prospectus pegged him to yield a 20.8 VORP/3.9 WARP on the strength of 30 home runs, a .315 OBP and 143 games; he wound up with a 25.3 VORP/3.6 WARP on 25 homers, a .337 OBP and 120 games. ZiPS nailed his home runs and games-played (projected: 122) totals. (By the way, we’re proud of our counter-conventional wisdom prediction that Ankiel would have 23 home runs. Admittedly, it was only because of an injury that his latter-season production was curtailed.) He certainly continued his flair for the dramatic, providing the team’s biggest play of the year on July 5 against the Cubs. Overall, Ankiel proved that 2007 wasn’t a fluke and thus creates a position of strength from which the team is operating this winter.

The best of the rest

• Schumaker’s quiet breakout season (5%)
• McClellan leads changing of relief guard (3%)
• Jim Edmonds in Cub pinstripes (3%)
• End of the Anthony Reyes era (0%)

Skip Schumaker’s breakout season has put an end to the team’s annual winter shopping for a corner outfielder (though we’re not as sold as Rick Hummel is — we’d trade him in a second for Nick Swisher). Kyle McClellan’s ascendancy made Russ Springer superfluous, which is saying something. And Jim Edmonds ending up in Wrigley after being cast away to San Diego added to the I-55 rivalry, and was ultimately harmless with the Cubs being knocked out of the playoffs in the Division Championship Series. Finally, we predict that the end of the Iron Cap era will loom as a much bigger story than fans thought. After all, he figures to pitch 168 innings with a 4.55 FIP for Cleveland next season (according to Bill James) — that equates to more Pitching Runs Created (~72) than, say, Brad Penny (~59). And the Cardinals thought so little of the guy that got in trade for him that they left him exposed in the Rule V draft (and he’s now gone). Having nothing to show for a young pitcher who still has plenty of potential makes the current offseason’s search for a starting pitcher more bitter than it should have been. Lastly, though it wasn’t an option, the Cardinals’ team success was noteworthy. As we wait this offseason for Mozeliak et al to make an impact move, it’s worth remembering that fans were largely indifferent coming into Spring, and the team proved their trustworthiness, finishing 10 games over .500 despite a spate of unforeseeable injuries (Ankiel, Molina, Duncan and Wainwright), without which the Cardinals just may have been in the playoffs.

This entry was posted by Pip on Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 at 7:00 pm and is filed under group blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.