The Cardinals have signed 31-year old righty swinging catcher Gerald Laird to a 1-year deal. Laird played in 89 games for the Tigers last season and he was 56 of 270 (.207 avg, .567 OPS) with 22 runs scored, 5 homers, 25 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. He has now played in 598 games in his first 8 years in the majors and he is 461 of 1,908 (.242 avg, .658 OPS) with 255 runs scored, 34 homers, 192 RBIs and 19 stolen bases. Laird is a great defensive catcher and he should be a good backup for Yadier Molina in 2011.

The Cardinals have dealt 28-year old righty swinging 2B/SS Brendan Ryan to the Mariners for 21-year old righty starting pitcher Maikel Cleto. Ryan played in 139 games for the Cardinals last season and he was 98 of 439 (.223 avg, .573 OPS) with 50 runs scored, 2 homers, 36 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. Ryan played in 415 games in his four years with the Cardinals and he was 312 of 1,206 (.259 avg, .658 OPS) with 165 runs scored, 9 homers, 95 RBIs and 39 stolen bases.

Maikel Cleto pitched in 23 games (21 starts) in A-ball last season and he was 4-9 with a 6.16 ERA and a 1.65 WHIP. He has now pitched in 69 games (56 starts) in his first four years in the minors and he is 10-27 with 1 save, a 5.17 ERA and a 1.52 WHIP. Cleto throws hard so maybe Dave Duncan can work some magic with him.

The Cardinals didn’t get much for Brendan Ryan and they might have been smarter to keep him around as a backup infielder.

The Cardinals have signed 34-year old switch-hitting outfielder Lance Berkman to a 1-year, $8 million dollar deal. Berkman will play LF with Matt Holliday shifting over to RF for the 2011 season. Berkman played in 122 games for the Yankees & Astros last season and he was 100 of 404 (.248 avg, .781 OPS) with 48 runs scored, 14 homers, 58 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. Berkman has now played in 1,629 games in his first 12 years in the majors and he is 1,675 of 5,666 (.296 avg, .954 OPS) with 1,017 runs scored, 327 homers, 1,099 RBIs and 82 stolen bases. I like this signing for the Cardinals as I think last year was just an off one for Berkman. I think he’s going to bounce back big-time batting behind Matt Holliday and Albert Pujols.

30-year old righty swinging LF Matt Holliday finished 12th in the voting for the N.L MVP Award. Holliday played in 158 games for the Cardinals last season and he was 186 of 596 (.312 avg, .922 OPS) with 95 runs scored, 28 homers, 103 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. Holliday has now played in 1,012 games in his first seven years in the majors and he is 1,216 of 3,833 (.317 avg, .931 OPS) with 668 runs scored, 180 homers, 695 RBIs and 89 stolen bases. With the long term extension the Cardinals signed Holliday to they hope he will continue to get a lot of MVP votes in the near future.

30-year old righty swinging 1B Albert Pujols finished a distant 2nd in the N.L. MVP Award voting to 1B Joey Votto of the Reds. Pujols played in 159 games for the Cardinals last season and he was 183 of 587 (.312 avg, 1.011 OPS) with 115 runs scored, 42 homers, 118 RBIs and 14 stolen bases. Pujols has now played in 1,558 games in his first 10 years with the Cardinals and he is 1,900 of 5,733 (.331 avg, 1.050 OPS) with 1,186 runs scored, 408 homers, 1,230 RBIs and 75 stolen bases. The Cardinals hope that Pujols finishes his career with the St. Louis Cardinals but it’s not going to be easy to re-sign him when his current contract is up.