Westbrook only made five starts in 2008 before a sore right elbow in late May ended his season. The right-hander needed Tommy John surgery and went on to miss the rest of the season and all of 2009. The risk is there.

I don’t think Westbrook is worth the risk. He is 32 years old and hasn’t shown much improvement over a mediocre career. He is 6-7 with a 4.65 ERA this season. Hardly impressive. Certainly not Roy Oswalt or Dan Haren. And his contract is a road block. He is owed $4 million for the rest of this season and would get a $2 million bonus if he is traded. To top it off, the Indians haven’t offered to help pay his salary. The Phillies were able to break the Astros to pay $11 million of Oswalt’s deal, making it a steal. The Cards should force a similar deal or move on. Westbrook isn’t an impact guy. The Cardinals can get by without him.

Fausto Carmona is my ideal addition, but it appears he either isn’t available or he isn’t on the Cards radar.

(Find out who I think the Cards should be focusing on in the 11th hour after the jump) [...]

If the right pitcher isn’t out there, the Cards shouldn’t make a move for the sake of making a move. Instead, St. Louis should address another need. The middle infield has been a weak spot for the Cardinals this year. Brendan Ryan is not getting the job done. Stephen Drew would be perfect. I feel like a broken record on this issue so I’ll throw in another voice. Joe Sheehan of SI.com thinks Drew to St. Louis is one of five trades that teams should make before the nonwaiver deadline.

Diamondbacks trade SS Stephen Drew to Cardinals for OF Jon Jay and RHP Adam Ottavino.

Having dealt away Dan Haren, the Diamondbacks seem ready to punt on the next few seasons. Drew is the one player of their core who is not signed to a long-term deal, and as a guy with four-plus years of service time who is heading into arbitration, will be in line for a healthy raise. Drew has stagnated since his breakout 2008 campaign, settling in as a .260 hitter without enough walks, power or speed to make him a star. He is the spitting image of a good, but not great player who becomes a bit too expensive for a bad team to retain through arbitration.

The Cardinals are trying to hang on in the NL Central with arguably the worst shortstop of any contending team in Brendan Ryan. Ryan’s glove simply doesn’t carry his empty .190 batting average. Adding Drew would be worth two wins to the Cards down the stretch, and he is the one player on the market who does that for them, adding offense, lineup balance — the Cards can list to the right a bit — and some speed. This is the way to leverage Jay’s impressive debut; he’s a fourth outfielder who has hit the ground running in his rookie season, and he could help the Diamondbacks as an upgrade over Gerardo Parra in left field. Ottavino, a former first-round pick who projects as an innings guy, has stagnated a bit and is a better fit for a rebuilding team than a veteran-oriented contender like the Cards.

This hypothetical deal would be a no-brainer for St. Louis. Stephen Drew is going to be a great defensive shortstop for the next five years. He could be a great player for the Cardinals during that time — a window that includes Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday, David Freese, Colby Rasmus, Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, and Jaime Garcia all in their prime. Drew would add to that core as a stabilizing force at short and make the Cards an instant rival for the Phillies and favorite in the NL.

If Westbrook is the best St. Louis can do, go get Stephen Drew and fight through the lack of pitching. Drew would be a key piece for the present and future. Westbrook would be a question mark at all times. The Cards can address pitching depth in the offseason. Drew may not be there in January.

And good shortstops are hard to come by.

Roy Oswalt could join forces with Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, and Jaime Garcia on the Cardinals rotation. (Source: AP)

Yesterday at this time, Roy Oswalt appeared destined for Philadelphia to help fix some of the Phillies problems as they hang onto their playoff hopes by a thread. Today, that deal is just about dead because Philly doesn’t want to guarantee Oswalt’s $16 million option for 2012. Oswalt wants that money more than he wants out of Houston. But there are still plenty of interested teams in the Astros ace.

With Philadelphia out, the St. Louis Cardinals are the favorite to land Oswalt, according to Craig Calcaterra of NBC Sports. [...]

The Astros have been talking with Cardinals GM John Mozeliak for several days now, and Oswalt is quite amenable to go to St. Louis if the teams can agree on what players will head back to Houston.  For their part, the Cardinals are convinced that matching Roy Oswalt up with Dave Duncan would take a guy who is already an ace and turn him back into the Cy Young candidate he was a few years ago. I’ll stop believing stuff like that when Dave Duncan actually fails for once. Which I wouldn’t bet on, frankly.

Of course, the big issue everyone has been talking about today has been Oswalt’s desire that his 2012 option be picked up.  That’s $16 million, and that ain’t hay.  My source tells me, however, that Oswalt would be willing to work with the Cardinals to make the option more palatable, possibly in terms of deferring some money.  The sides aren’t quite that far yet.

Oswalt is an intriguing option, but I’m not sold that he is the best or safest option for the Cardinals. It’s a stretch to think that Oswalt would immediately become a Cy Young candidate under Dave Duncan. Oswalt is 32 years old and his pitching will start to show it. He will lose velocity on his pitches by the end of his contract. He also seems susceptible to injury after racking up a ton of innings for Houston during the last decade. From afar, my gut feeling is that Oswalt is burning out and his All-Star days and Cy Young chances are in the rearview mirror. He may be a solid addition to the rotation, but he will only be a shell of the pitcher he once was. And that $16 million option is not worth it.

The Cardinals should exhaust every option before finalizing a deal for Oswalt. There are better and younger pitchers on the market. And the Cards have other needs. The team is on a tear since the All-Star break. A few additions in the right places could turn St. Louis into the best team in the National League. But the front office has to push the right buttons to conjure up that magic.

Oswalt would be the easy answer and a good one, but for 2010 and beyond, other names would take the Cards to another level. The trade my not be as easy, but the rewards would be beyond good.

Dan Haren is only 29 years old and he’s available. He has a lot more left in the tank and he has better stuff than Oswalt. The former Cards draft pick is the kind of piece that could put the Cardinals in the World Series. He is having a tough season on a losing team. A change in scenery would work wonders for Haren. I think St. Louis could turn him into that Cy Young candidate he has been in the past and give the Cardinals a monster rotation. His teammate Stephen Drew is also on the market. He has been rumored in deals to Detroit, but nothing has happened yet. Shortstop has been a trouble spot for St. Louis all season. Drew is good with the bat and glove and he is still developing. Some top prospects would be worth the price for these two. If the Cards could land Haren and Drew in one deal, they would instantly become the favorite in the NL.

Tune in later for more thoughts on the Arizona tandem and what they would bring to St. Louis.

Suppan fails to deliver.

Jeff Suppan will have to get his first win next time after a mediocre start. The righthander lasted 5 2/3 innings and allowed four runs to the D’Backs. Suppan threw 109 pitches, an improvement over his previous starts, but couldn’t finish a complete outing. He was close, but Chris Young’s fifth inning home run put Arizona up 3-1. Later, he walked pitcher Dan Haren who came to bat as a pinch hitter in the sixth with two outs and nobody on base. The walk came back to haunt Suppan as Arizona turned it into its fourth run, providing some room for error in the final frames. From a one-run start to four, Suppan pitched better but a few mistakes kept him from a great one.

Enright comes through on the big stage.

Barry Enright made his major league debut and did a good job for Arizona. He kept his team in it and has them in position to pick up a much-needed victory. It wasn’t perfect or pretty at all times, but Enright was effective. He fought through five innings and a couple of jams in an exhausting start. The Cards forced him to throw 101 pitches and put pressure on him, but couldn’t break through with the big hit. St. Louis left eight on base against the rookie. Right now, it was an exhausting but memorable day for the 24-year-old.

Enright made fewer mistakes than his counterpart and that’s the difference with a few at bats left.

Offensive firepower runs out of gas.

The awesome display from Albert Pujols and Felipe Lopez at the plate last night came to an end today. Matt Holliday provided the lone highlight for St. Louis in the first with a triple that scored Albert Pujols. After that, Enright settled in and the Arizona bullpen has held the lead. Young’s home run broke an early tie and is the difference at this point.

Check back after the game for a look at today’s action through a photo gallery. The Cardinals will need some late inning drama like Monday night’s comeback to take the brooms back out of the closet.

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