Cardinals face critical decisions on Isringhausen, Springer

ST. LOUIS -- On the day after the season ended and St. Louis Cardinals players cleaned out their lockers, two huge bullpen contributors made it clear they'd like to stick around.

Among the team's major offseason decisions is whether to exercise an $8 million option on closer Jason Isringhausen, who returned from hip surgery to go 32-for-34 in save opportunities. Russ Springer, who can become a free agent, was part of the late-inning delegation that protected the leads into the ninth.

Manager Tony La Russa, who is undecided whether to return for a 13th season, has endorsed the 35-year-old Isringhausen on several occasions.

"When we had a chance to win, we won," La Russa said.

Springer will be 39 next month and the big right-hander who earned $1.75 million this year was not a priority down the stretch, not with Isringhausen, David Eckstein and La Russa's future dominating the conversation. Behind the scenes, he was devastatingly effective.

Springer was 8-1 with a 2.18 ERA and his late-season string of 17 2-3 scoreless innings was a team season-high as well as his career best. He struck out more than one per inning, allowed less than one baserunner per inning and allowed only seven of 28 inherited runners to score.

He's durable, too, appearing in 76 games this season and 72 last year with the Astros.

"Somebody asked me about my age, and I said I feel better now at 38 than I did at 28," Springer said. "Maybe I'm a late bloomer.

"My dad says he was just a skinny rail until he was in his 30s, so maybe it's inherited."

Springer wanted to prove himself in St. Louis and erase the memory of an injury-abbreviated 2003 with the Cardinals, his first stop in town. A nice bonus was a special school for his young autistic son.

"I felt I had some unfinished business here, I feel like they didn't get to see the real deal," Springer said. "It ate at me even while I was playing in Houston, that I wished I was healthy that year."

Springer is grateful for that second chance to the extent he'd take less money to make a new contract happen.

"I'm not going to take a hometown discount, but I'm not going to take them to the cleaners, either," Springer said. "If they offer me something fair, then I'll be more than happy to come back. This organization has a reputation of being fair and hopefully everything will work out."

Isringhausen has been part of the team's big-contract nucleus that includes Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen, Jim Edmonds, Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder and Juan Encarnacion. He's had a pair of hip operations since 2004 but has been told by doctors that he could pitch for as long as five more years before trouble returns.

"Hopefully I did everything I could to prove to them my hip is healthy, so hopefully they'll bring me back and we'll be part of something that's a lot of fun next year," Isringhausen said.

Isringhausen has five 30-save seasons in six years with the Cardinals, pitching not far from his hometown of Brighton, Ill.

"We've had a lot of fun and we've won a lot together, and I want to win some more with them," Isringhausen said. "Being able to play here has been a lot of fun."

Isringhausen said his future may depend on La Russa's decision. The manager wants to take some time to decompress after a trying year marred by the death of reliever Josh Hancock, serious injuries to Carpenter and Encarnacion and countless other pitfalls, and plans on consulting with his family.

Isringhausen believes the fire will return to La Russa's belly soon enough, guessing that it's a 98-percent probability he'll be back.

"A lot hinges on what No. 10 does," Isringhausen said, citing La Russa's uniform number. "Hopefully Tony comes back, and all of us old people are back together.

"We just need to get people healthy to prove we still have a pretty good team, and he's going to be the one leading it, and I think everybody here wants him to lead it."