The Cardinals and Lance Berkman reached an agreement on a one-year deal:

Signing Berkman provides a potential backup plan for the Cardinals if Albert Pujols leaves as a free agent. The three-time NL MVP, who has played all 11 major league seasons with St. Louis, cut off negotiations on a new contract at the start of spring training.

“We don’t know what 2012 is going to look like for sure, but we do know Lance Berkman is going to be a part of it,” general manager John Mozeliak said. “You just look at what Lance did for us and to go into this offseason with sort of the unknown just really wasn’t a comfortable thing for us.”

No money is mentioned in the story. If Albert does leave, the Cardinals have to hope Berkman’s season wasn’t a fluke bounce back on his way down.

This afternoon’s game against the Mets is being delayed by rain.