St. Louis Globe-Democrat

Growing up as a youngster in Oklahoma, Brad Penny dreamed of one day playing for the Cardinals. After agreeing to a one-year $7.5 million contract with the club last month, the 31-year-old Penny will finally get his wish.

The 6’4, 230-pound Penny attended his first Winter Warm-Up on Saturday, signing autographs for 90 minutes before taking an evening flight back home. But before heading out, the righty spoke with the media and expressed his excitement over joining the Cardinals and finally getting to play for manager Tony La Russa.

“I’ve always wanted to play here, it was my favorite team growing up,” Penny said. “My dad was always a Dodgers fan but I was a Cardinals fan. I’m excited.

“When we’ve played against them, I’ve always made it a point to come say hello (to La Russa) because I knew this was definitely a place I wanted to play. I’ve talked to him more than probably any other manager I’ve played against. He’s a great manager, a competitor.”

Penny was 11-9 with a 4.88 ERA last year with the Boston Red Sox and San Francisco Giants. He was released by the Red Sox in August after going 7-8 with a 5.61 ERA in 24 starts but was 4-1 with a 2.59 ERA in six starts with the Giants to finish the season.

The addition of Penny to a starting rotation that already includes Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter and a healthy Kyle Lohse gives the Cardinals arguably the best starting group in the National League.

“You saw how those guys can pitch last year, I’m excited to come be a part of it,” Penny said. “Everybody I’ve talked to has told me how (much) they’re dedicated, and we’ve got a great catcher behind the plate (Yadier Molina). That’s going to make it fun for me.”

Standing-room only crowd for Mozeliak

General Manager John Mozeliak had so many people who wanted to hear what he had to say during an hour-long question-and-answer session that he had to do it twice.

After a meeting room at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis was filled to standing-room capacity with more than 100 people, many fans were still left standing out in the hallway, so Mozeliak agreed to do another talk with them.

Among the topics Mozeliak discussed were:

• The Cardinals' expectations are that Jaime Garcia will get every chance to win the fifth starter's spot during spring training and that David Freese will have the same chance to win the starting third base job;
• That he wants to wait until the arbitration-eligible cases of Ryan Ludwick and Skip Schumaker are settled before he moves on to either signing another reliever, another starting candidate or an extra outfielder;
• He would prefer to find a pitching candidate with the option of either starting or relieving -- he admitted having talked with the agent for John Smoltz within the last two days -- but again wanted to wait until he knew how much additional money he might have to spend;
• Ruled out the possibility that Rick Ankiel might return to the Cardinals;
• Discussed the upcoming contract extension talks with Albert Pujols and said he and Pujols' agent had agreed to open talks at an undetermined point in the future but ackowledged "if it's all about the money there probably will be a team out there that will pay more" than the Cardinals;
• Said there was "no chance" that hitting coach Mark McGwire would be activated so he could serve as a pinch-hitter;
• Said the Cardinals did receive a report on free agent reliever Derrick Turnbow's outing on Friday.

Carpenter: "My shoulder hasn't felt better"

Chris Carpenter knows more than he would like about coming back from injuries, so when he talks about his health, people listen.

And the news Saturday was very positive.

Speaking to reporters at the winter Warm-Up, Carpenter said he resumed throwing a couple of weeks ago and has been very pleased with how he has felt.

"My goal this winter was to get as strong as I can so that I can make it through this season healthy," Carpenter said. "I feel like when I picked up the ball for the first time at the beginning of January, my shoulder hasn’t felt better, knock on wood. I've told my wife a bunch of times, 'I'm not going to get too excited because you never know what could happen', but my shoulder hasn’t felt this good since I don’t even know when – for years. So I am really excited about the way I feel."

Carpenter, who went 17-4 with a 2.24 ERA in 28 starts for the Cardinals a year ago, said it was nice to enjoy a normal off-season after spending the last few rehabbing from various injuries.

"It's actually been a lot of fun, enjoyed my family a lot and not having to worry about rehab and stuff," Carpenter said. "It's been a real nice winter. I have enjoyed it a lot. I'm looking forward to a few weeks from now, getting down to florida. Everything has been going good. I feel good. I feel like I am as strong as I have ever been and as conditioned as I have ever been. My shoulder felt good, my elbow felt good when I started throwing a couple weeks ago. I am looking forward to it."

Jaime Garcia ready to battle for rotation spot

One of the top candidates to emerge as the Cardinals' fifth starter this season, barring a free agent signing, is 23-year-old rookie left-hander Jaime Garcia.

Garcia spoke with reporters Saturday and said he is 100 percent healthy and ready to go.

"The only thing I can do is just show up and try to do the best I can and try to win the job," said Garcia, who missed much of last year after undergoing Tommy John surgery. "If it happens, you know, it's good, whatever decision they make, I’ll be ready for it."

Garcia, who went 2-0 with a 3.86 ERA in four rehab starts at Triple-A Memphis late last year, said he has been told by both General Manager John Mozeliak and Director of Player Development Jeff Luhnow that he will be given every chance to win the job.

"They told me, 'You will be going to spring training with a chance and we will see what happens,'" Garcia said. "I am just going to try and stay healthy this year, that’s my main goal.

"My arm feels great. I added another pitch, I now have a cutter/slider and I feel real excited about that pitch. Everything is feeling good now."

Daryl Jones back in St. Louis

Outfield prospect Daryl Jones said Saturday he is excited to head into Spring Training with an outside chance to make the club as a bench player.

"There are outfield positions open, but my mindset is going in, regardless of what happens, I have put up good numbers either way," Jones said. "I can’t control what happens. There are lots of cases where you do well and still don’t make the team. My thing is, I'm going in there to basically showcase - showcase what I can do and show Tony (La Russa) that I can play. Show him what I am worth and what I can give to the team. Everything else is up to him."

The last time Jones was in St. Louis, he was playing in the Futures Game as part of last July's All-Star game festivities - but while still recovering from an injury. The decision likely backfired, Jones admitted Saturday, as he reinjured himself and was sidelined for the next eight weeks, but Jones doesn't necessarily agree with that belief.

"It's not like I went in there thinking that I was going to get hurt," Jones said. "That could have happened in any game, at any time. It was unfortunate for it to happen at that time. Everybody looks at it as 'he shouldn’t have played in the game,' but nobody can tell what's going to happen."

Jones was healthy enough to play in the Arizona Fall League, and he is hoping the entire experence has better prepared him for this season.

"The good thing about when you get injured, you learn how to strengthen your legs and you learn how to keep them strengthened," Jones said. "That’s the good thing, I know how to keep myself in shape, more with my legs for a full season."

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