St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols begins to sing autographs for fans during the Cardinals Care Winter Warm Up in St. Louis on January 18, 2010.
Originally published January 18, 2010 at 12:22 p.m., updated January 18, 2010 at 2:02 p.m.
Audio clips
Monday at the Winter Warm-Up
Could Jim Edmonds be in the Cardinals' future? Possibly.
Manager Tony La Russa said Monday he was caught off-guard Sunday night by how serious Jim Edmonds seemed to be about wanting to return to the Cardinals for this season. Edmonds came on stage at the end of La Russa's ARF charity event at Chaifetz Arena and challenged the team to sign him for the major-league minimum.
Monday, La Russa said he had been jokng around with Edmonds via text messages for a couple of days about a possible return but he did not take the possibility seriously.
Now that he knows that, La Russa said the Cardinals would have a "serious discussion" about that possibility.
"He hasn't played for a year," La Russa said. "There are a lot of issues."
La Russa admitted part of his interest is based on the team's lack of outfield depth and need for a lefthanded hitter who can come off the bench.
"I told him that if he was serious then out of respect for him we would have a serious discussion," La Russa said. "That's as far as it can go right now."
Edmonds, 39, last played for the Cubs in 2008.
Pujols says he would take 'discount'
First baseman Albert Pujols said Monday that he would be willing to take a "discount" in a contract extension with the Cardinals "if it will make our organization better."
"I want to be in the playoffs every year," Pujols told reporters before he went on stage to sign autographs at the Winter Warm-Up.
Pujols also said, however, that he was setting no deadline or timetable for future contract talks. He did say he did not want to be distracted by talking about his contract once the regular season begins.
"This is the right place for me to be," said Pujols, who has two years remaining on his current contract. "It's not like I have to sign by next week.
"It's hard to think about playing somewhere else. Hopefully I don't have to make that decision."
Pujols said he and his agent will be ready to talk to the Cardinals about an extension when the team is ready, but he also said he would not be upset if he reached free agency and an agreement had not been reached.
"For me I want to be here forever," Pujols said. "It all depends on what they want and what I want.
"I know people talk about my contract, but when I signed my contract in 2003, 2004, whenever it was, people are talking about that now being a bad contract," Pujols said. "But you know what? When I signed my contract back then, the Cardinals didn't have to do that but they did it. And it was one of the best contracts at the time.
"You can compare my contract now to Manny Ramirez, (Mark) Teixeira, A-Rod, whoever you want, and it looks bad, but you know what, they were free agents and I wasn’t. I only had three years in the league and the Cardinals pretty much did me a favor, signing me for $100 million."
About his recovery from the surgery he underwent in October to remove bone chips from his elbow, Pujols said he "feels great."
"I have been hitting for about three weeks and have been swinging the bat well," Pujols said. "I can feel the extension (in the elbow) that I didn't have for quite a while. I had to deal with that.
"I'm looking forward to having another great year."
Ballpark Village groundbreaking possible?
Cardinals’ President Bill DeWitt III held a question-and-answer session with fans Monday and said he was “cautiously optimistic” the team will break ground on Ballpark Village some time this year.
“We’ve been close to getting started on two occasions but for a couple of unusual reasons we didn’t get started,” DeWitt said. “Maybe it was a blessing in disguise. We don’t think the market is ready for the residential housing component which was part of the original plan.”
DeWitt said the club was waiting for more stability to return to the bond market before making the final decision to move forward. He said the Cardinals do have commitments for office and retail clients for the development who are “hanging in there with us.”
Answering a question from a fan, DeWitt said he thought one of the biggest issues which needed to be addressed by the new committee appointed to look into on-field issues was the speed of the game. Both DeWitt’s father and Manager Tony La Russa are on the committee.
“We’ve got to figure out a way (to do it),” DeWitt said, “especially playoff games and in the American League parks. We need to put people on the clock.”
Lohse says he is healthy
Kyle Lohse has spent most of his Winter doing two things: playing golf and challenging Joel Pineiro on XBOX.
After a season in which Lohse spent two different times on the disabled list as he battled several nagging injuries to his back, forearm and knee among others, Lohse said he has even had to be careful while on the links.
"I've had my friends on the lookout while we're on the golf course to make sure no balls are coming over from the other fairway," Lohse said. "But everything is going good."
Lohse went 6-10 with a 4.74 ERA in the first of a four-year deal for the Cardinals in 2009. But the down numbers were likely caused by the fluky injuries, which he says are finally past him.
"I've been playing catch for two weeks and it's like a normal this part of the year for me," Lohse said. "I'm not doing anything different right now. A couple of weeks ago I was making sure I did a few extra exercises to make sure the strength was still there and I didn't feel any tightness or any of the feelings that I felt last year and I wasn't feeling it so I feel good about where I'm at."
Comments
Cards64Fan (anonymous) says...
Thanks for the updates!
January 18, 2010 at 2:28 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Stagweiser (anonymous) says...
I guess Albert can sing ? Perhaps it was to sign an autograph ?
January 18, 2010 at 5:25 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
flyerdog11 (anonymous) says...
I'd like to thank the GD for reporting the bit about how Pujols wants to remain in St. Louis for his entire career and might even take a discount to do so.
Joe Strauss over at stltoday didn't find that little detail important enough to mention.
January 18, 2010 at 5:37 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jevola1 (anonymous) says...
Edmonds is one of my favorite former Cardinal players. That would be great to see him back in the lineup for another year. Swing away Jimmy!
January 18, 2010 at 6:45 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
blindhomer (anonymous) says...
What harm could it do.Great$$ for him
January 18, 2010 at 10:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mhcardfan (anonymous) says...
flyerdog11 you are 100% correct. I went to the other newspaper and read the article you mentioned and it was a whole different story than what was on here. Reading that article one could come under the impression that Pujols was leaving as soon as his contract ended case closed. I just hope the Cardinals don't try to do anything silly and try to underpay him. That was one of my biggest fears in 2004 when he was possibly going to arbitration.
Also the Ballpark Village. Obviously I am not old enough to alive back in the 60's when Busch Stadium II was being built, but after reading the book of memories or whatever Busch Stadium book was going around in 2005 apparently the Cardinals were going to build a ballpark village back then that NEVER came to be. It would not surprise me if that were to happen again.
January 18, 2010 at 10:33 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )