Quiet days in Cardinal Nation...
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Leadoff spot is beckoning Schumaker
By Joe Strauss
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/06/2008
JUPITER, Fla. — Among the many job listings the new-look Cardinals posted entering spring training was for a leadoff hitter, a role long held by veteran infielders (Fernando Viña, Tony Womack, David Eckstein) but now thrown open in the aftermath of Eckstein's departure as a free agent.
One candidate is a 28-year-old outfielder with only 255 major-league at-bats but intimate familiarity with the role.
Schumaker's career has been one of purposeful advancement. He has never hit more than eight home runs in a professional season. The club never has rated him as one of its premium prospects, and his opportunities typically have arisen because of injuries to veteran outfielders. For perhaps the first time, Schumaker may be the right person in the right place at the right time.
"I've hit leadoff forever," he said. "I'm comfortable doing it. It's about getting on base ... pretty simple."
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Johnson looks likely to start season on the disabled list
By Derrick Goold
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/06/2008
JUPITER, FLA. — Cardinals reliever Tyler Johnson is expected start the season on the disabled list, and he will have to be more diligent in his conditioning or risk a chronic shoulder problem, the team's doctor said.
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La Russa resents focus on Cards named in report
By Joe Strauss
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/05/2008
JUPITER, Fla. -- Cardinals manager Tony La Russa reacted with some indignation to the focus placed on the five players in camp mentioned in last December’s Mitchell Report, including three acquired since its publication.
"There’s a lot of freshness here and a lot of opportunity in this camp," La Russa said. "And I do resent the implication that some of the guys on this club who were mentioned are not good guys.
"Overall, this is definitely not a haven for guys (who used performance-enhancing drugs). Just because somebody makes one mistake in their career doesn’t make them a bad guy or a bad teammate.
"If a guy demonstrates during his career that he’s a good competitor and a good teammate, I don’t think one mistake means he should be . . . ostracized. I believe the guys here are good competitors and good teammates."
La Russa expected his willingness to acquire controversial free agent slugger Barry Bonds to attract media blowback, but thought that the insinuations made about the club’s embrace of Rick Ankiel, Ryan Franklin Troy Glaus, Juan Gonzalez and Ron Villone — all of whom were cited by Mitchell’s investigation — bordered on self-serving.
Aware that some within the industry have taken a harder stance, even professing to have no interest in suspected users of HGH or steroids, La Russa alleged hypocrisy.
"Are you telling me that those people truly believe they have no one within their organization who may be involved?" said La Russa, very mindful of recent comments by Colorado Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd that he would never acquire a player linked to the scandal. "I have a real hard time with that one."
In Their Own Words...
"I actually don't feel like I have a problem playing for managers, [With my] history, people might think otherwise. I don't think I'm necessarily an overly difficult person to get along with. I want to show up and be accountable and do the job to the best of my ability." -- Scott Rolen
