Glaus addressed reporters over the weekend at the annual Cardinals Care Winter Warm-Up and made no mention of any physical malady that had plagued him this winter.

Once again this is one of those deals that make you really think. Why didn’t Glaus have surgery a few weeks after the season was over? I don’t get it why athletics always wait around forever before going under the knife. Had this surgery been done earlier, Glaus would have been able to partake in spring training and not miss any time in the regular season.

Greene will make $6.5 million in 2009, with the Cardinals on the hook to pay all of it. St. Louis would thus be left with approximately $10-15 million more in payroll room to find a second baseman and perhaps another starting pitcher and/or another left-handed reliever. Greene will be eligible for free agency after the 2009 season

Greene struggled in 2008 as he only hit .213 with a .260 on-base percentage and a .339 slugging percentage. It was his worst season in the big leagues but hopefully he can turn things around and have a good 09 season for the Cardinals and stay injury free as well.

Also on Wednesday, the team signed reliever Trever Miller to a one-year contract.

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St. Louis has five other free agents who are not rated Type A or Type B. Mark Mulder, Juan Encarnacion, Felipe Lopez, Cesar Izturis and Ron Villone were also not offered arbitration.

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Right now a contract isn’t signed but they are working on the terms and it should happen soon.

Miller appeared in 68 games for the American League champion Tampa Bay Rays last season, posting a 4.15 ERA in 43 1/3 innings. He held lefties to a .209 average. Miller had the fourth-lowest percentage of inherited runners who scored, and his 16.2 percent was the best of the available free-agent relievers.

Look for the Carinals to add one more lefty in the bullpen before the season starts.

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Pujols hit .357 with 37 home runs and 116 RBIs while playing with a sore right elbow. He was rewarded despite the Cardinals’ fourth-place finish in the NL Central. He is the only big leaguer to hit at least 30 home runs in his first eight seasons in the majors and has finished in the top 10 of the NL MVP voting each year. Pujols earned a $200,000 bonus for winning the award.

Congrats to Albert!

Mulder was a big bust for the Cardinals as he was often injured during his two years with the team. Mulder earned $13 million from the Cardinals over the past two season and he only pitched 12 2/3 innings in those two years! Talk about a waste of money.

At best a team will sign Mulder to a minor league contract and hope for the best. He has to be ready to accept a low offer of 1-3 million per year and probably only a one year contract for the 2009 season. We will have to see what team steps up and takes the chance on him.

Pineiro improved his record to 7-7 as he tossed seven innings to pick up the win. Joel gave up three hits and three runs in the game. Adam Dunn took him deep for a solo home run and then he gave up a two-run single to Mark Reynolds but that was all the offense that the D-backs would get. Josh Kinney and Carlos Perez each tossed one inning of relief and held the D-backs scoreless during those two innings.

Pujols led the team at the plate as he went 3 for 3 wth a three run home run and a rbi sac fly to finish the game with four rbi. Ryan Ludwick also hit a solo home run and finished with two rbi. Felipe Lopez and Jason LaRue both had two rbi in the game as well. To finish out the scoring for the Cardinals, Cesar Izturis and Aaron Miles both had one rbi each.

The Cardinals will now play their final series of the 2008 season against the Cincinnati Reds. Friday and Saturday will be night games and then the season finale will be Sunday afternoon. Do your best to get out to the park one last time this season and catch the Cardinals play if you can.

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Todd Wellemeyer pitched six innings but gave up nine hits and three runs to take the loss. Welleymeyer is now 12-9 on the year. Against the D-backs, Wellemeyer struck out seven batters but had four walks and gave up one home run. Russ Springer also gave up one run in relief.

Skip Schumaker played a role in both of the Cardinals runs. He first scored on a balk in the first inning and then grounded out in the seventh inning to score Adam Kennedy. The Cardinals offense was terrible overall as they could never really figure out Diamondbacks starting pitcher Brandon Webb.

The Cardinals will try to even up the series on Tuesday night as they face off against the Diamondbacks once again. It would be nice to see a victory that is for sure.

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The cardinals gave up all four runs that the cubs scored in the second inning. Felipe Lopez sure didn’t help things out as he committed two errors in the inning. Braden Looper ended up taking the loss and is now 12-12 on the year. He tossed the ball a lot better then the outcome was.

The Cardinals made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth when Ryan Ludwick hit a two-run home run off of Cubs closer Kerry Wood. That brought the cards to within one run but then Aaron Miles struck out looking and Josh Phelps flew out to center field to end the game.

The cardinals can still win the three game series if they can beat Rich Harden and the cubs on Thursday night.

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Relief pitcher Chris Perez gave up three hits and two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to take the loss and drop his record to 2-2. It was the third blown save for Perez as well. Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle Lohse lasted six innings and only gave up five hits and zero runs. It is too bad that Lohse couldn’t have stayed in the game longer. Kyle McClellan gave up two runs in the seventh inning as the D-backs started their comeback.

Troy Glaus had two rbi’s for the team as he hit a two run home run in the third inning. Lohse then added the teams third rbi with a rbi double in the sixth inning. There just wasn’t a lot of offense going around for the Cardinals on Wednesday night.

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