Top News and Reports:

• New Cardinals pitcher Carlos Villanueva told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he’s preparing to wear ‘many hats’ for a shot at a roster spot headed out of Spring Training. From Goold’s article:

“Like I told the GM here: The definition of a winner for me my whole career, playing in this division, has been the Cardinals,” Villanueva said Friday morning. “To be honest with you, when the offseason started I told my agent to kind of go away from the Central a little bit because I’ve been here. That all changed when I got the call.”

The Cardinals offered Villanueva a minor-league contract with an invitation to spring training. They did not offer much time for him to think it over. They like to make an offer and move on. Villanueva asked for some extra time to think about it, and then accepted. The 31-year-old righty comes to spring training without the guarantee of going north with the team, but there is an opening for a swingman with Villanueva’s versatility and they would like him to fill it.

• Coming off offseason elbow surgery, Cards ace Adam Wainwright is expected to make only four starts in Spring Training and the team is considering ways to get the 33-year-old more rest throughout the season. Jenifer Langosch of Cardinals.com takes an overall look at how the Cardinals could limit Waino’s innings this season, while an AP report (via theScore) reports on how the team plans on limiting his workload in the spring. From Langosch’s report:

The Cardinals aren’t insistent that Wainwright miss a start or two in an effort to reduce his innings, but that scenario has been discussed. They’ve also talked about having Wainwright throw less in spring, hopeful that pitches not used now can be pitches thrown later in the year. All this brainstorming comes on the heels of watching Wainwright shoulder 519 2/3 innings — 276 2/3 in 2013, 243 in 2014, including postseason totals — over the past two years.

Videos:

• On a very related note, Mike Matheny, John Mozeliak, and Adam Wainwright himself discuss the veteran’s workload in the following video from Cardinals.com:

• Matheny discusses his expectations for newcomer Jason Heyward in this video from Fox Sports Midwest.

MLB:

• Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Union officially announced many additions to its pace-of-play program Friday in an attempt to speed up the game. New rules include batters keeping at least one foot in the batter’s box frequently, a countdown clock between innings, and changes to instant replay. theScore provides an easy to understand explanation of all the new rules.
• After the changes were announced Friday morning, Derrick Goold of the Post-Dispatch caught up with Cards skipper Mike Matheny, who said he was okay with the new rules (read full article here, plus a video from Cardinals.com here):

“(But) I think it’s a great move forward. I think we’ll do whatever we have to do and I applaud the commissioner’s effort to make this happen.”

Columns/Opinions:

• In his latest Cardinals player preview, Bernie Miklasz of the Post-Dispatch discusses whether or not center fielder Jon Jay can be expected to repeat his great success from last season. From the article:

But rather than dismiss Jay’s seemingly unsustainably high batting average on balls in play, we must acknowledge that he’s always had a high BABIP. His career average on balls in play is .345. So while it’s understandable to presume that Jay’s average will drop, it would be a mistake to bank on it.

• Brian Stull of St. Louis Baseball Weekly takes a look at four questions surrounding the Cardinals this spring in this article.

Miscellaneous:

• As mentioned in Thursday’s Spring Training Roundup, three Cardinals prospects cracked Baseball America’s newly released top 100 prospect list. Derrick Goold of the Post-Dispatch has more on those players here.
• Finally, with Spring Training now officially underway, Stan McNeal of Fox Sports Midwest provides some key dates for the team for the next seven weeks. A few highlights:

Wednesday, Feb. 25. Pitchers, catchers, position players, coaches, clubhouse attendants and executives all are required to be in camp for the first official full-squad workout.

Thursday, March 5. The Cardinals will play their spring training opener against — who else? — their Roger Dean neighbors, the Marlins.

Wednesday, March 18. The first of two off days in March and a good time for some roster cuts.

Thursday, April 2. The team’s final game from Florida will be the sixth game against the Mets this spring.

Sunday, April 5. And the real season starts with a doozy: Jon Lester versus Adam Wainwright (unofficially) in the nationally televised season opener. First pitch is set for shortly after 7 p.m.

Monday, April 13. Home opener against the Brewers.

–CB

Feature image used under Creative Commons from Keith Allison. No changes made. Image License.