My understanding is that Luna is listed as an outfielder who may also see time at second base. My assumption is that his infield defense is not good enough to warrant a full-time shift.

Cruz catching full-time at Palm Beach is an interesting move.

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20100403/SPORTS02/4030375/-1/BLOGS01/Springfield+Cardinals+set+roster

Memphis outfield isn’t so crowded with Stavi going up and Jones in Springfield.

Any idea how the outfield situation at Memphis is going to play out? Does Daryl Jones really start the season in Springfield?

Also, I thought they shifted Aaron Luna to second base a couple of years ago. Is he still playing some left field?

Heitor Villa Lobos (pronounced Lobosch) was a remarkable man. He wrote choral music for thousands of voices that he placed on hill sides with hundreds of orchestral musician on the next. Try u=tube. Look for the Bachianas no 5, or 10 is good too.

Westy, I’ve been meaning to thank you for mentioning Villa-Lobos. I went digging through some stuff to find a recording I used to like a long time ago. Finally found it, ‘Forest of the Amazon’, but it’s on a cassette and I haven’t had a cassette player in years, drat. I also found Herb Albert and the Tiajuana Brass on an 8 Track tape. I might sell that on e-bay.

This is truly satisfying. The hitting coach just has him go goofy to interrupt his self image and how it applies to his hitting aspirations and pitch selections. These things will fade and change as pitching adjusts to it, but he will have excepted change and his ability to adapt. Bingo. The guy has tremendous hand to eye, but now he doesn’t need to overcome Hal, with Tony’s lack of involvement thrown in…………I hope he stays healthy.

The most difficult part of hitting it seems is emotional clarity. You have to have a tactical purposefulness that overrides all of the ego distraction. I think you know that was Colby’s greatest challenge last year. You never have to give up your desire to express power, but sometimes it mustn’t be your focus. Utley, by just staying short and on balance discovered some real flaws in the way he was being pitched to in last years playoffs. He is not looking for that end result, but by god if your going to center that, or hang one there, he will show you the error of your ways. He will use all fields, and as a result if you try to take that away, better have a better plan than LA or NY……………………………. Albert Pujols’ big funk was predominately fueled by his emotional need to crush something. It just spun him open every time. To be honest, that is a classic addiction to the endorphin cascade that is created by maximum leverage and recognition of crowd reaction on many sensory inputs. ……………… I would be a junkie myself if I tasted one of those effortless moon shots………………….. that’s why I don’t hang out with users.

You could do some serious teaching just from his finish, front foot closed, back side knee moving towards his front knee, backside rotation, right elbow in tight on his hip(so he can stay inside the ball and go the other way, your favorite WC), hitting behind a firm front side, liitle lean over the plate but not leaning back (so he will hit more line drives). I had my players come down to my room and take a look at his pics. Albert is one heck of a hitting instructor it seems.

http://www.cardsclubhouse.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23238&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=75&sid=ea2d68fbf6ddbb9d0e7ca98fd4a8b1b9

Here are some really nice photos from ST. Be sure to scroll down after the first bunch to get to some more. Two must see photos are Brendan Ryan in street clothes with hair and his glasses, and Big Mac taking a cut with the ball right on the sweet spot. That last, if he’d been suited up, OMG.

To someone, somewhere, this distinction has relevance. I can assure you that after listening to Shelby Miller, when they told him of his invite, they either left out all the fine print and caveats or he didn’t hear them. He heard he received an invite to major league camp.

I suspect the reality is that they told these kids to soak up the environment for a couple of weeks but be ready to head over to minor league camp as soon as it opens. Of course, there are a bunch of “official, no doubt about it NRIs” and guys on the 40-man as well who are in the major league camp now but are in the same boat, with no legitimate change to make the major league roster this spring.

57 players is a lot, especially on a team where most of the roster positions are pretty well defined. They are needed to help soak up some of the early innings until the main guys work up to full readiness. Even after cuts, minor leaguers are often called over to the major league games as late-inning fill-ins. It is one of the nice advantages of having the two camps together.

“Miller and lefty Sam Freeman are being added to the workouts as early invitees, not officially non-roster invitees. ”

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/cardinals/story/39FD40E3B3CB5C76862576D300102983?OpenDocument

“The Cardinals will bring in top Draft pick Shelby Miller and Minor League left-hander Sam Freeman tomorrow. Technically they are not non-roster invitees…..”

http://yourenotagolfer.mlblogs.com/archives/2010/02/monday_camp_tidbits_miller_lug.html?partnerId=rss_stl&source=rss_teams_St._Louis_Cardinals

You can see Shelby Miller listed first under SPs at Quad Cities. Freeman is listed first under Relievers at Springfield. Those are the rosters at which they ended last season (and probably where they will return to start 2010 as well).

Both names are in italics because they are non-roster invitees to major league camp.

(As a tip, you can hit CTRL + F keys to get a search box to find names quicker. With so many entries, it can be a bit unwieldy at times.)