Second thoughts

St. Louis pitcher Adam Wainwright is entering the final year of his contract, putting the Cardinals on the clock to keep him off the free-agent market.
St. Louis pitcher Adam Wainwright is entering the final year of his contract, putting the Cardinals on the clock to keep him off the free-agent market.

— There’s no safe bet in baseball

The St. Louis Cardinals are on the clock with starting pitcher Adam Wainwright, writes St.

Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Joe Strauss.

“Two years after the club and Albert Pujols engaged in an awkward and ultimately contentious negotiation, Adam Wainwright has reached the fog of looming free agency,” Strauss said. “Wainwright is entering the walk year of a six-year, $36 million extension that ranks arguably as the shrewdest contract chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. and General Manager John Mozeliak have cut during Mo’s five-year run in office.

“The Cardinals get one more season of Wainwright for $12 million and have yet to initiate talks on an extension that would fold 2013 into an extension preempting free agency.

“Welcome to big boy poker.

“The final season of any star player’s contract invites speculation and parsing of even the most minor events.

Wainwright next month may attend his final winter warm-up with the club before arriving in Jupiter, Fla., for perhaps his final spring training. April may represent his final Opening Day here. The rubric changes. To say, ‘It is what it is’ no longer applies. It is what it could be.

“Does a lackluster spring training influence the club’s posture given Wainwright’s diminished velocity last September and October?

“Once he reaches Florida would Wainwright adopt a hard-line stance toward a matter that has existed since the club assumed his two-year, $21 million option without broaching a longer-term alternative?”

The Cardinals, though, are no strangers to seeing their own players leave. Wainwright could be the next one.

“They grappled with the sensitive Pujols for two years as the relationship eroded. At the end Pujols barely spoke to Mozeliak and insisted DeWitt be present for all negotiations. However, when DeWitt spoke up, Pujols cringed at the owner’s lack of inflection.

Pujols asserted in January 2003 that “this is business.” Almost nine years late the Cardinals had called him on that point.

“Next in line: Adam Wainwright. This is business.”

Bowl talk

Los Angeles Times sports columnist Chris Dufresne on several college bowl games this season:

Texas Bowl, Minnesota vs. Texas Tech: A rematch of the 2006Insight Bowl in which Minnesota blew a 31-point lead. Stories filed on deadline with Minnesota winning are available by request.

Hawaii Bowl, SMU vs. Fresno State: Former Hawaii Coach June Jones, now with SMU, returns to the islands to relive memories and retrieve a Hawaiian shirt he left in his old gym locker.

Pinstripe Bowl, West Virginia vs. Syracuse: This third-year bowl game at Yankee Stadium will commence with the singing of the national anthem and the booing of Alex Rodriguez.

They said it

New Colorado Coach Mike MacIntyre, pointing to his wife, Trisha, during his introductory news conference: “Looking at her, you can definitely tell I can recruit.”

Steve Schrader of the Detroit Free Press, after a Glendale, Ariz., church invoked Luke 18:27 to offer hope to the hapless Arizona Cardinals: “That’s fine, but do they know about Seahawks 58:0?”

Talk-show host Conan O’Brien: “Everybody I run into is talking about the end of the world.

They’re not believers in the Mayan apocalypse. They’re Laker fans.”

Quote of the day

“Our defense the first eight minutes was just, ‘I hope they miss.’ We made them miss the last 32 minutes.” Oklahoma State Coach Travis Ford on his team’s defensive turnaround in a 91-63 victory over Central Arkansas

Sports, Pages 16 on 12/17/2012

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