Lohse scratched from start, talking extension (updated)
Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse will miss his scheduled start Sunday to undergo an exam that could be the harbinger of a contract extension with the team for the pending free-agent pitcher, officials and sources said Sunday morning.
Lohse was scheduled to start Sunday in the season finale against Cincinnati, but early that morning the Cardinals announced Brad Thompson would start the game at Busch Stadium. Manager Tony La Russa said Lohse was having an exam with team doctors. Asked if an announcement was forthcoming, La Russa said: “There is no Lohse ‘announcement.’ I think what it means is there is interest and possibly progress in the negotiations.”
General manager John Mozeliak confirmed that Lohse was meeting with team doctors instead of making his start.
The team has scheduled a press conference for Monday afternoon.
Senior baseball writer Joe Strauss has learned that the expected value of the contract is akin to the deal signed by Carlos Silva last offseason. Silva received a four-year, $48-million deal from Seattle. Sources have confirmed that the average annual value is worth better than $10 million.
While it is not unusual for a pitcher to have an end-of-season exam — all players do — the timing of today’s exam is unexpected. It is similar to in spring training when Adam Wainwright left the spring training facility during March to meet with team doctors for a series of exams. The next day the team announced an extension for the righthander.
Several team officials acknowledged “there’s something to” the similarities between the Lohse situation Sunday and the process Wainwright went through in March.
Lohse signed a one-year deal during spring training worth $4.5 million. He set a new career high with 15 victories this season, and will finish the season 15-6 with a 3.78 ERA and 119 strikeouts in exactly 200 innings. He made 33 starts for the Cardinals.
More on Lohse later today on StlToday.com and in Monday’s Post-Dispatch. Baseball columnist Rick Hummel contribute to this entry.
-30-
Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
Tfake I heard you where in jail
hope this is true…………our chances just got better in 09
GO ASTROS 09
Lets hope this is just the first of several good moves for ‘09′ and beyond this off season.
Apologies for the Berserkers that splattered some spoiled-eggs comments on this entry. I have been unable to tell the The Real Tim McKernan from Bizarro Tim McKernan, but I think either Tim McKernan should take a compliment from the fact that a doppelganger always means a higher Q-rating. Methinks, neither Tim McKernan is The Real Tim McKernan.
dg
Lohse has always had good stuff, and maybe he will join the long line of pitchers to come to Papa Dunc and turn their career around. Chances are that the Cards won’t be able to sign a Sabathia or a Sheets and then expect to fill other glaring holes like an impact bat, a LHRP, or acquire middle infield help. Compared to the likes of Sabathia and Sheets, Lohse is a cheap pickup that the Cards can hope to be a number two starter behind Waino.
This is a really nice start to the off season. I was one of the many critical of Mo for not getting a reliever (or two) before the trade deadline. But, he deserves credit for taking a positive step towards helping this team in 2009. Sure no one is worth that kind of money, but in the world of MLB, the St. Louis Cardinals got a good deal.
Good job Mo. It’s a great start.