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.

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