TOWER GROVE — For the third consecutive year the blog will be coming live this weekend from the Winter Warm-up in downtown St. Louis. Throughout the three days of the event, I’ll update the blog with comments from players, quotes from prospects (10 or so will be in attendance), tidbits from executives, the scene at the fest and, of course, news (i.e., pre-arbitration signings).

A wrinkle to the coverage this year will be the Twitter feed. Armed with 140 characters and my phone, I can file something to the Twitter feed (dgoold) from anywhere. In theory, that is. It will be a good test drive for how it works from the fields of spring training.

A quick entry today, and then check back over the weekend.

THE LINEUP: Best bets at Winter Warm-up

(some sights to see this weekend, in chronological order)

1. Hall of Famer Bob Gibson returns to the Warm-up, signing at 9 a.m. Saturday ($125 donation)
2. Chris Carpenter signs autographs ($60) at 10 a.m. Go ahead, ask him yourself.
3. From 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, St. Louis Cardinals GM John Mozeliak will have two Q&As with the fans; the first one is the standing-room-only session in one of the side rooms and it’s always good for a few bits of news and some candid conversation.
4. At the same time as Mozeliak’s chats, the best bang-for-your-buck buy of the Warm-up will be signing autographs: first-round pick Brett Wallace. Price? Free.
5. At 10 a.m. Sunday, KSDK fullback/sports director Rene Knott MC’s the main stage. ‘Nuff said.
6. At 11 a.m. Sunday, Brian Finch takes folks through the evolution of the Cardinals jersey. Finch is one of the best Cardinals historians around and this is a niche that is of particular interest to him. Ask him about the silver reflective jerseys the Cardinals once tried — or didn’t try? — for night games.
7. At 1p.m. Sunday, manager Tony La Russa takes to the main room for a Q&A. Here’s hoping he’s brought brilliant ranting comic Lewis Black in a few hours early to join him on the stage. That would be a Q&A for the ages.
8. At 3 p.m. Sunday and then 1 p.m. Monday … First, on Sunday, members of the Cardinals Think Thank are set free from their laptops* to discuss the STOUT concept — that blending of STatistics and scOUTing that they seek to perfect within the front office. And then, on Monday, John Vuch and Jeff Luhnow will talk about the farm, the minor-league system and the minor leaguers.
9. A few hours before he receives the MVP award at that Monday night’s Baseball Writers dinner, Albert Pujols will sign autographs ($175 donation, same as last year) and close out the Warm-up.

* Right. Right. Like I’m one to talk.

Some lagniappe: The club has been approached by national teams about two minor leaguers, asking for permission to consider them for the World Baseball Classic rosters. The two are Curt Smith, the recently drafted first baseman and Appalachian League Player of the Year who is a native of Curacao (Netherlands), and pitcher Adam Ottavino, a first-round pick who has drawn the interest of the Italian team. Richard Castillo, the young pitcher from Venezuela who starred in High-A Quad Cities and (teaser alert) scored a spot in Baseball America’s Top 30, has attracted attention from Spain’s national team for other international tournaments. … A while back, I think in late 2007, the San Diego Padres were the first team that thought about acquiring David Eckstein as a second baseman. Well, they finally did, signing the former World Series MVP yesterday to be the starting second baseman. … The blogosphere is getting crowded in these parts. Why, younguns, I remember when it was a Wild Wild West, and now these yankees are setting up there efiefdoms, vying for the same traffic as Main Street here. And now another radiohead carpetbagger: KTRS/550 AM Cardinals reporter John Marecek joins the WWW frontier of baseball coverage with his new blog, Busch Basement. It’s named for the location of the station’s studios at the new ballpark.

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