JUPITER, Fla. — New Cardinals shortstop Khalil Greene spent a good part of his first day in red chatting with — or rather listening to — manager Tony La Russa about how he runs his spring training camp and about how Greene usually uses February and March to get ready for April and beyond.

Greene said he probably doesn’t remember everything that was thrown his way Monday, but his ears are open to anything La Russa or the other Cardinals’ coach can offer.

“There is considerable room for improvement, especially on the offensive side of the ball,” Greene said sitting at his new locker this afternoon in the St. Louis Cardinals clubhouse. “I can get better consistency-wise, technique-wise. … Even in 2007, there were one or two times (within the season) that I felt like I was performing tremendously (well), but never from start to finish.”

New Cardinals shortstop Khalil Greene chats with manager Tony La Russa on Monday, Greene's first day in camp. (Photo: Chris Lee — P-D)

Greene took some groundballs and stepped in for some batting practice in his first appearance at Cardinals’ spring training. Full-squad workouts don’t official begin until Tuesday, but he drove down from South Carolina on Sunday night and felt like getting a 24-hour head start on names, faces and, sure, second baseman. (”I’ve heard some of what’s going on,” he said. “I’ll work with whoever is there.”)

The Cardinals acquired the 29-year-old shortstop from San Diego shortly before the Winter Meetings, and Greene has been upfront since the trade that he understands the factors that played into the move. Most were economic. Some were performance. San Diego Padres general manager Kevin Towers told me that if he didn’t have slash cash from the payroll, he would have likely kept Greene. Greene allows that there may have been mitigating circumstances even then.

His performance was subpar, especially coming off of the 27-homer career-binge that he had in 2007. Last seaosn, Greene hit just .213 and had career lows of 10 home runs and 35 RBIs while also striking out 100 times in 389 at-bats.

He “got somewhat lost offensively for a period of time,” he said. “Never really got it going.”

As the team continued to lose and he continued to struggle, frustrating set in and eventually erupted with a punch to a cooler in the dugout that busted his hand and ended his season. There is still an active grievance over whether the Padres owe him his salary from the time he missed because of the injury. The performance. The injury. The losing. All of that created a chilly atmosphere for Greene — one he didn’t have a problem returning to, but wasn’t sure he would.

While talking about all of the positions battles in his camp, La Russa stated this morning that some things are locks: Like Adam Wainwright in the rotation and Greene at shortstop.

La Russa rarely says such things lightly but it does allow Greene some space to get his game in shape — and rediscover the swing, the approach, the confidence, the … well, whatever that was missing in 2008. He said he’s all ears.

“There is always something else to learn. I’m capable of doing a lot better than I’ve done in the past. I know that much,” Greene said. “Consistency-wise, my overall game is something I can better.”

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