TOWER GROVE — The St. Louis Cardinals are deep into their final preps for the upcoming draft — vice president/farm director Jeff Luhnow, for example, is out in Los Angeles for one of the workout camps the Cardinals hold around the country — but the draft isn’t the only player procurement date rapidly approaching.

And it’s also no the longer the only one where the Cardinals shell out six-figure bonuses.

When the international signing period opened last season, the Cardinals seized on six players from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, spending a franchise record $3 million bonuses. The player considered the top prospect that they signed, third baseman Roberto De La Cruz, received a bonus in excess of $1.2 million. Three players received bonuses that were more than the Cardinals had ever spent in bonuses before.

Now they are being linked to one of the highest-profile players in the Dominican Republic who will be eligible to sign with a major-league team this July 2.

Luhnow acknowledged this afternoon that the Cardinals are interested in outfielder Wagner Mateo, listed by some as one of the top five talents available for this international signing period. Mateo, who just turned 16, is a lefthanded-hitting center fielder and he’s expected to command one of the bigger bonuses of the season. My friend Dejan Kovacevic, the Pirates beat writer for The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, reported this morning that scouts/agents in the area are expecting the Cardinals to make a substantial offer to Mateo. Luhnow stressed that Mateo is one name on a list of players the Cardinals are interested in and added that the Cardinals “haven’t gotten to a point where we are making any offers just yet.”

“We’ve seen him,” Luhnow said of Mateo. “We’ve had some people go in and look at him. … I don’t know right now what the market is going to look like. It could be different than last year’s. We have a way to evaluate the player, determine his potential and then also decide what he is worth to us. We’re comfortable with how we’re able to do that.”

The Cardinals did bring Mateo to Jupiter, Fla., to work out in front of the team’s coaches and scouts there at the team’s spring training facility. Mateo played in a game with the Extended Spring Training team. He hit a couple doubles and played well in center fielder, Luhnow said. The Cardinals may elect not to wade into the kind of bonus Mateo is said to want, but the organization is making it a priority to be more active — and more of a presence — when it comes to the players of Mateo’s level at the July 2 signing period. It comes at a time that the organization also wants to see more of the international players moving toward the majors. For the past four years, strengthening the international scouting and development has been a priority, but the best of the talent harvested from that area is just now reaching High-A and Class AA (pitchers Francisco Samuel and Richard Castillo and infielder Jose Martinez, etc.). When/if De La Cruz is assigned to an affiliate this season we’ll have a better handle on the player they got with last year’s statement signing.

Here is some video on Mateo, from YouTube:

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I asked Baseball America’s Ben Badler for a scouting report. Badler recently wrote about Mateo as part of a larger story with the international. Badler wrote me:

Mateo is will probably compete with Gary Sanchez, a catcher from the Dominican Republic, and Miguel Sano, a shortstop from the Dominican Republic who will end up either at third base or right field, for one of the top three signing bonuses. Sano has received the most media attention, but I don’t think it’s accurate to say he’s the consensus best player available.

Mateo isn’t too big-he’s listed at 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, but scouts I’ve talked to say he’s closer to 6-foot-1 or 6-foot even. His body is already relatively mature so he might move to a corner outfield position, but scouts I’ve spoken with say his bat is advanced. He has a good feel for hitting and has shown the ability to hit balls out of the park to all fields. Some scouts see him as more of a line-drive hitter with occasional pop, but he has a short swing and should be able to hit in game situations. I know Mateo came to the Cardinals complex for a workout in spring training and hit well, so it wouldn’t surprise me if the Cardinals had interest in Mateo.

Cardinals’ Latin America scouting supervisor Juan Mercado has scouted Mateo for several years. Though Luhnow agreed when asked if last year’s willingness to spend on bonuses added oomph to the Cardinals meeting with agents a year ago when they expressed a willingness to be a larger player in the area.

“I think what we’ve seen is an increase in our access to the better players, yes,” Luhnow said.

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