TOWER GROVE — On the St. Louis Cardinals’ dime, Adam Kennedy went on to have a fine season with Oakland, filling in at third base for the Athletics and contributing with a .289 average, 63 RBIs and 65 runs scored. It was the kind of the production the Cardinals signed him for and never saw.

All the Cardinals got in return was … better.

When the Cardinals elected, at manager Tony La Russa’s urging, to release Kennedy, they…

TOWER GROVE — This past offseason, switch-hitting utility infielder Aaron Miles — a member in good standing of the 2006 World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals — grew frustrated with a third consecutive winter of being non-tendered by the club he had hoped to call home. And though an 11th-hour offer eventually came from the Cardinals, Miles made the difficult decision to jump to a rival, the Chicago Cubs.

Far from excommunicating him (check out his initial…

JUPITER, Fla. — What with Skip Schumaker learning a new position, Joe Mather reintroducing himself to an old position and a whole gaggle of prospects who could use some tutoring at their positions, one of the hardest working men in Camp Cardinals this spring is a coach.

The club that once asked Jose Oquendo to play every position, now needs him to coach every position.

Seemingly all at once.

On the field furthest from the clubhouse here at…

TOWER GROVE — The St. Louis Cardinals sudden and curious move to release Adam Kennedy on the eve of spring training leaves them with a hole at second base and an open casting call for the job.

So, it’s business at usual down in Jupiter.

With all due respect to the St. Louis Blues, whose revolving door in goal was chronicled and counted in this morning’s paper by Dan O’Neill (ah, where have you gone Tom Barrasso?), the real…

TOWER GROVE — The arbitration wallop the St. Louis Cardinals have been bracing for this winter came into view Tuesday with the exchange of salary figures around baseball. The Cardinals two unsigned and eligible players, outfielders Rick Ankiel and Ryan Ludwick, each are guaranteed to receive significant raises. The salaries that an arbitrator will choose between — if the two sides do indeed get to a hearing, that is — are there for everyone to…

DOWNTOWN — Cardinals’ closer candidate Chris Perez came to St. Louis this winter to have a scan taken of his achy ankle, and while the joint doesn’t hinder the work he’s trying to do on his delivery it has made his other offseason goal a tad trickier.

Perez said an MRI taken in November of his left ankle revealed a bone spur and bone inflammation. Surgery was considered, but because it doesn’t bother him when he…

TOWER GROVE — In a few days, newly-minted Chicago Cubs infielder Aaron Miles will have a reunion of sorts at a charity event with the manager that made him a millionaire. He expects the worst.

“I just talked to him, and Tony said,” Miles said, pausing for effect, “that he’s really going to give it to me.”

Miles, fresh from signing a two-year, $4.9-million deal with the Cubs, will attend an Animal Rescue Foundation benefit in California…

TOWER GROVE — As one of a sweeping series of moves the Chicago Cubs made this morning as possible prelude to reviving a Jake Peavy deal, the Cubs’ signing of infielder Aaron Miles dredged up a familiar refrain, heard before from former Cardinals like him.

“I’m excited to be a Cubbie,” Miles told Chicago Cub beat writers on a conference call this afternoon. “Being a Cardinal was great and that part is over now. Now I’m ready…

LAS VEGAS — While wrapping my ears around Chinese Democracy, replaying Snow Patrol’s addictive new album and, for kicks, spinning ZZ Top’s cover of “Viva Las Vegas” on the trusty iPod, I also brought along a little research for this trip to the Baseball Winter Meetings. You never know what golden nugget of information you’ll find from one page to the next on the latest edition of The Bill James Handbook.

Picked up the 2009 edition, with…

TOWER GROVE — The Cardinals are close to acquiring a new face while continuing a familiar trend.

Late last night the news broke, by Joe Strauss here at The Post-Dispatch and by Padres beat writer Tom Krasovic over at the San Diego Union-Tribune, that the Cardinals had traded for San Diego shortstop Khalil Greene. Greene will become the St. Louis Cardinals’ fourth different everyday shortstop since the start of the 2004 World Series. And, his contract gives every…

TOWER GROVE — With the subtraction of the salaries for Mark Mulder, Braden Looper, Scott Spiezio, Juan Encarnacion and Jason Isringhausen (though possibly only briefly for him), the St. Louis Cardinals have a raw total of about $29 million in expiring contracts from their 2008 payroll. But presented with the question on whether the Cardinals had $25 million to even $30 million of flexibility for the coming season, an organization official was direct with his answer:

“You might…

TOWER GROVE – Although the snow is a nice sendoff for those of us heading south shortly, it’s only further confirmation that spring training is approaching rapidly. The only thing coming faster and with more anticipation is Super Tuesday. And that’s got everybody thinking about voting.

So why not combine the two big February events and hold the Cardinals Nation primaries?

Manager Tony La Russa and his coaching staff will have plenty of Decisions (in) 2008, from who…