Injured St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Troy Glaus was evaluated today in a conference call among the Cardinals’ training staff and Glaus’ physical therapist in Phoenix and general manager John Mozeliak said the news had been “encouraging,” relative to Glaus recapturing his strength after January shoulder surgery. Mozeliak said Glaus, who had made some progress this spring before being shut down, had been cleared to start throwing and then hitting sometime next week.

But Mozeliak, meeting with reporters at Busch Stadium before the Cardinals’ game with Cincinnati, hastened to add that Glaus, who had 99 runs batted in last year in his first season with the team, likely wouldn’t be able to play for the Cardinals this season until mid-July or even early August.  With that in mind, Mozeliak said the club would step up its efforts to acquire some offensive help.

With Glaus probably out another six to eight weeks, Mozeliak said it wouldn’t be fair to the club for the Cardinals to wait for him to come back. “We’re probably going to ramp it up a little bit more in terms of intensity to see what we can do.” said Mozeliak. “I have noticed that as the calendar has changed to June that there has been more dialog already with other clubs.”

Glaus went to Arizona late in spring training after his right shoulder failed to respond. “When I say  the words ‘encouragement, good news,’ that means he’s taken the next step to get back,” said Mozeliak.

“I don’t think there’s any guarantees he’s going to play.”

Mozeliak said he had spoken to the 32-year-old Glaus in the last few days and Mozeliak said, “He sounded optimistic and encouraged. But there are opportunities that we need to explore.”