JUPITER, Fla. -- The St. Louis Cardinals released two righthanded pitchers from their minor-league camp this morning.

Houston Summers and Mark Diapoules were cut from their affiliates and are now free to sign with other teams, if pursued. Diapoules, 22, was a 21st-round pick out of nearby Palm Beach Community College. He spent all of last season as a reliever with High-A Palm Beach and Springfield, where in two starts he went 1-0 with a 10.13 ERA. With High-A Palm Beach, Diapoules was 5-1 with a 2.44 ERA in 14 games (nine starts). He had 44 strikeouts and 32 walks in 60 2/3 innings. (Stats corrected.)

Diapoules was squeezed out of the organization by the status quo at the higher-level bullpens and the hope that the Cardinals' new infusion of arms will push from the lower levels into full-season clubs this summer. By releasing him now, the Cardinals give him a chance to sign with another team before rosters are set in a couple weeks.

Summers, a minor-league free agent signed a year ago, was 2-1 with a 4.96 ERA in 18 games with short-season Batavia. All of his appearances were in relief.

In case you missed the info in this morning's notebook ... Reliever Francisco Samuel will be shut down for at least two weeks and possibly as many as five weeks as he recovers from a lat strain. Though the severity has been mentioned, the injury is in the same area as Brad Penny's last season. Samuel injured the muscle while pitching for the big-league club last week in Orlando against the Atlanta Braves.

Minor-league results up shortly from Friday's games.

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