Grudzielanek wastes little time in securing starting job

JUPITER, Fla. -- Just like Larry Walker landed in the second slot last summer, new St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Mark Grudzielanek is going to unfamiliar territory in the batting order.

The bottom of the order is just fine with Grudzielanek, 34, who's batted first or second most of his career. The replacement for Tony Womack sees it as freedom.

"It's a world of difference instead of always being pressured to hit in front of a Sheffield or a Green," Grudzielanek said. "I've been in front of Sosa and Derrek Lee and it's a totally difference approach. And it's kind of relaxing."

So relaxing that Grudzielanek reeled off six straight hits early in spring training, four of them on two-strike counts.

"There's just less stress that I have to deal with, and I just go up and hit," Grudzielanek said. "I've been two strikes a lot lately and I've just been seeing it and trusting my hands and seeing the ball."

Batting seventh is no knock on Grudzielanek's offensive ability, it's just an indication of the strength of the league's top lineup which features Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds batting in the 3-4-5 slots ahead of Walker, a third or fourth hitter his entire career. It also reflects La Russa's desire for more pop at the top of the order.

That strength is the main reason why Grudzielanek, a free agent after last season, chose the Cardinals over teams offering more than twice his $1 million salary for this year. The Cardinals won a major league-high 105 games last year and Grudzielanek considers this the best team he's played for.

"Even though I need to make a statement for myself and have a year for myself to finish my career the way I want to, it's just a great opportunity here," Grudzielanek said. "I said, hell, I'll make half of what I'm going to make and have an opportunity to have a good year.

"I've made a lot of money and it's time to get your priorities straight and have a chance to win."

Gruzielanek is half of the Cardinals' new double play combo, with David Eckstein replacing Edgar Renteria at shortstop. All spring the two have been inseparable by design, a getting-to-know-you period.

Grudzielanek has a lot of experience with various double-play partners over the years, both when he was starting at shortstop and second base. So he's not worried, noting that while with the Dodgers one season he played shortstop next to several different second basemen.

"The next year I moved over to second base and had five guys at shortstop," he said.

The signings were viewed as a low-budget alternative for the departed players. Manager Tony La Russa said time will show general manager Walt Jocketty made the right moves.

"It wasn't long ago that I said after watching them that we will have as big a plus in the middle of our club as we did last year," La Russa said. "We're going to play as well in the middle as we did last year.

"Walt did a hell of a job to replace really good players with really good players."

La Russa hesitated to hand the job to Grudzielanek during the winter. The Cardinals also had talked with Roberto Alomar, who ended up with Tampa Bay.

Quickly in spring training, there was no suspense in the manager's mind.

"You don't like making pronouncements in January when you don't know anything about him," La Russa said. "As soon as he came down here and we watched the way he worked, he was the second baseman."

Noteworthy

The most notable of the 10 roster moves on Monday was infielder Wilton Guerrero getting reassigned to the minor league camp. Guerrero had been among those in the running for a utility job. The Cardinals also optioned pitcher Rhett Parrott to Triple-A Memphis, and reasssigned pitchers Toby Borland, Jeremy Cummings, Chris Gissell, Hector Mercado, Nerio Rodriguez and Brad Thompson, and infielder Mike Bell and Chris Duncan to the minor league camp.