St. Louis' outfield will be among oldest in baseball

JUPITER, Fla. -- At 34, Jim Edmonds is the kid in the St. Louis Cardinals' outfield. And at least early in spring training, at times he's feeling his age.

"Obviously there's going to be some aches and pains," Edmonds said Thursday. "But it is spring training and it's tough the first couple of days when some guys haven't hit, some guys haven't run. I don't feel that bad."

The other greybeards, right fielder Larry Walker and left fielder Reggie Sanders, turned 38 and 37, respectively, in the offseason. And the often-injured Walker, who's been on the disabled list nine times in an otherwise Hall of Fame-type career, missed the first two days of full-squad workouts with back spasms.

"He's not good," trainer Barry Weinberg said. "He's better."

All of which increases the urgency for the National League champions to keep winning. Because this trio, one of the oldest outfields in the major leagues, won't last forever.

"It doesn't matter how old you are, as long as you do your job," Edmonds said. "If we were the youngest outfield in baseball, would that make us unprepared or inexperienced?

"It's just something to write about."

Unofficially, the Cardinals' trio ranks only behind the Giants' outfield of Barry Bonds (40), Moises Alou (38) and Marquis Grissom (37). But it's a very productive outfield, totaling 81 home runs and 225 RBIs last year even though Walker missed exactly half of the season.

Edmonds had a career best with 111 RBIs and matched his career high with 42 homers last year.

"It's something we'll obviously have to start working on, but not this year," general manager Walt Jocketty said. "But I think all three of them are in great shape."

The Cardinals plan to keep them that way. Edmonds played in 153 games last season, but Sanders' normal routine last year was play two, sit one. And manager Tony La Russa has a conservative game plan for Walker, who's set for his first full season with St. Louis after arriving in an August trade with the Rockies.

"If he plays 130 and that just means we miss him for 32, I'd jump at that right now," La Russa said. "One hundred thirty would be a terrific number."

Walker has no history of back problems, although he does have a lengthy history of setbacks. Last year a groin injury limited him to 81 games, although in the three previous seasons he played at least 136 games each time.

Still, he's not getting any younger.

The age factor adds importance to the bench choices. The likely backups on a largely veteran team are So Taguchi, 35, John Mabry, 34, and Roger Cedeno, 31.

All got a decent amount of playing time last season. Taguchi appeared in 107 games, many as a defensive replacement, Mabry had 240 at-bats after his contract was purchased from Triple-A Memphis in late May and Cedeno played in 95 games and had 200 at-bats.

"Age isn't that much of a factor with our starters," Jocketty said. "Tony will protect them and make sure they're fresh at the end of the season."

La Russa's plan is to keep the lines of communication open while not exactly coddling his outfielders. He won't schedule extra days off for Edmonds, for example, because after five years together he doesn't think that tactic works.

"What'll happen is you may have rested him on Monday, and he'll go out Tuesday and dive," La Russa said. "The big thing is talk to him and see how he feels, and if he feels good play him."

Sanders played in 135 games, batting .260 with 22 homers with 67 RBIs last year. He said La Russa did a good job of keeping him at his best, although he said he could have played more.

"He doesn't have to do that, but I think we have a team that's ready for anything that comes our way," Sanders said. "We have an older team and we've been around and we know what it takes every day to do what we need to do.

"But, I don't see it being an issue."