--GM Walt Jocketty is still searching for an outfielder but isn't optimistic that one on the free agent market will be available in his price range. He said that player more likely would have to be acquired through trade but added, "There really aren't many alternatives in the trade market, either."

--RHP Matt Morris, who was offered only two years at $13 million and then a club option for the third year, went to San Francisco at $27 million for three years but left with no outward bitterness. "I appreciated what Walt and ownership did. They treated me like gold from Day One," said Morris.

--RHPs Octavio Dotel and Francisco Rodriguez, both free agents, still are on the Cardinals' radar although Dotel won't be ready at the start of the season after undergoing elbow ligament surgery last season.

--Jocketty said he didn't mind making a lot of offseason changes, even with a team that won 100 games. "I think you need to turn the roster over," he said. "I think turning a percentage of the roster over every year is healthy."

--INF Hector Luna, who hit .285 as a part-timer last season, probably will get first shot at the starting second base job.

--RHP Alan Benes, 33, has been signed to a minor league contract. Benes, a promising pitcher for the Cardinals in the late 1990s, has been trying to battle back after having had several shoulder surgeries.

BY THE NUMBERS
.208 -- Average that left-handed hitters have compiled against LHP Ricardo Rincon in his career.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"I don't think they were serious about signing me." -- RHP Matt Morris on the Cardinals' offers to retain him before he went to San Francisco.

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