Get ready for Spring Training

Spring training starts in a little bit over a month. Are you ready? I know that I am.
Oct 22, 2012; San Francisco, CA, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle Lohse (26) walks back to the dugout after being taken out of the game in the third inning of game seven of the 2012 NLCS against the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park. Image Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
The St. Louis Cardinals are offering some fantastic specials on deals to watch your beloved Cardinals down in Jupiter, Florida. Fans can choose to travel in either February or March.

While there are two early bird trips, they do not include the exclusive dinner that will feature a season preview with manager Mike Matheny and select players. It’s just one way of fulfilling the bucket list item of seeing the Cardinals playing during the preseason in the Grapefruit League.

Meanwhile, as we get closer and closer to the start of the season, there is one Cardinals free agent who remains unsigned: Kyle Lohse. Is it possible that it is because of his agent being Scott Boras? Maybe, argues ESPN senior writer Jerry Crasnick.

Part of the problem, Crasnick, writes is the new system under the collective bargaining agreement.

"This winter, Boras and his fellow agents are working under a new set of bargaining rules, which required teams to make $13.3 million qualifying offers to pending free agents in November if they had any interest in keeping them. Under the revamped system, a new team that signs an elite free agent will be required to surrender both a draft pick and a chunk of its allotted draft bonus pool money. As a result, the player hits the open market with a double whammy that makes him less attractive to potential suitors."

There are 9 players whose free agent signing comes with draft pick compensation. Kyle Lohse is one of the final three that remain unsigned. The other two players are Michael Bourn and Rafael Soriano. Crasnick tells us that Scott Boras represents all three of them.

Lohse, according to Derrick Goold, is not exactly a wanted man this spring. Goold writes that the pitcher “has fielded interest but not yet received an offer.”