St. Louis Cardinals start Voluntary Spring Training Workouts

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The St. Louis Cardinals have started voluntary workouts one day before pitchers and catchers are officially scheduled to report to Spring Training in 2015.

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Outfielder Peter Bourjos and John Lackey were the newest arrivals to the Jupiter, Fla. complex according to MLB.com’s Jennifer Langosch. Lackey is open to a contract extension according to Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

"“This group of guys. . .this organization. . . it’s a great place to be and it’s something I would entertain for sure,” Lackey said."

It is certainly nice to see that the two-time World Series champion is open to staying a Cardinal past the end of the 2015 season. The Cardinals have a lot of depth in the pitching department but that’s always a good thing.

Meanwhile, Carlos Martinez threw a bullpen session with Yadier Molina catching behind the plate. Not one to usually start catching this early, one would think that Molina is there to help with Martinez getting comfortable as he bids for a role in the Cardinals pitching rotation.

According to Langosch, pitchers Seth Maness, Matt Belisle and Marco Gonzales threw while manager Mike Matheny and bullpen coach Blaise Ilsley observed the action.

Cuban shortstop Aledmys Diaz was amongst those taking in time with third base coach Jose Oquendo.

Michael Wacha threw a bullpen session on Tuesday and he felt fine.

"“I don’t have any of that feeling in the shoulder area,” Wacha said. “I’m real happy with everything, the way everything is coming out, the way the arm feels throughout the whole ‘pen. Hopefully I’ll just keep building off of each bullpen, getting a little more command of each pitch each time out.”"

Wacha’s health has been one of the question marks for Cardinals Nation with his being limited to only 19 starts last season.

Also throwing bullpen sessions on Tuesday were Kevin Siegrist, Nick Greenwood, and John Gast.