by BY DERRICK GOOLD dgoold@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8285 , St. Louis Post-Dispatch

This week, Skip Schumaker, the Cardinals' transplanted second baseman, will report for duty at his usual winter workouts. But he's asked his trainer/taskmaster, LA County SWAT member Jim Moss, to shift the emphasis of his grueling drills. Schumaker is no longer thinking only like an outfielder - which is to say, thinking mostly like a hitter - and wants to prepare his body better for a season spent lunging for grounders and hurdling baserunners.

"I have to do more infield-specific stuff," Schumaker said from his offseason home in Southern California. "More flexibility. I thought about stretching once last winter. This winter, it's more important. Quickness. Quickness is now a big part of my game. I never thought about quickness before. It was always about running the ball down, and I could do that if I got a bad jump."

Schumaker's reinvention, from career outfielder to second baseman, leaves the Cardinals without their annual winter hunt. Since the start of 2003, 27 different players have appeared in at least one game at second for the Cardinals . Twelve have played at least 35 games there. The Cardinals have had one-year leases like Mark Grudzielanek and Tony Womack, imports like Ronnie Belliard and Felipe Lopez, players who struggled to start like Adam Kennedy and players like Junior Spivey who struggled so much they never started.

Schumaker represents an end to that fickle rotation.

The Cardinals have said Schumaker is "penciled in" as the 2010 starter at second base. Only three players since 2002 have had more than Schumaker's 133 games at second, and he is set to be the first Cardinal since Fernando Vina in 2001-02 to start at least 100 games at second in consecutive seasons. While Schumaker remains an option in the outfield, it is easier for the Cardinals to find a bat to fill left field if negotiations with Matt Holliday falter than it would be to shift Schumaker and replace him at second.

Julio Lugo, a midseason acquisition, will return with all but a sliver of salary paid by Boston next season. Cast in a utility role, he is also a righthanded complement to Schumaker at second. Tyler Greene, a rookie, profiles as more of a utility player, and the Cardinals are interested in having another lefthanded-hitting infielder, like Joe Thurston.

If Schumaker's shift was an experiment in 2009, it's far more than an encore in 2010. It's a career choice.

The 29-year-old infielder is arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter. He said he "hopes to get that far," referencing the Cardinals have to tender him a contract before he can elect arbitration. The process assures him a raise - one far different than he was set for a year ago. Schumaker will enter the process as a middle infielder who has hit .300 the past two seasons as the everyday leadoff hitter for the Cardinals . Being a second baseman and hitting a career-high .303 this past season pays better than being a fourth outfielder and doing the same.

Plus, he has one ace of a reference.

"He'll be above average defensively, without qualifications," said manager Tony La Russa, whose brainchild it was to move Schumaker. "It's amazing. It's amazing how far he's come defensively. I've been managing for 31 years, and it's one of the most impressive things I've seen as a manager."

Schumaker improved defensively throughout the season, as his instincts and footwork caught up with his athleticism and arm strength. He freely admits there was a time in spring training when it was "dicey," but by the end of the season he said he "wasn't a hazard out there and felt like I could be trusted." Baseball Info Solutions tracks fielders' plus/minus rating, awarding a plus for plays outside an infielder's assigned zone and a minus for misses within the zone. Schumaker was a minus-14 overall, but in the second half of the season he was better than average and a plus to his right.

In his previous life as an outfielder, he had seen so many fly balls that he didn't need to see any fly balls to be ready for spring. Not so this winter. With a little more than the week he had to prepare for the shift this past year, Schumaker said he'll start taking grounders around Thanksgiving. He plans to dial former Oakland shortstop Mike Gallego, Kennedy and Minnesota infielder Nick Punto - all of whom live nearby - for pointers.

But first he starts the SWAT workout.

After a week off, Schumaker starts his offseason workouts this week. This will be Schumaker's fifth winter with Moss, and he's well-versed in the cross-training grind that former teammate Jim Edmonds once described to a San Diego newspaper as "just shy of torture." Moss focuses on core strength, cardio work and gut-busting. Schumaker, with suggestions from Cardinals strength coach Pete Prinzi in hand, will gear some workouts to flexibility and explosive first steps. He wants to be able to get into a crouch a thousand times and not worry about pulling a hamstring (as he did), dealing with a sore groin (as he did) or having weary legs (as he did). He wants quicker jumps to grounders.

He proved he can play the part.

Now when he plays he wants to look the part.

In 2010, Schumaker will be what his Baseball card says: 2B.

"I had a lot of doubters. I know that," Schumaker said. "But I also had the most important people believe in me. ... I'll never forget the opportunity the front office, the coaches, Tony - all of them - gave me because it changed my whole career."

Copyright 2009 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc. All Rights Reserved
	Terms & Conditions     Privacy Copyright © 2009 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.