Matt Holliday just homered on a 3-1 pitch. Two-run shot puts Cardinals ahead 3-0.

Allen Craig lofts a home run to put the Cardinals ahead 4-0. He ripped a full-count pitch over the left-field wall here at Roger Dean Stadium.

I think we're too quick to dismiss two things about Wainwright's recovery. First, he was strong down the back stretch of last season. Yes, you can bend and shape and Play-Doh factory stats, but consider during a 12-start stretch after the All-Star break -- a time when most Tommy John pitchers are returning to the game, not making their second-half start of the season -- Wainwright went 6-4 with a 3.05 ERA. He pitched 76 2/3 innings, struck out 72, allowed 70 hits, and gave up only three home runs. Looks pretty strong to me. Second, Tommy John recovery has a fairly proven rehab and return rate. The second full season back is when pitchers return to their previous form. It's not a shoulder which can lead one down what trailblazer and verbal frontiersman Bernie Miklasz first mapped as "Mulder Road."

A shortstop. An impact shortstop. Even if it costs one top-shelf pitching prospect, preferably not one named Michael Wacha.

They would not. Lohse must sign before the draft for the Cardinals to receive the pick this year.

He is not another guy. The ball jumps off his bat. He looks like a young kid getting his first taste of an improved competition while also still getting his timing. One weekend of games is not going to reveal or change his status as one of the minor leagues' top hitting prospects.

CSI: Chat! I think the Cardinals should give Michael Wacha the time to show he is that before shipping him off to another team and learning, yes, he was exactly as good as we all thought.

As of today, Feb. 25, Matt Carpenter. That answer is subject to change on the 25th of every month from today until September.

The Tulowitzki rumblings this morning are ripple effects from the winter meetings where the Cardinals, through the course of mapping the shortstop terrain for the coming season and winter, took the Colorado Rockies temperature regarding their franchise cornerstone. The dots are difficult not to connect. The Cardinals did it months ago. Tulowitzki is owed more than $100 million on his contract, including $20 million annually from 2015 to 2019. The Rockies have a prospect coming up at his position in Trevor Story. The Rockies are rebuilding, though their blueprint has been rewritten, wadded-up, rewritten, wadded-up, rewritten several times in the past decade. They've got to figure out what direction they're going and if Tulowitzki is the player to take them there, or perhaps he'll get frustrated and want a chance to get out and help the Rockies rebuild by not being there, but bringing a healthy return. Those factors have been in play for awhile, have been reported for awhile, and now it's just a matter of timing -- and whether all those factors lead to the Rockies taking offers.

Yeah, the NL Central's hold on the NL Wild Card berth -- either of them, now -- got a lot less strong with the departure of the Houston Astros. Teams won't fatten their record on the 100-loss club. But look for the AL West to get a Wild Card team (or two!) as a result.

Tony Cruz. He returns to the position. Not much to change that.

Craig is starting at designated hitter today and continues to be limited when it comes to throwing. He's not scheduled to join the team on either of the road trips in the coming days.

It's an interesting question, Brian. I would imagine it has a lot to do with the fact that big, power arms often rely on that big, power fastball to get them through the minors and don't pay as much attention to their other pitches as necessary to remain a starter. Or, because that power can overpower in the minors without command, so that by the time they get to the majors the team only wants to use them in short bursts until they tame their fastball. Both of those elements are in play. But we're seeing more and more power arms and, as a result, more and more are also being used and developed and debuted as starters. Joe Kelly for example. Kelly had a lively arm, a plus fastball, and he came out of college as a closer. The Cardinals moved him into a starting job just to get him guaranteed innings to work on his secondary pitches. Voila. He never left and has shown that he can start. Power thrills. And teams do like to have that one, surefire, flamethrower in the pen who can get them out of trouble late in innings.

Wainwright's agent is out of the country. When he returns the Cardinals and the Wainwrights (if I can just shorthand that) are expected to meet face-to-face here in Florida to see where the next step in negotiations should be. The extension is still something the Cardinals want to try and work out, but right now they want to do it at their pace and at their price.