Lance Berkman settles down in St. Louis Cardinals’ spring training camp
The St. Louis Cardinals are up for the challenge in the regular season and after a disappointing negotiation-fallout with Albert Pujols, the club needs to get going with preparations for the regular season. Lance Berkman is one
player who is settling well with the franchise and he recently joined the club to kick off training with the side’s position players. The former Houston Astros’ player has a hard task to deal with and he is making the right moves by familiarizing himself with
the camp.
Berkman had a disappointing season in 2010. His injury-ridden tenure before last season prevented him to do much with the bat and the glove, as he fell out of favour at the Astros’ camp and the New York Yankees’ bench.
However, things may change, as the player will get to interact with his former rivals and work out a way to prepare peacefully. His personality remains the same, though his outfield defence and hitting ability remains a mystery
to the Cards.
"It takes a little time," Berkman said. "But I have a pretty good familiarity with most of the guys in here, just having played in the same division and against these guys for so long. They have a lot of the same personnel. I played
with Trever (Miller). So I know a lot of people in here."
Berkman’s manager Tony La Russa talked about his featured schedule between games. Big Puma Berkman wants to start regularly when the league goes into second gear. That is not a problem with the management though.
"He needs to understand that nobody here is going to be looking at him and think he's trying to get out of work," La Russa said. "We want him to play as many games (in the regular season) as he can. Hopefully, we'll get to October
and he's got a lot of game left. So we've got to be smart. I actually talked to him about it this morning."
Berkman will be trying hard to prove that he is still at his best. He is trying to forge a multi-year deal after the season and that will require him to prove himself this time around.
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