St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright signs an autograph for A.J. Gainer (13) of Des Moines during the team's Winter Warm Up in St. Louis on January 13, 2012. (Photo by Bill Greenblatt UPI )

By Rob Rains

In a winter that has not been filled with much good news for the Cardinals and their fans, Adam Wainwright’s progress from Tommy John surgery is a welcome development.

Wainwright took a short respite from his rehab schedule in Florida to attend the Winter Warmup on Saturday and reported that his right arm is “feeling great.”

“Actually I’m worried that I’m too far along instead of the other way around,” Wainwright said.

Wainwright, who missed all of the 2011 surgery after his injury in spring training, already has set up camp at the Cardinals’ complex in Jupiter, Fla., where he has been joined by new pitching coach Derek Lilliquist more than a month before pitchers and catchers are to report for the beginning of spring training. He threw a side session on Thursday and will be back throwing again on Tuesday, electing to not accompany the 2011 team on its trip to the White House.

“I’m going to feel fresh and ready to go,” said Wainwright, who reported that he has not experiencing any problems with his velocity, command or breaking off a curveball.

The Cardinals have said they may have to try to restrain Wainwright from trying to do too much too early in his return to the mound, with general manager John Mozeliak even suggesting getting 150 innings out of the pitcher this year might be a realistic expectation.

Wainwright balked at that suggestion a couple of hours after it was made, saying that “seems like half a season.”

“That’s five innings a start for 30 starts,” Wainwright said, doing the math. “If I make all my starts, I don’t see how that’s possible.”

What Wainwright does see as possible is using the knowledge that he gained in his year serving as the Cardinals’ primary cheerleader to make himself an even more effective pitcher.

“What I learned last year is that I really love to pitch and I’m not ready to quit,” he said. “I couldn’t even play ping-pong. I had to play those little games on my phone all day to try to get out my competitive spirit.”

The year off actually also helped Wainwright strengthen his right shoulder, an area he was worried might one day give him problems, and recover from an Achilles injury which had bothered him for the past two years.

“I’m kind of the bionic man,” he joked.

Wainwright knows he is going to be making his return to pitching without veteran coach Dave Duncan by his side, the only pitching coach he has had in the major leagues. He does not expect that the transition to working with Lilliquist will be a difficult adjustment.

“Dunc’s philosophy has been beaten into us to a certain extent,” Wainwright said. “We all pretty much know what we want to do out there now. We’re five guys (starters) who have learned from the best in the business and we continue to learn from each other.”

Wainwright did say he talked with Duncan on the telephone recently and that Duncan instructed him to call “any time” and said he would be available to serve as an additional resource if necessary.

“Lilliquist is not going to try to reinvent the wheel,” Wainwright said.

There will be at least one area of Wainwright’s life which will suffer this season, however, as he returns to active duty with the Cardinals – his gardening.

“I’m not ashamed to brag about my gardening skills,” he said. “That was one of the many ways I kept myself sane last year. I called it my sanity garden.”

Wainwright hopes to find his sanity on the pitching mound in 2012.

WARMUP NOTES: Mozeliak said one of the battles to watch in spring training will be at second base, where the team is committed to taking a long look at Tyler Greene, who is out of options, but also projects that Daniel Descalso could be the starter … Mozeliak indicated the team could still be in the market for bench help between now and reporting to Florida, and projected the team will open the season with a payroll “north” of $110 million … Mozeliak said he expects to receive an update on Allen Craig’s progress from November knee surgery after Craig meets with the team’s trainers this weekend … The general manager said there is still a possibility the team will add some special instructors to the staff for spring training but offered no other details… The Cardinals did announce the 19 minor-league players who will receive non-roster invitations to the major-league camp. The group includes first baseman Matt Adams, second baseman Kolten Wong (the top pick in last June’s amateur draft), shortstop Ryan Jackson and pitching prospects Shelby Miller, Jordan Swagerty, Tyrell Jenkins and Trevor Rosenthal.