J.D.

Drew

Drew has been bothered by a sore quad recently, but said, “I don’t feel that bad. I’ve had some borderline calls, a couple inches off the outside corner or inside corner. Tough to hit. But I don’t feel bad.”

Drew is on the DL recovering from a knee injury and back spasms, but the Cardinals believe he will be ready to join the team in two weeks. He might soon begin playing on alternate days with Class A Palm Beach. Even when Drew does return to the Cardinals, he won’t be an everyday player for a while.

Assuming that he has no setbacks, Drew will probably spend 2-3 weeks in the minors. However, while it won’t be long before he rejoins the Cardinals, there’s still a good chance that he won’t play regularly until June.

''The issue is how often he can [play] and whether he can play nine (innings),’' manager Tony La Russa said.

That’s going to make it hard to keep J.D. Drew and Jaret Wright. The team might not even be able to re-sign one of the two. Still, Schuerholz will make a couple of creative moves and manage to put a contending team on the field.

It’s believed the offer to Drew is worth $36 million over four years. It will probably take a five-year, $50 million contract to sign him.

If Drew plays well enough the next two years that he think he can do better after 2006, the Dodgers will be fine with that.

The Cardinals are bringing back Drew a few days earlier than expected because of Albert Pujols’ injury. Drew isn’t yet 100 percent, so he may play every other day initially.

Drew is probably going to play right field for the Dodgers, leaving Milton Bradley in center. Unless they can find a taker for Shawn Green, it appears that Hee Seop Choi could be out of a job. The alternative would be to have Green rotate back and forth between first base and left field, with Choi and Jayson Werth platooning. Choi is a significantly better option than Werth against right-handers, but we don’t see that as a likely scenario.

''Hopefully, by the second half, I’ll really be back at full speed where I would just take normal days off,’' Drew said. ''It’s going to be one of those things that you’re going to be careful with all year.’' Drew is hitting .317 but his value is limited as he’s playing just three or four games a week.