Worth noting

• The Cardinals have wrapped up their search for a new assistant hitting coach, and are expected to announce the hire before the end of the week. Mozeliak said the Cards did not want to create any additional news on Monday out of respect for Tony La Russa, who was elected to the Hall of Fame. The coaching vacancy was created when Bengie Molina left to join the Rangers.

• Mozeliak said he touched base with Carlos Beltran's agent after the right fielder turned down the Cardinals' qualifying offer in early November; however, the Cards never made an attempt to re-sign Beltran to the multi-year deal he was seeking. Beltran has reportedly agreed to terms on a three-year, $45-million contract with the Yankees. Mozeliak said he reached out to Beltran through text messaging to congratulate the 36-year-old outfielder on the new deal.

"It would have been such a difficult fit for us," Mozeliak said. "Obviously, Carlos is still playing at a very high level and expects to play every day. It would have drastically changed how we would have thought about something."

• Mozeliak noted that the organization will consider modifying Adam Wainwright's Spring Training program due to the workload Wainwright carried in 2013. Wainwright is coming off a season in which he threw a career-most 276 2/3 innings. The Cardinals offered this sort of spring flexibility to Chris Carpenter after some of his more strenuous seasons.

• Bourjos has chosen to wear No. 8 with the Cardinals, while Peralta will take No. 27. Pitching coach Derek Lilliquist wore No. 27 last season, but he has agreed to give up the number. Both Bourjos and Peralta have been invited to attend the Cardinals' Winter Warm-Up event in January.

• Stephen Piscotty, ranked by MLB.com as the organization's seventh-best prospect, was named to the Arizona Fall League's Top Prospect team on Monday. Piscotty, 22, hit .371 with 20 runs scored, a .430 on-base percentage and a .936 OPS in 23 games with the Salt River Rafters.