Nick Punto is excited to play for the St. Louis Cardinals, and especially manager Tony LaRussa, who uses his bench the way an artist uses his palette. It’s an ideal situation for a fast, switch-hitting player with a great glove.

Still, Punto isn’t entirely happy.

“You’re definitely torn,” the longtime Twins infielder said Sunday from his home in California. “I mean, both my kids were born in Minnesota, and the people in Minnesota are unbelievable. It’s definitely the right place to play baseball.”

Punto was among the notable faces missing from TwinsFest this weekend in Blaine. The Twins had a club option on Punto for $5 million but instead bought him out for $500,000, and last week Punto agreed to a one-year, $750,000 deal to play for LaRussa and the Cardinals this season, ending a seven-year stint with the Twins.

It was a decision Punto made only when he knew for certain the Twins would not bring him back.

“I was holding out hope. I waited a long time before I signed, hoping (general manager) Bill Smith would call,” he said. “He finally did. It was a good conversation, but it was difficult, on both ends. It’s tough to hear your services are no longer wanted. It’s tough to leave.”

Punto was never going to be a star in Minnesota. He didn’t hit for power and sometimes didn’t hit for average. But manager Ron Gardenhire loved him for what he did bring — speed, switch-hitting and a glove that could dig out balls at third, second and short.

“He’s

one of the best fielders I’ve seen around an infield,” Gardenhire said Friday.

In his best full season as a Twin, Punto hit .290 with 21 doubles and seven triples in 2006, the year the Twins rallied to win the American League Central on the last day of the season, and came to personify the aggressive hustle that compelled White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen to famously dub the Twins “piranhas.”

“He was always in the dirt,” pitcher Brian Duensing said. “He always played incredibly hard, would play through injuries, and he was great with the young guys. He’d put you in your place, but he was always the first guy to help.”

Punto also played left, center and right field during his stint in Minnesota, but his batting was generally erratic. He hit .228 in 2009, and .238 last season. This year, Smith decided to give his job to a younger, cheaper switch-hitting infielder, Matt Tolbert.

But if Punto’s batting was erratic, his glove was unimpeachable.

It saved the 2009 season when, in the 11th inning of Game 163, Punto — drawn in at second with one out and the bases loaded — fielded a chopper and threw home in one fluid motion to force out Detroit’s Don Kelly, who represented the go-ahead run.

In a game full of big plays, it was probably the biggest; the Twins won it in their half of the 11th.

“For me, he’s been one of my favorite players, just because he’s game on every day,” Gardenhire said. “Every day that he can get out there on the field, he gives you 150 percent, and he could play multiple positions.

“If you talk to all the players, if they’re going to miss one guy in the clubhouse more than any other, it’s Nick Punto. You can’t describe how much he means inside a clubhouse, to this team. You’ve been around enough to know how much respect Punto had in the clubhouse. So it’s going to be tough.

“But he’ll move on. He’ll be fine.”

He’ll likely be fine, but it won’t be easy.

“It was seven years for me,” Punto said, “and looking back, there’s no doubt it was the seven best years of my life.”

ST. LOUIS, Jan. 29 (UPI) — Albert Pujols has reportedly told the St. Louis Cardinals he would veto any attempt to trade him if the can’t re-sign him, ESPN said Saturday.

Pujols’ stand means he will either sign a new contract with the Cardinals or will leave via free agency after the coming season.

Sources told ESPN the Cardinals front office understands that Pujols would nix a sign-and-trade plan that would ship him to another team in a deal that would likely be a blockbuster. If Pujols leaves via free agency, the Cards would receive two draft choices as compensation.

Pujols, who hit 42 home runs last season and is considered one of the best players in the game today, will also cut off contract discussions on Feb. 19, the day he reports to spring training.

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Other teams have asked the Cardinals about Albert Pujols in the past to let St. Louis know if it ever thought about dealing the perennial MVP candidate, the inquiring team’s interest was established.

The Cardinals have never really pursued any of that trade discussion.

But no matter what happens in the last days of negotiations before Pujols arrives at the Cardinals’ camp in spring training, the slugger will not be traded.

The understanding within the St. Louis front office is that Pujols will not accept any trade going forward, according to sources. He has the right to veto any trade proposal, and would do so. No matter what happens, Pujols will play the 2011 season in St. Louis.

This means that there are only two possible results now in the negotiations in the Pujols talks: Either he signs a contract extension with the Cardinals or he will become a free agent next fall.

If the Cardinals ever thought that a Pujols extension was out of reach and scrambled to make an acceptable trade, he would block it.

Pujols and the Cardinals are negotiating under the player’s deadline of the first day he arrives in training camp, Feb. 19. After he begins spring training, Pujols does not want his agent, Dan Lozano, to discuss a contract with the Cardinals because he doesn’t want to have any distractions, a stance he has taken throughout his career.

What happens after that remains to be seen, but the choices facing the Cardinals are expensive in different ways. Either St. Louis will negotiate a deal along the lines that Pujols has asked for — probably something in the neighborhood of the 10-year, $275 million deal that Alex Rodriguez signed with the Yankees in the fall of 2007 — or the Cardinals will pay for the backlash after Pujols walks away.

If Pujols departs as a free agent, the Cardinals would get two draft picks in return. But it’s doubtful they could ever make up for the lost production.

In every season he has played, Pujols’s OPS has ranged from .955 to 1.115. He has never failed to hit fewer than 32 homers, never failed to drive in less than 103 runs, and in nine of his 10 seasons, his on-base percentage has never been under .403.

Buster Olney is a senior MLB writer for ESPN The Magazine.

Ceremony • 4 p.m. Sunday, Springfield, Mo.

INDUCTEES

Priest Holmes • Running back, Kansas City Chiefs

Tom Herr • Second baseman, St. Louis Cardinals

Kenny Schrader • NASCAR

Mike Matheny • Catcher, St. Louis Cardinals

Johnny Roland • Running back, St. Louis Cardinals

Jack Emmitt • Fisherman

Jess Bolen • Baseball coach, Cape Girardeau

Vernon “Hap” Whitney • Wrestling coach, University of Missouri

Stephanie Phillips • Girls basketball coach, Kickapoo High

Randy Morrow • Football coach, Warsaw High

Ray Cliffe • Football coach, Cleveland High

The Rev. Louis F. Meyer • St. Louis CYC soccer

Linda Dollar • Volleyball coach, Missouri State

Dick Zitzmann • President, Sports Classics, Inc.

Mildred Barnes • Women’s basketball coach, University of Central Missouri

Ed Crenshaw • Basketball coach, St. Dominic and University City High

Missouri State University • Handball program

Gary Filbert • Show Me State Games

Former Major League Baseball infielder and current St. Louis Cardinals third-base coach Jose Oquendo will be featured in a one-day fielding camp on Saturday, Feb. 5, at Major League Development in Imperial.

He will teach the fielding techniques at the camp.

Oquendo was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1985. Nicknamed “The Secret Weapon” by manager Whitey Herzog, he became one of only a handful of players to have played every position on the diamond.

In 1990, he set a major league record with only three errors — the fewest errors by a second baseman in a 150-plus game season.

The camp will run from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. for players ages 8 to 11 and from 2 to 4:30 p.m. for those ages 12 to 16. The cost is $85.

Sessions are limited to 40 kids. Those interested should call 636-333-2436 or e-mail info@MajorLeagueDevelopment.net for more information and to reserve a spot.