Chris Carpenter has known for a while that he won't pitch for the St. Louis Cardinals this season, but he has traveled with the club on recent road trips to serve as a mentor for pitchers like Lance Lynn.
It remains to be seen whether Carpenter will be healthy enough to take the mound in 2014.
"The way everything has gone this season, I don't think much is going to change for me," Carpenter said. "I'm going to enjoy this time with the guys, my family, and at the end of it we'll sit down and process where we're at, where we want to go forward as a family. As long as we keeping winning (now), I'm having fun."
Carpenter had surgery last season to remove a rib and free up pressure on nerves that were squashed in his right shoulder and causing problems. Those issues returned in February and the Cardinals announced in spring training that he wouldn't pitch this season.
"There's not going to be a sign," he said. "I'll start working out before spring training, get off the mound like I always do and see what happens — and it's not time to say whether or not I want to do that. That's not on my mind right now."