JUPITER, Fla. -- For three years, every discussion of Anthony Reyes boiled down to the simple question of up vs. down.

Whether the subject was his fastball or his stock with the organization, the dichotomy defined the right-hander. The former was up too much. The latter was up-and-down. Reyes would like to reverse field in both cases.

Working both high and low in the strike zone, and out of the zone with purpose, Reyes baffled hitters in batting practice on Sunday. He located his fastball, his changeup and his curveball down, then elevated his heater when he got ahead in the count.

It was the display of a young man with stuff, command and a plan. Reyes got tons of swings and misses, plenty of foul balls, and only three balls put in play by a group that included Rick Ankiel, Juan Gonzalez, Ryan Ludwick and Chris Duncan.

"Everything was there," said Yadier Molina, who caught Reyes. "He located the fastball pretty good. He made pitches when he needed to. ... He looked in good shape. The velocity was there, too. It's not a surprise to me, because I know what he can do."

Pitching coach Dave Duncan reminded reporters that it's only February. But it's undeniable that Reyes is a pivotal piece on the 2008 Cardinals. If he delivers on the promise he showed in the Minors, Reyes drastically fortifies a currently questionable rotation.

"He's got good stuff," said general manager John Mozeliak. "It's just a matter of tying it all together. I want to give these [young pitchers] a chance. I keep repeating it. It doesn't seem like it's resonating, and I understand that, but I also just wish people would be patient and allow these guys to get in game situations and see where they are."

Reyes requires a combination of command and velocity on his fastball, and on Sunday he had both. He believes he can keep them both as the season goes on.

"I just feel like the more I put on it, it's still going to be in around the same area," he said. "I'm not going to lose control of the ball. So I'm able to put more on it and still have the command."

Making a rotation: The Cardinals have set their pitching assignments for the first few days of games, and there's one obvious -- but unspoken -- consequence.

Reyes will pitch the Grapefruit League opener, on Thursday at home against the Mets, with Adam Wainwright going on Friday against New York in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Thompson and Wellemeyer will both pitch in the Saturday game against the Marlins in Jupiter.

Wainwright's assignment puts him on schedule to pitch Opening Day, March 31 against the Rockies. Going every fifth day, he'd get the ball March 5, 10 and 15. The Cards have an off-day on March 18, pushing the whole rotation one day and setting up Wainwright for March 21, 26 and finally, the season opener.

Mitchell Boggs will start Wednesday's game against St. Louis University, with P.J. Walters, Clayton Mortensen, Jaime Garcia and Chris Perez all pitching as well. Everyone but Perez will pitch two innings, with Perez going one.

Cleanup choices: When the Cardinals acquired Troy Glaus, it was widely assumed that Glaus would step into the cleanup spot in the batting order. However, that may not be set in stone.

Glaus is one candidate, but not the only one. La Russa acknowledged that Chris Duncan and Ankiel may also figure into the decision. The manager has previously said he wasn't sure it was a "fair" challenge to give either young hitter the responsibility of batting fourth, but he said Sunday that he may reconsider.

"A guy that's very important to us is Glaus," La Russa said. "And I don't know enough about Troy, but let's say that he's better in the fifth spot. If he's better in the fifth spot, his better could be really big for us, right? And I know one thing, Chris or Rick, they won't be afraid to hit fourth. So we'll see."

La Russa hinted at a split that has been noticeable over Glaus' career, though he playfully professed ignorance at a follow-up question. Glaus has spent the bulk of his career batting fourth, fifth or sixth, and out of those spots his performance has been worst in the cleanup spot.

He's a lifetime .238/.344/.471 (average/on-base/slugging) hitter in the No. 4 position, .259/.365/.500 batting fifth and .272/.376/.533 batting sixth. That may not have any predictive value, but there's no doubt La Russa knows about it.

Sweet: La Russa said Sunday that plans for a movie version of the book "Three Nights in August" have lost some momentum, but his film production company is excited about another project. Red Bird Cinema has a Sugar Ray Leonard biopic in the works. H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger, the author of "Three Nights," has been enlisted to write the script.

"I had a chance to meet with [Leonard] two or three days during the winter, and he's got so much more of a story than as a fan I thought he had," La Russa said. "It's an amazing story. ... Bet on that one."

Wasdin waylaid: Non-roster pitcher John Wasdin is a little bit behind the rest of the pitchers. Duncan said that Wasdin has not sustained an injury, but rather has been pushed back a week for "stretching and strengthening."

Weather report: It's looking like a spectacular day in Jupiter on Monday. The forecast calls for a high temperature around 80 degrees, no clouds and only light wind.

Coming up: The Cardinals have two more days of practice before they begin playing games. Monday brings another workout with an approximate start time of 9:30 a.m. ET.