Central Notes: Cardinals, Lohse, Royals, Hochevar

Earlier today, we learned that the Cardinals are interested Astros pitchers Lucas Harrell and Bud Norris while also shopping for available shortstops.  The Cards were somewhat expected into looking at help at shortstop but their interest in pitching is a fairly new development.  Here's more out of St. Louis and other notes out of the Central divisions..

• It would be a curious move for the Cardinals to trade from their surplus of young upside pitching to acquire more experienced pitching when their more obvious need is at shortstop, tweets Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  However, it's not surprising to Goold (Twitter link), that the Cards would go bargain hunting with a call to the Astros.  
• More from Goold, who notes that if the Cardinals really saw a need for starting pitching, they could re-engage Kyle Lohse (Twitter link).  Lohse, of course, would only require money and not the forfeiture of prospects.  Goold doesn't see Lohse settling for a one-year deal yet, however.
• In a Q&A, Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star writes that the talk of the Royals asking for a lot to part with Luke Hochevar is more than a rumor.  The Royals appear to want a guy who could help the big-league club or a legitimate prospect and don’t want to eat a lot of his $4.56MM salary. 
• When asked about an extra right-handed hitting outfielder, Tigers manager Jim Leyland responded "We want one. You can take that to the bank. It's 99.9 percent (sure) we'll have one," according to Tom Gage of the Detroit News (on Twitter).