Lohse went 9-12 with a 4.62 ERA with Cincinnati and Philadelphia in 2007 but was a free agent before he agreed to a one-year deal with the Cardinals last March.

The 30-year-old right-hander responded with the best season of his eight-year career, going 15-6 with a 3.78 ERA over a team-best 200 innings. He credited pitching coach Dave Duncan with his resurgence.

"A big part of it was the pitch selection," Lohse said. "Using a lot more two-seam (fastballs), letting the ball run down in the zone, pitching to contact and just the whole game planning. He helped me see what I wasn't seeing in the hitters."

Lohse told his agent, Scott Boras, that he preferred to stay in St. Louis and parlayed the big season into a $41 million, four-year deal with the Cardinals.

"I felt comfortable," Lohse said. "I love the chemistry here. I wanted to make sure I could stay in that comfort zone and work a deal out.

"It turned out timing-wise it was great. That was kind of secondary."

The economy got worse as the offseason dragged on, making Lohse's deal even more noteworthy.

"There were some other multiyear deals that got done," general manager John Mozeliak said. "But could it have changed our thinking on how we allocated resources? It's possible. Still, I have no regrets about what we did."

The contract includes a no-trade provision.

"I think that touched him that he got it," Mozeliak said. "His commitment was to want to be here."

Lohse figures to be the Cardinals' No. 3 starter behind Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, assuming Carpenter is healthy after pitching just 21 innings over the past two seasons due to elbow problems.