"On the brink of free agency and with a freshly repaired right elbow, Cardinals closer Jason Isringhausen is so tantalizingly close to his 300th save that he is plotting a return for next season.

"I'm sure I'm going to play," Isringhausen said Saturday from his St. Louis-area home. "I'm going to go through the rehab so that I can make that decision, but right now I plan on playing. We'll see how it goes from here."

Isringhausen had surgery Friday on the flexor tendon group in his right elbow. The righthander said he will have his wrist immobilized by a splint for a few days and will probably begin rehabbing the arm in three to four weeks. He said the tear of the tendon was worse than the initial scans of the elbow showed, but that the injury and repair weren't severe enough to threaten his ability to recover in time for spring training.

He joked that he didn't expect his ninth surgery to be any different than the previous eight.

At 36, Isringhausen is nearing the expiration of a four-year contract that paid him about $34 million, including the $8 million option the Cardinals had for this season. He has 293 career saves, seven shy of becoming the 22nd closer in baseball history to reach 300. (Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter has exactly 300.) Isringhausen has said he expects any deal for 2009 to be an "incentive-based thing."

He is not certain if the Cardinals will be interested.

"There's no reason I know why his name wouldn't come up," said manager Tony La Russa.

The Cardinals are test-driving rookie Chris Perez in the closer role this month, and they have not ruled out looking to fill their ninth-inning vacancy from outside the roster this winter. Isringhausen acknowledged that he'll have to pitch his way into save situations with any team he signs with for the coming season, just as he pitched his way out of the job this summer.

Isringhausen got his 11th save of the year on May 5 at Colorado. What followed was a series of blown appearances, a trip to the disabled list with a cut on his hand, a sabbatical to find his mojo and a halting return. Isringhausen had one save after May 5, though he finished the year with four consecutive scoreless outings."