Clement unlikely to be ready for Opening Day
JUPITER, Fla. — Cardinals starter Matt Clement, more than a year removed from shoulder surgery, will alter his throwing program in the coming days and is not expected to be ready for opening day, as previously planned.
“In all honesty, I will be surprised if he’s ready for opening day,” pitching coach Dave Duncan said. “And I’m not too sure even if he is ready, we wouldn’t likely have him compete somewhere else just to get him in the swing of things.”
Clement threw his third bullpen session of the spring, and it was after watching it that Duncan discussed how the righthander is behind the best-case schedule.
While the health of his shoulder checks out and he’s had no physical setbacks in his recovery, Duncan said Clement hasn’t shown the arm strength needed to advance. Duncan does not have a start scheduled yet for Clement in Grapefruit League play, but added that it’s probable that it would be in the middle of March.
That will depend on how Clement takes to a shift in his schedule.
Instead of throwing a bullpen every two days, Clement will switch to a long-toss program between bullpen sessions to strengthen his right arm. The long toss is meant to increase his arm strength.
From there, Duncan said Clement will have to regain his competitive form.
Clement did not pitch in the majors last season as he recovered from significant shoulder surgery. The Cardinals signed him to a one-year deal with an option for 2009, and the club had cautiously hoped that he would be part of the opening day roster as part of the rotation.
General manager John Mozeliak said while watching Clement throw his bullpen Sunday morning that the rule of thumb with the righthander is “patience.”
Much more on the righthander in Monday’s Post-Dispatch.
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
DG,
Thanks for the reporting … and the valuable reminder, which is:
No one, including me, should EVER under ANY circumstances believe it when the Cardinals insist during the offseason that so-and-so pitcher is mending beautifully and will be ready to go by Opening Day. This organization really has a problem being forthright about injuries.
What? I guess this just came out of nowhere because all I read was that he’s gonna be ready to go. Well we’ll just be patient . . . again.
WHAT a surprise - another Cardinal signing that’s supposed to be ready for opening day and after we sign him - we get the truth - he won’t be ready. Then he’ll be on a pitch count when he returns, so basically if we get a REAL pitcher that’s healthy and can come close to 9 inning of work in a game - it might be the All Star break.
Teams that are deep, can afford reclamation projects. Teams that have huge holes to fill (ie Cardinals) need players that - ironically - can PLAY.
It may be time to seriously consider someone like Jeff Weaver. As far as I know he is healthy and could be ready to start at the beginning of the season.
I stated when they signed Clement that the Cardinals can’t be serious if the only people they will have as pitching candidates are sore armed guys and Kansas City castoffs. I was reminded by Bernie that this was a low price gamble that could payoff big. I was also chastised because I reminded everyone that the Cardinal’s organization isn’t serious about winning.
Hate to say I told you so, but “I told you so.”
What? is right!…..another uneffective pitcher on the mend? Jeeez.. Maybe the should offer Weaver a few pennies…
I went to the Cardinals and told them I was available to pitch. They told me they didn’t want me because I wasn’t coming off of surgery to my throwing arm.
Well I just don’t know what to say anymore. First of all, Cardinals always try to improve with some low price pitchers, minor league players etc. They never go out and buy a real player that can actually play. They haven’t gotten a real big and good player since aquiring Rolen from Philadelphia way back. We could have went after pitchers this off season, or gotten Miguel Tejada, but it seems that Cards don’t care much about winning, just saving money and keep highering ticket prices.
Bernie nailed it, why should we ever believe cardinal management when they give us injury assesments……talk about telling people what you want them to hear…….I have been a cardinal fan since the 1967 series, in good times and bad, and i have never been more disillusioned with the management of this team than i am right now
Clement still represents a low-cost risk that could pay off in a big way. That’s not the point of the discussion here. The point I made is this: they always say a guy will be ready … and he’s never ready as touted. That’s the point.
Maybe the Cardinals should use the commemorative bricks intended for Musial Plaza to add a hospital wing to Busch Stadium.
What a suprise that the Cardinals were the only team to bite on Clements - and that he jumped at the offer. The icing on the cake is to hear the Prior is looking strong this spring…
Color me red (briefly), but I think there’s still a lot to like about the Clement signing and certainly the contract he’s on. Also, there’s a big difference between a pitcher experiencing a lack of strength on Feb. 17 with six weeks to go and having the same trouble on April 25, or August 12. That said, there’s a lot of evidence that the Cardinals are too optimistic about their April rotation and there’s a lot of innings that seem unoccupied — today.
RMarti03 brings up a fun parlor game: Prior, who has a May target for return, or Clement.
Who has a better 2008?
Everything is extremes in spring. Great. Disaster. Amazing. Agonizing. Love. Hate. Elbow. Shoulder. Kennedy. Colby. The reality sets in March 31, and it’s often in the middle of the spring spectrum.
dg
here we go again. this reminds me alot of last spring. i hope, but i don’t think we’re deep enough. mo needs to get busy and find a couple of arms. weaver? lohse? sombody to eat some innings. sure wish we would have gone after livan hernandez.
is this a baseball team or a M.A.S.H. unit?
Sounds like the same old stuff the Cubs would hear every year about Mark Prior and/or Kerry Wood. If they say he may not be ready Opening Day, figure at least June or later, sorry Cards fans. Why are so many veteran players still on the market? Lots of good guys that could come right in and help…
Bernie,
You hit the nail on the head. When I hear ANY of the Cardinals front office speak I hear “blah, blah, blah.” The front office cares nothing about being honest to the fans and loves blowing smoke where the sun don’t shine (of course some fans drink the kool aid). I have been a Cardinals apologist for years, but I have soured on the front office and their comments to the fans like ‘We’re counting on Mulder in our 2008 rotation’ or a hundred other lies and half truths they shovel on us. But who cares what any of us think? The front office will never change no matter what we say.
D
As a 68 year old cardinal fan living in montreal I can not believe the “stupidity” of my fellow fans
after the Cards signed such trash as Ron Gant,Preston Wilson,Kip[loser] WellsMike Maroth
Junior Spivey,trading three ballplayers Danny Haren,Kiko Colero and afirst rounder for an overrated lefty piece of trash Mulder.Also when rolen was traded Albert should have moved back to 3rd base because Dave’s boy Duncan will never be an outfielder if he practices out there for the next 300 years.The cards are now about making money only…they don’t give (an unseasoned buffalo wing)
about the fans.They don’t deserve our support.
Mr. Altman,
Try to keep the language PG here, or least compliant with standard newspaper style. I did my best to get the flavor of your frustration without the color, if you will, because it’s a fair comment and it allows me to — once again — hammer home two truisms that should be well and widely known by now.
– Said this many times: Albert Pujols is not a third baseman. His strained elbow ligament is but the biggest reason why Pujols is not a third baseman and will spend his career at first. Move him back to third and he’ll be under a doctor’s care by May.
– Said this just as many times: Chris Duncan is a better outfielder than he was at first.
Perhaps I should fly a banner over spring training.
Back to the subject at hand.
dg
Derrick,
Thanks for saving the rest of us the trouble of having to point those two facts out to the Canadian. I am disgusted, but not surprised, to hear that we have once again either been misled or the Cards have been way too optimistic. How can professionals be so wrong so much of the time? To me, what is troubling about this Clement signing is that they thought it was going to be enough. The starting rotation was a shaky proposition under the best-case scenario, i.e., Clement ready to go on opening day, but it’s much more alarming now since the Cards didn’t acquire any depth in the offseason. I’m curious to know what part of last season they didn’t get. Did Wellemeyer, Thompson, or Reyes morph into something different in the offseason? What’s the saying…’do the same things you’ve always done and you’ll get the same results’?
“Cards sign a damaged ex cub pitcher” And people are shocked when he’s not 100%. ‘But they got a good deal’. Mediocrity is all you could expect. I love Albert but I’m sick of the drama.
Just confirmed that my not buying tickets for this season was a wonderful idea. Can’t wait for the Frontier League to open up. Tickets are reasonable and games are fun to watch.
One other realization. With so wide a range between New York/LA money and the rest of the league, everyone but those cities have to deside where to spend their money. This is a small media market that just doesn’t dump the money in the kitty to allow for free spending. It will remain this way until uniform salry caps are implemented; which probably will never happen. As long as Fox, NBC and the like are willing to take an absolute fleecing on their TV contracts, nothing will change. Edventually the media will see the sad playoff ratings and drop their offer dramatically. Maybe then baseball will acknowledge their problems and deal with it. In the mean time, be glad we don’t have pitching. If we did, we couldn’t afford Albert. All things considered, management choose Albert. I can’t fault them for that.
Wow…so now we’re back to 2 of the 3: Reyes, Thompson, and Wellemeyer. Does anybody really believe that we’ll get 10 wins out of the Carpenter (why is he already throwing?), Mulder, Clement trio? For that matter I’ll throw in Reyes, Thompson, and Wellemeyer. Ten wins out of these 6 guys? Maybe. Twenty? No way. For the record the 6 of them combined for 13 wins last year…and Brad Thompson will not have 8 wins again.
I suppose many of us kept looking at the Web and the papers for some sign the Cards would be able to swing some deal. I would have almost mortgaged the farm for Bedard. I’m sure that was an unrealistic, unfeasible goal. But Hernandez, or another innings eater, was a possibility. Please, no more talk about Jeff Weaver.
Positive scenario: A couple of the Cards hurt pitchers come through, Looper progresses, and PIniero keeps it up as a Cardinal.
Reyes?
Negative: The lineup and bulletin are fair to good. The rotation implodes.
Even if this is a rebuilding year, what could the team really be expected to do in the market next year?
Youth movement, get going fast. Please, no Tehada
Shock! Not. After hearing Dave Duncan’s lamentable comments last fall about taking on these sore armed pitchers and headcase pitchers, I thought management would oblige and seek healthy arms. We’re talking MAJOR shoulder surgeries, folks! We have (had, in Rolen’s case - Lord, I’m glad he’s gone!) several shoulder situations in our clubhouse, and none of them ever turn out good for the team. We pay these guys millions and all they do is ride exercise bikes and work in the weight room. Cards management needs to get passed this “bargain hunting” mentality they are in, because it is wearing thin in Cardinal Nation.
When I read this article in the morning paper I have to say that my immediate impression was precisely the same as Mr. Miklasz’s. The Card’s organization consistently seems to have some sort of problem with the expectations game when it comes to their starting pitching. Frankly, they would be a lot better off telling their pitchers, manager, owners and administrators to can it. The exception, and I could be wrong, seems to be the brief one - Coach Duncan. I can’t recall many instances of him inflating expectations, but since Mr. Miklasz and I are of the same mind on this topic I’ll leave it to him to correct that impression if he wishes.
I guess Anthony Reyes’s odds of making the starting rotation just got boosted by 50%. Gonna be a long season.