JUPITER, Fla. — Cardinals catcher Jason LaRue spent some time in Cincinnati with the pitcher who will be a Cardinal if he passes a physical scheduled for Friday here in Jupiter, and LaRue has a familiar take on Kyle Lohse.

“He’s got great stuff,” he said.

As reported by Joe Strauss over at The Post-Dispatch main sports page, the Cardinals have agreed to terms on a one-year deal with Lohse, pending a physical that will be held with team doctors tomorrow. Team policy prohibits any official to speak about the deal until it is officially announced after the player passes a physical.

Lohse is coming off a 9-12 season with Cincy and Philadelphia, during which he had a 4.62 ERA (right at the league average) and 192 2/3 innings and 30 starts.

Just the kind of reliability the Cardinals are craving with an unsettled (unsettling?) rotation. A few weeks ago one of the Cardinals pitchers said Lohse was a good fit because he has the stuff and needs the direction.

LaRue concurred with that description.

“When he’s on his game, he’s as good as anybody,” LaRue said. “One of things is you have to know how to get through a game when maybe you don’t have your best stuff. You bear down instead of getting frustrated and you get through it. You find a way to keep yoru team in the game. If he can get control of his game in that way, then he’ll really put everything together.”

Late to the conversation, because Bernie Miklasz has already had his say (with a magnificent breakdown of the statistics) and Viva el Birdos chimed in with a savvy comparison. So what’s left to add about the soon-to-be newest Cardinal pitcher? Well, the Viva argument that Lohse looks a lot like Jeff Suppan did before he became a Cardinal, is a good launching point.

Baseball-Reference.com runs comparisons for most of the players logged there, using a score of 1000 as perfect and working down from there. Check out the players on Lohse’s page that he compares to:

(By Age, 28)

1. Jeff Suppan

2. Jason Jennings

5. Joel Pineiro

6. Steve Trachsel

8. Jason Marquis

9. Todd Stottlemyre

10. Sidney Ponson

Seven of the top 10 pitches he’s comparable to in his career have been Cardinals, are Cardinals or have been linked to the Cardinals at various times, most in just the past few seasons. Three times in his career, he’s thrown at least 180 innings, and in five of the past six seasons he’s started at least 30 games. As B-R and Viva point out, it’s the kind of durability that Suppan had before becoming a Cardinal, though there is a lot about Lohse that echoes of Jeff Weaver and … especially … Kip Wells.

Like Wells, Lohse has the arm that says his numbers should be better. Like Wells, he has done well against the Cardinals, going 2-1 with a 2.95 ERA last season and posting a 3.34 ERA in his career despite the Cardinals hitting .298 against him.

“Maybe the time is right,” pitching coach Dave Duncan said.

***

Colby Rasmus did his part to force a 10th inning in the ballgame against the Mets, and then made a defensive play that kept the Mets from pulling ahead in the top of the 10th. Entering the game at center to start the ninth inning, Rasmus singled in the bottom of the inning to move Brian Barton to third. Barton then scored on a wild pitch to knot the game, 5-5. 

In the 10th, Fernando Martinez attempted to score on a sacrifice fly to center, but Rasmus doubled-clutched and still nailed the Mets 19-year-old phenom at the plate to end the inning.

Tony La Russa pulled Rasmus aside for a meeting in the manager’s office after the rookie struck out with the bases loaded in the 10th inning earlier this week. “He’s got a different looking approach, and I wanted to tell him early in camp his approach looked like he was more himself,” La Russa said. “I think he’ll work on it.”

***

While the media talked with La Russa this morning on the main field here at Roger Dean Stadium, the Cardinals outfielders were going through infield. That prompted a discussion that has come up every so often this spring — the cannons the Cardinals have out there, especially Rick Ankiel’s, Skip Schumaker’s and Rasmus’. La Russa put Ankiel and Schumaker in the same class, calling them today among the elite outfield arms in the league.

Earlier this spring Ankiel declined to say whose arm was better.

Last weekend, Schumaker said: “Ankiel. Not even a question.”

Fitting than that MLB.com presents its Scout Survey today with a look at the best tools in each league. Ichiro Suzuki topped the list of outfield arms, with Atlanta’s Jeff Francouer leading the National League, according to scouts. Give Ankiel a season. 

***

Matt Clement threw another live batting practice round Thursday, ditching the L-screen in front of the mound and throwing with more pop. This third BP is a bit of a milestone, because it is usually after the third round that the pitcher vaults into a game start, if available. The Cardinals have been conservative with Clement, but pitching coach Dave Duncan acknowleged a few days ago that a start could be scheduled after the results of today’s throw. “I felt good, and I felt like I had pretty good results,” Clement said. “It’s the most positive session I have had in a long time, from warmup to the finish. The intensity, actual at-bats, all of it.”

The righthander continues his recovery from shoulder surgery, though the issue (it should be repeated) isn’t the health or stability of his shoulder, it’s the strength of the shoulder. Clement had been struggling with stamina during his bullpens, and not recovering as well from a strength standpoint to continue from day to day. Since stopping the regular build up toward games and focusing on arm strength, Clement has not had the problem recovering from throw to throw and has been able to worry less about his physical condition and focus more about the condition of his pitching.

***

So, Billy Crystal led off as the “Designated Hebrew” for his beloved New York Yankees today, on the eve of his 60th birthday. Got me thinking that the Cardinals have their own stockpile of celebrities, and certainly one of them could suit for a few innings, maybe start a game (or two):

1. John Goodman

2. Billy Bob Thornton

3. Cedric the Entertainer

4. Roger Clinton

5. Nelly (I believe he used to sponsor a team in the men’s fastpitch league at Forest Park; good team, too.)

***

There has been a clamor ever since the debut of Kurt Hunzeker’s classic designs (one of which can be seen above in the Clement note), and, fittingly at the end of this post, is the t-shirt:

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