TLR: I’ll Work for Arms
FORT LAUDERDALE — Moving Skip Schumaker from the outfield to second base may now rank as Tony La Russa’s second-most original idea of camp. The Cardinals manager Thursday morning bemoaned a leaner camp’s growing shortage of arms then approached Baltimore Orioles manager Dave Trembley about a possible pitching lend-lease.
“I think we could work it where the guy who gets lent would be sure to pitch,” La Russa said hours before Kyle Lohse took the ball against former reliever Danys Baez. ”We’ve got some kids here to protect. Just going through the camp is a good experience for them.”
La Russa brought P.J. Walters and Adam Ottavino south Thursday in case pitch counts got out of control early. However, exposing two promising young starters to such duty is not a desirable situation.
The Cardinals opened camp with 29 pitchers but quickly discovered Mitchell Boggs and Matt Scherer were injured. General manager John Mozeliak hustled former Northern League lefthander Justin Fiske into camp Tuesday. But as soon as Fiske arrived, starter Clayton Mortensen suffered elbow discomfort Wednesday and has been temporarily shut down.
Conversely, the pitching-thin Orioles have 37 pitchers in camp. Of those, one club official estimated about 21 are legitimate major-league candidates. Any of the others could conceivably shuttle back and forth to Jupiter if the idea receives the blessing of the Commissioner’s Office and, of course, the Warehouse in Baltimore.
“My gut is there isn’t anything wrong with it,” La Russa said. “You know, we’re in different leagues… They have an excess and we have a need.”
La Russa and Trembley spoke briefly behind the cage. Afterward, Trembley spoke carefully about the idea, pending a conversation with Orioles GM Andy MacPhail.
“That’s an interesting concept,” Trembley said. ”He asked me if i had any problem with him going back to his GM and then they would call Andy. I told him I had no problem with it. It’s an interesting idea. I don’t know what the rules are or how it would be received.”
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Today’s lineup:
2B Joe Thurston
3B Joe Mather
CF Colby Rasmus
RF Ryan Ludwick
1B Chris Duncan
C Yadier Molina
DH Brian Barton
LF John Jay
SS Tyler Greene
Closer-in-waiting Chris Perez is scheduled to appear after Lohse.
(9 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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Here is a crazy idea, why don’t the Cards just invite a few more of our own minor league pitchers to Spring Training. This would give some of our other prospects a jumpstart to their minor league seasons, while giving the Cards a look at some pitching prospects who may still be a few years away from competing for a chance at the big show. That strikes me as more logical than borrowing another teams pitchers. Just a few possiblities–
Marco Gonzalez (3.52 ERA, 7-0 for Springfield last year)
Jonathan Mikrut (4.25 ERA, 4-3 for Springfield)
Elvis Hernandez (5-2, 62 SO in 61 innings for Palm Beach)
Nicholas Addition (11-5, 2.23 ERA split between QC and PB)
Abbott21, just my thoughts on why it wouldn’t make sense to invite those guys. I don’t know what players earn while in spring training (I’m sure there’s at least a per diem) and it can’t be very expensive to invite a few more, but there would be extra cost in salary and supplies. To me the biggest problem would be finding time to make sure everybody got all the work in that they needed. With more pitchers, you need more catchers. It may put a bigger hit on your training staff. Minor league spring training comes later, so these lower level guys would have to alter their routine and then have a break before their camp begins. That’s probably not ideal for guys that have no shot of making the team this year. And, like Tony likes to say, they have to earn their shot too.
I like Tony’s idea, the Cardinals have nothing to lose and the other team is essentially footing the bill to have a few more of their prospects get some work in. Wasn’t Tito Landrum “loaned” to Baltimore in 1983 during the stretch run, in exchange for Floyd Rayford, and then back with the Cardinals the next year?
What could it cost for a few extra minor league pitchers? Maybe a couple hundred grand tops? In light of a hundred million dollar payroll, that’s peanuts.
Why not have the Orioles “trade” the pitchers to the Cardinals for a PTBNL, which would be the same guy?
rumor has it that Trembley wants to borrow either Wainwright or Carp during the season. Hey, Tony’s idea is ok, as long as we don’t lose a player to injury, such as screaming line drives or their pitcher runs into our first baseman…..
My question to Tony would be:
What would you & MO do if the orioles approached you with the same question? Pretty sure Cardinal Nation would be erupt if another team asked to borrow some of our “abundant” pitching for a few spring training games. Look at all the FA pitchers that are out there right now. Cards need to bite the bullet & sign 1 or 2 of them to a minor league contract. Use their arm & you might find a diamond in the rough. Somebody needs to make sure Tony doesn’t drive home today after these latest comments. he might be back on the Koolaid!!!
Here’s an idea, hows about Mo getting off his duff and sign some pitching? I’ve been very patient and defended him for waiting for the market to pan out, but c’mon. Now it’s spring training and we need more pitchers? Doesn’t make sense.
LOW HANGING FRUIT ALERT………….ODALIS PEREZ IS AVAILABLE FOR SOME WORK!
The absurdity of the now long-standing refusal of the Cardinal management and ownership to acquire needed talent to put on the field knows no bounds. If we are “borrowing” pitchers to shore up an injury riddled pitching staff in February, where will be in August? For the past 6+ years the Cardinal’s pitching philosophy has been that the team will be fine if we can only get a few more innings out of Bob Gibson and Dizzy Dean comes back from the dead.
they don’t bring those low minor guys because they ain’t ready to face the big guys even in spring training and you don’t want to shake their confidence so early.