Cardinals look to go long in their search for relief
JUPITER, Fla. — It has been nearly two weeks since Chris Carpenter set the high-water mark for St. Louis Cardinals’ starting pitchers by throwing six innings in an expedient victory against the Baltimore Orioles on March 18. He was the first starter to complete six innings … and, so far, the only start to complete six innings.
As the Cardinals reach their final week of spring training — with Joel Pineiro attempting to halt a five-game losing streak with his start vs. Florida this afternoon — the rotation has yet to consistently break through the six-inning barrier. Pitch counts have gone up as scheduled. Pitch efficiency has not.
And that tells us something about the makeup of the bullpen.
Manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan have said they would like to have a long reliever in their pen, at least to start the season. La Russa reframed that request last week in Fort Myers, Fla., telling a few of us that maybe they could do without one, dipping into the minor leagues if there was a sudden need for innings. He clarified once again this morning, saying that not only would one long reliever be an asset in the major-league bullpen, but there could be a need for two.
“You may have a bad game and you could blow your whole bullpen trying to cover those innings,” La Russa said. “You need an innings guy, at least one. You need an innings guy or two.”
The “innings guy” currently left in the bullpen is Brad Thompson, and there is the possibility that Kyle McClellan would be cast as the other “innings guy”. Short-reliever and closer-candidate Chris Perez has made the decision less clear with how he’s pitched recently, and Josh Kinney is being fitted for the Russ Springer-like middle-relief role. The Cardinals coaches and front office met this morning to put the finishing touches on a 25-man roster, and it’s possible a decision on the shape of the bullpen is forthcoming. Early indications are that there is a spot for Thompson, as that “innings guy.”
Coloring the Cardinals decisions in their bullpen is the calendar.
Squeezed by the additional week needed for the World Baseball Classic, the Cardinals have one off day in April and don’t have a second off day until 34 games into the season. That means an early-season innings grind — and the possibility that one game where a starter falters could have ripple effects on a bullpen that is already a temporary pell-mell when it comes to late-inning roles.
That was La Russa’s explanation this morning: He wants the bullpen constructed to have someone to absorb the innings without throwing off the rest of the relievers. Asking short relievers to swallow those innings would be too much of a disruption from their normal duties.
As for the starters not going past the sixth in spring games … With one turn through the rotation remaining, La Russa said: “The conditioning is good. They need to keep improving on their efficiency.”
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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. 
Seems like in the 1st half of spring training, we were all very impressed by the starting rotation. Now, in these last couple weeks, it seems like some of these guys are regressing. Hopefully everyone can have a good start this week to bring some momentum and confidence into the real games. Geeeeeeeeeeeea
What is going on with McClellan? Everybody was so high on him in the beginning of ST, but now you barely hear about him. I would rather have McClellan than Thompson, but why not Kinney being the long reliever? That guy can pitch. I know that he was tabbed as the Russ Springer type, but is he getting any looks for the long reliever role?
http://buschshouseofcards.blogspot.com
Another total failure by another Post-Dispatch writer to cover the Cardinals bullpen/pitching staff, without ONE spotlight column about Kyle McClellan’s horrendous struggles since last July.
Worst ERA on team since mid-July - Kyle McClellan. Most losses out of bullpen since last year - Kyle McClellan. Worst save percentage - Kyle McLellan. Worst spring ERA of all relievers on MLB roster - Kyle McLellan. Worst pitcher in terms of inherited runners scoring (currently in Cards Bullpen) - Kyle McClellan.
Worst job of media malpractice - St. Louis Post-Dispatch beat writers.
Oh they LOVE covering Skip’s moves to second, and lvoe to update us on every single groundball hit his way, error or not. But when Kyle gave up a 12-2 lead and 6 runs in 1 totally awful inning. Not a mention. Like it was specifically hidden from the public’s knowledge. You had to search with a fine-tooth comb that day, to even get the boxscore, and therefore, his pitching line.
They love covering Mather’s 0-19 streak… Chris Duncan’s return… Colby Rasmus’s struggles and successes. They’ve written tirelessly about Carp’s return to health; Wellemeyer’s quirkirness; Joel’s spat with Jose; the closer situation and the usual bashing and/or defending of Cardinals’ownership and management.
But NO ONE.. not one gutless STLPD writer will dare ask TLR or Dave Duncan about the total destruction of one Kyle McLellan or challenge them with stats when they try and defend him. Not one article describing his continued failures in clutch situations, especially the last 3 months of the 2008 season. Not one artcile talking about his 10.00+ ERA this spring, his inability to get guys out, strike them out, or keep inherrited runners from scoring.
All I’ve seen is ONE paragraph (which was actually about a different subject) covering how McLellan has moved to the other side of the rubber, and that will yield different results. Oh, well then. Case Closed. Job well Done. Investigative/truthful journalism is long dead.
Perhaps journalists have something to do with the reason the newspaper industry is failing.
Dear Sergeant Pepper,
You are hilarious! I’ve never heard anything so kind and optimistic in my life! You epitomize what a stand-up person of much integrity and dignity should be. Boy, I hope you have kids to spread your wit and wisdom to. All this world needs is another angry, cynical, and, to borrow one of your amazing adjectives, gutless person. There certainly aren’t enough people like you out in the world now-a-days. Let’s all praise Sgt. Pepper for bringing to light what is really important. Another thing, your incredible ability to analyze the decrease in newspaper sales is mind blowing! It’s got to be the reporters and nothing to do with the fact that the internet has totally grabbed hold of our world. Brilliant, sir. Do you teach classes on how to get the most out of life by ridiculing everything? If so, sign me up! I’ve been going about things the wrong way for way too long.
From,
Sarcastic Sam
Hey Sgt. Pepper so what if McClellan is struggling this spring. You make it sound like he is the only one that has had problems along with mather. Why dont you go get a life and quit bashing the post dispatch writers, like you could do any better you dummy. Hopefully you stay away from bush stadium, because by the way you write your blogs you are a disgrace to Cardinal fans and to Cardinal nation.
Tazman - Please, the next time you read anything, take a little more time to analyze, since you’ve proven to have no reading comprehension.
I mentioned that Mclellan is the ONLY one struggling who ISN’T BEING COVERED… I NEVER said that nobody else was struggling, but they’ve all had front-page news stories… McLellan is the only one not to, and it’s getting suspicous.. It takes a third-grade education level to understand that, so you’ll get there someday, be patient.
And John, thank you for signing off as Sarcastic Sam… NOBODY would have been able to tell that you were saying everything tongue-in-cheek. Actually, I take that back… Tazman probably wouldn’t have known.
And what a swell person you are as well, John… you spend one paragraph bashing me for apparently being negative/cynical person… all the while, you hypocrtically attack my integrity and kindness; you apparently wish for me to be sterile; and you question my analytical abilities. I must question your’s. Because, just like Tazman, you apparently don’t comprehend very well.
When i said that perhaps Journalists have ’something’ to do with the decline of industry, it measns just that. I’m saying that they have “something” to do with it… not “everything” or even “mostly everything.” But this is WAY PAST your intelligence, so I’ll leave it at that.
Sgtpepper,
Hardly seems like a failure on the part of PD reporters - McClellan’s struggles are fairly well-known - his poor second half last year being a topic of discussion for some time. I would guess that it hasn’t been spotlight news for a couple of reasons: 1. because McClellan isn’t some proven commodity having a bad spring out of nowhere (bad second half rookie season) - it’s just not big news that he’s struggling now; 2. the beat reporters, like the rest of us, are probably waiting to see how his recent adjustments pan out before crucifying him (since they are there to actually see him pitch, maybe they don’t think he looks as bad as his stats would indicate and think the adjustments will pay off). In either case, it’s really their perogative as to whether or not it’s all that newsworthy. Or it could also be that they simply missed this one story line for spring - which wouldn’t be the greatest journalistic sin, I think. Which brings me to the next question:
What are the other failures you speak of? I’ve enjoyed the PD’s coverage of the cards (and as your post makes clear with the litany of issues they’ve covered in depth, they have been pretty thorough with apparently only one exception), so I’m curious as to what stories you think they’re missing that we all should know about. Your rant is so aggressive that it seems like it might be motivated by something personal. I mean, it’s one thing to give them a heads up that there’s a story out there they haven’t hit on very much (or at all in your opinion) and another to imply that they are purposely conspiring to achieve some nebulous bad purpose.
That schedule is ridiculous. It sounds like that Batan march that the Cardinals had to go through in August and early Sept of last year. It gobbled up our already thin pitching staff. Our starters are only one game into expectations of breaking 6 innings. I think we’ll see plenty of Perez and Todd and maybe 3 or 4 other guys over the next 6 weeks - particularly the way Tony and Dunc run the Memphis shuffle. Jeez - does MLB really think so much of the World Baseball games that they want to keep canabalizing their main product this way? I don’t get it.
I am not that worried about some of the guys that haven’t hit their high notes yet. Duncan tells them to go out and work on their (slider, curve, side of the rubber, stand on their head, whatever) and if they want to keep playing they do it as best they can. TLR and Duncan see the same guys throwing strong in the back lots. they see stuff we don’t get to see.
Why would they send out something less than the best 25 they have? Until someone can give us an answer to that question that doesn’t include a conspiracy theory I think we are all on the same page as the Cardinals management.
sgt pepper! how dare you think that I have a third grade education level when its pretty clear to me that you are nothing more than a rotten little worm. Please the next time you post anything please think about who you are talking to and please for gods sake think about what you type before you actually type it. It seems clear to me that you are a total idot who should be banned from making any more posts as you do not know what you are talking about. Like I metioned earlier go out and get a life and stay away from the forums and stay away from bush stadium you are a disgrace to St. Louis and to the entire Cardinal Nation.