Triple-A reinforcements will come Friday
ST. LOUIS — The four players the St. Louis Cardinals plan to bring up from their Class AAA affiliate will join the team in Colorado by next Friday, manager Tony La Russa said this morning. That should give the minor leaguers plenty of time to celebrate their titles — however many of them they end up winning.
The Memphis Redbirds won the Pacific Coast League championship late Friday night, and they advance to a one-game playoff against the International League champ, the Durham Bulls. (They are Tampa Bay’s highest affiliate.) The Redbirds and Bulls will play Tuesday in Oklahoma City. Regardless of the outcome, the Cardinals’ minor leaguers will return to Memphis on Wednesday and then the promoted players will be expected to be in Denver by Friday.
La Russa said the plan now is for four players to get promoted.
Though the team hasn’t identified the four, they have discussed lefty Royce Ring and middle infielder Tyler Greene as possible depth guys, and both David Freese and Allen Craig could get consideration as bats for the bench.
Even though lefty Jaime Garcia has emerged as a true Triple-A ace in these playoffs — the lefty, like Memphis, is unbeaten in the postseason — the Cardinals don’t want to push him to the majors. He is about a year removed from Tommy John surgery. He will be in the running for the No. 5 starter spot next spring training.
“So many guys who have big-league futures are producing clutch productivity,” La Russa said. “And they’re all doing it. … It’s an amazing run they’ve been on. That is a great thing for a young player.”
La Russe cited closer Pete Parise as of particular intrigue, saying he’s eager to see the righthander in person — during next spring training. The manager, a free agent in a few weeks, then quickly pointed out that he did not have to return as the Cardinals’ manager to stop by the Jupiter training complex to take his Parise peek.
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(9 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)
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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. 
I thought the reinforcements where already came with Holliday Derosa, and Lugo!! Oh well this should make the other managers have headaches.
Please bring up Garcia
Tyler Greene will be a disaster if we bring him up. He was nothing but missed opportunities when he was here. Why in the world would we risk where we’ve come, with a move like that?
pegpaw,division should be clinched before friday so it not going to matter what Tyler Greene does.
Tyler Greene can play. No offense, pegpaw, but I’ll take Whitey Herzog’s opinion over yours. Herzog liked what he saw of Tyler Greene. I did, too. He didn’t hit well, but he was slick in the field and sometimes it takes a young player a while to figure out major league pitching. I’m curious: Were you ready to give up on Brendan Ryan about this time a year ago?
Most of all, I’ll be glad to see Craig and Freese get a chance, however brief, to play in StL this season.
Nice article, DG–let’s be thorough about Jaime Garcia, though. He’s not only unbeaten in the postseason; he’s unscored-upon in 12 innings. That’s a wow.
As much faith as I have in Garcia long-term, I’m still OK with his non-callup. As long as he gets a fair shot in Spring Training (which I’m confident he will) it’s all good.
All in all, the future is as bright as the present for Cardinal Nation.
I say bring up Jaime Garcia. Give him the taste. Even if it’s only just a sniff. Maybe give him a start after we clinch. Experience is the best teacher. See Wainright, McClellan, and Blakesworth. I’d like to see a lefty get a start who knows?
HMMMMMM, seems like ol’ Tony Larussa kinda let the cat outa the bag. Why else would he be so “intrigued”? Good to hear Tony, we all hope the manager of the year decides to stay a Cardinal at least for two to three more Championships. What a team, what a year………so far.
Once Parise makes it to the 40 man roster and gets a chance with the Cards, he’s not going back down. His rise through the farm system is miraculous, but understandable once you see his stuff. Glad that TLR is taking notice.
So, Tony points out he does not need to be the Cards manager to be here
next spring. So clever Mr. tLr, well guess what, about ANYONE could manage
this group of all stars. Lets see, best player in baseball, close to a
triple crown year, 2 not 1 but 2 possible Cy Young’s, then there is the
best defensive catcher in baseball, oh yes, not to mention the best
utility man in DeRosa, and finally, the second best hitter in baseball
in Holiday. Yes, Mr. Larussa, you can BE REPLACED, EXCEPT, the new
guy may not hopefully have your same PERSONALITY.