The demotion of Cardinals pitcher Mitchell Boggs puzzled many, including members of the team, as P-D baseball scribe Joe Strauss noted.
Isn’t Boggs one of the best 25 Cards available this week?
Shouldn’t the Cards always have their best 25 players on the big club?
The answers: Yes and no.
At this relatively early point of the season -– with the Cards leading the National League Central by 3 1/2 games -- the baseball staff can still consider the long term as well as the near term.
This team isn’t setting its playoff roster this week. Players will keep coming and going well into September.
Management can allow asset management and player development concerns to drive its decision-making. In this case, the Cards' field staff wants to see what it has in lefty Brian Tallet and afford veterans Miguel Batista and Ryan Franklin more opportunities to locate their command.
The staff also wants to see Boggs develop his secondary pitches and become more consistent. So he returns to Memphis while Batista keeps his middle-relief gig (for now) and Franklin mans Brad Thompson’s old mop-up/emergency role (for now).
This has caused some outrage in Cardinal Nation. Frustrated fans are demanding the immediate release of Batista and Franklin, but discarding veteran pitching in May is usually a bad idea.
Once those pitchers are gone, they’re gone. Pitchers returned to the minors for further work remain a phone call away. By keeping veterans and relegating a younger pitcher, the Cards are hoarding assets.
(Along those lines, the Cards regained reliever Brian Broderick from the Nationals. He exited as a Rule 5 casualty and pitched for Washington this season, but he ultimately didn’t stick in the majors. The Nationals had to offer him back to the Cards and John Mozeliak jumped at the chance to regain some organizational depth.)
Batista appeared 58 times for the Nationals last season and recorded a 3.70 ERA. Yes, he is 900 years old – but when given regular work in his career, he has done solid work as a starter, closer and everything in between.
Although he has been terrible in his last few outings, Batista has delivered some strong outings while posting a 2-1 record with a 2.76 ERA. Writing him off eight weeks into the season would be silly. Tony La Russa and Dave Duncan are anything but silly.
Franklin was 6-2 last season with 27 saves in 29 tries. While not a lockdown closer by any means, he had a nice run in that position here.
La Russa and Duncan are nowhere near ready to give up on that.
Is some of their patience fueled by stubborn loyalty? Sure, because La Russa, like a lot of managers (including Whitey Herzog), cling to veterans who have come through for them.
But some of this is common sense, too. Why dump a veteran pitcher with a strong track record just eight weeks into the season?
La Russa has replaced him as closer and moved him away from set-up assignments as well, relying on his younger arms to fill those roles. Franklin will get more opportunities like the one he got Friday night, when he threw a shutout inning with the Cards trailing in Kansas City.
Can Franklin make himself useful again? We’ll see. If he can’t, the Cards will have ample opportunity to upgrade the back end of the bullpen as the season progresses.
Which brings us to Boggs. In this corner of cyberspace, we touted him as a fine closer prospect. Sure enough, he nailed down three quick saves.
But he imploded during his blown save and he has looked way out of whack since then. As Strauss notes, he has been relegated to “low leverage” situations in recent series.
Boggs will get lots of work as a starter in Memphis. If he pitches well, he could return to the Cards for a bigger role than the one he vacated.
Right now Boggs is a “tweener” in the big scheme of things. The Cards groomed Fernando Salas and Eduardo Sanchez for short relief and they appear capable of filling late-inning roles for years to come. Jason Motte is still striving to become a late-inning guy as well.
Where does that leave Boggs?
The Cards control all five starting starters plus Adam Wainwright for next season. Top prospect Shelby Miller should reach Springfield this season and become a factor at some point next season. Carlos Martinez won’t be far behind if he stays healthy.
Again, where does that leave Boggs?
He has flashed promise at the big league level, especially during the first half of last season and the first month of this season. But Boggs posted earned-run averages of 4.73, 4.91, 4.50 in July through September of last season and he has a 9.00 ERA this month. He remains a work in progress.
The Cards don’t have a clear No. 6 starter waiting at Memphis. Lance Lynn has been just so-so this season, so Boggs could offer near-term protection there. By building pitch counts, Boggs could also ready himself for a middle relief role in St. Louis -– another potential near-term need for the Cards.
So there was method to the madness. Fans don’t look far ahead or too far behind while assessing their favorite team, but managers, pitching coaches and general managers don’t have that luxury.
