QUESTION: Do you think the Cards should run Kyle Lohse out to the mound again this Sunday on national television against the Braves? His performance is obviously sadly lacking ... does the team simply have no better options?
JOE STRAUSS
Lohse is still emerging from a de facto second spring training. He has not been sharp after returning less than 3 months after forearm surgery. The options are Jeff Suppan and Blake Hawksworth. Suppan had given improved performance before going to the bullpen. Lohse is still scheduled for Sunday night’s start. Another troubled outing could reshape club thinking.
DERRICK GOOLD
That seems to be the answer for so many questions with these Cardinals. Why does Tony La Russa change the lineup around so much? He simply doesn’t have better options. Why did they add Pedro Feliz to handle the everyday role at third base? They simply didn’t have better options. Why start Kyle Lohse on Sunday in the final game of the four-game series vs. the Atlanta Braves? He, simply, is their best option.
Kyle Lohse still strikes me as a pitcher nearing the end of spring training. He could use six, seven dress-rehearsal starts coming back from forearm surgery, and here he is toward the end of it. Lohse looks like he’s pitching in March, not in a pennant race. That could serve him well for next season – for the first time in a couple years he’s getting a feel for what it’s like to throw with a feel for his pitches, without fear of fatigue compromising his stuff – and that’s really what the next few weeks are going to be about. Sure, the Cardinals aren’t mathemetically eliminated from 2010 yet, but they need to come up with some understanding for the roster in 2011. They simply have no other option.
RICK HUMMEL
There really isn’t much alternative. Jeff Suppan has worked only once since July 31 and it is too late to try to convert Kyle McClellan back to a starter. Besides, he is needed late in the bullpen. Blake Hawksworth could pitch but he hasn’t started for a long time either. Believe it not, Lohse is getting better. And he’s not hurt.
BRYAN BURWELL
At this point, what are the alternatives? Does Jeff Suppan give you the same thing as Lohse? If it’s no longer a health issue for Lohse, but a matter of needing innings to get better, I guess I’d rather see him out there than anyone else with less of an upside.
LARRY BOROWSKY (Founder of Viva El Birdos and editor of “Maple Street Press Cardinals Annual”)
They need to keep running Lohse out there to get him into shape for 2011. This season is over; the Cardinals are already playing for next year. And since Lohse will consume more than 10 percent of next year’s payroll, it’s imperative that he provide some sort of value. Pitching 25 or 30 innings this month might help him regain some rhythm and put him on the path toward re-establishing himself next year as a competent No. 4 or No. 5 pitcher.
If the Cards decide it’s more important to pursue their almost nonexistent 2010 playoff chances, maybe they should replace Lohse with the other Kyle – McClellan. He’d probably only be good for three or four innings, but Lohse doesn’t last more than five innings anyway – and they’re lousy innings. Come to think of it, McClellan might be a bigger key to next year’s rotation than Lohse; the Cards flirted with putting him into the rotation in both 2009 and 2010, and they will have at least one hole to fill in 2011. Why not let McClellan get a few starts under his belt this September and see how he takes to the role?
