Good day to you...

Here are five thoughts on Ryan Franklin -- if in fact he's pitched his final game for the St. Louis Cardinals:

1. I appreciate what Franklin did for the Cardinals in 2009-2010. Some have taken delight in kicking the guy when he's been down this season, and there is something about him that's brought out a lot of ugliness in an otherwise civilized fan base. But Franklin was an important piece of the 2009 division champion, saving 38 games in 43 opportunities and pitching so well that he was named to the NL All-Star squad. Franklin followed up by saving 27 of 29 in 2010. He never fit the classic closer profile. He didn't throw hard. He didn't pile up the strikeouts. He didn't get a lot of swings and misses. Franklin had to finesse his way through danger, and he often kept everyone on edge before making an escape. But in 2009-2010 Franklin converted 90.3 percent of his save opportunities, which was the 7th-best save rate over the two seasons. Franklin had a better save percentage in 2009-2010 than Brian Wilson, Francisco Cordero, Jonathan Papelbon, Billy Wagner, Jonathan Broxton, Jose Valverde, Houston Street and Andrew Bailey -- among others.

2. Franklin has been a great teammate. He commands universal respect in the clubhouse. Always there for his teammates, especially the young relievers who needed advice, or just a calming influence.

3. The Cardinals mishandled the situation. Franklin was demoted as the closer after blowing a save in Los Angeles on April 17. Manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan wanted to give Franklin an opportunity to regroup, but subsequent and random attempts to get him going never led to progress. There was never a coherent, focused plan for trying to make Franklin sharp and relevant again. For a month or so, La Russa wouldn't pitch Franklin at home. And earlier this month La Russa acknowledged than anticipated fan reaction had entered his thinking when he declined to use Franklin in a game.

4. The Cardinals could have used the disabled list long ago, but foolishly passed. Look, teams do this all of the time. A pitcher suddenly comes up with "tendinitis" or "inflammation" and has to go on the 15-day DL. And then the pitcher gets to go on a minor-league rehab assignment to work on their mechanics, issues, command, etc.  Franklin needed to pitch. He needed regular work. And the only way to find out if Franklin had anything left was to give him  regular work. And using the DL was an obvious way to get it done. Instead, the team let the guy rot in the bullpen. It served no purpose. It helped no one -- not Franklin, not a worn-out bullpen, not the team.

5. The Cardinals hurt their cause by playing short: This is what bothers me most of all about the way the Cardinals ducked out on dealing with the Franklin issue in a straightforward manner. Their policy became avoidance. They just kept Franklin in the deep corner of the bullpen, to keep him out of harm's way, while  hoping for ... well, what exactly? From the time of his demotion through Tuesday night's game in Baltimore, Franklin appeared in 21 games. In May-June combined, he's appeared in only 12 of the team's 53 games. As I've written before: basically the team opted to go with a 24-man roster. Because Franklin wasn't going to be used in a meaningful situation. He wasn't going to be utilized in high-leverage episodes unless there was simply no other choice. During several phases in May-June the Cardinals bullpen was burdened by a shortage of innings from the starting pitchers. The group was often overworked and worn down. But instead of having as many fresh arms as possible on call, ready to go, the Cardinals kept Franklin on scholarship. And that limited their bullpen options. Moreover: most of the time they declined to compensate for Franklin's spot on the roster by carrying an extra pitcher. That blew up on them during a loss to San Francisco, when La Russa had to try and squeeze an extra inning out of Franklin, who gave up two runs in his second inning to take the loss on June 1. The bullpen has had a 4.89 ERA in May-June combined. And the Franklin non-role was a factor.

It's a shame. I think the pitcher deserved better than this.

And the team certainly deserved better than this.

That's all for now. Check back; I will be adding additional material later.

Thanks for reading ...

-Bernie