THE WATERCOOLER:

Have we seen the last of Cardinals reliever Ryan Franklin?

JOE STRAUSS:

Difficult to say. A lot of cryptic comments were made after Tuesday's game, including TLR noting that the club may have to entertain "creative" options regarding the former closer. The manager met at length with general manager John Mozeliak, who later admitted contemplating several options without being more specific. Today marks the season's midpoint. Fair to say the club is moving toward a more aggressive stance regarding its bullpen.

BRYAN BURWELL:

I would be shocked if we see him again on the mound for the Cardinals. Clearly, there is something wrong with him and the organization has finally seen enough.

RICK HUMMEL:

This might be a good time to encourage Franklin that whatever is bothering his arm is enough to put him on the disabled list. All pitchers have some aches and pains and a trip to the DL and then a rehab assignment in Jupiter, Fla., and perhaps some minor league locales would give the Cardinals some kind of roster flexibility and enable Franklin to maintain his dignity until either he bounces back or they can figure out another option.

A release now sends all the wrong signals to a contending team that values him as a teammate. No one would bat an eyebrow if it was announced that Franklin was hurt. This sort of thing has happened before. For instance, former closer Jason Isringhausen, in essence, was disabled for mental fatigue in 2008 and spent considerable time in Jupiter. That's kind of how Franklin got the job in the first place. In fact, at the time Isringhausen (who also had a hand laceration and arthritic hip) was put on the disabled list, manager Tony La Russa said, "It's being creative." La Russa said Tuesday night that the Cardinals could be "creative," relative to Franklin's disposition.

JEFF GORDON:

Gut feeling? Yes. Franklin could head to the minors after being designated for assignment or going on the disabled list, but does he really want to travel that route during the twilight of his career? Is he that desperate to go out on a better note? His demise shows you just how fine that line is between success and failure. He still has a low-90s fastball and a curveball. But he has lost movement and command for whatever reason and hitters are jumping him. He makes some good pitches and some really bad ones. The fact he is so close must be tantalizing . . . but then again, he realizes he has reached retirement age.

DERRICK GOOLD:

The Cardinals sure seem to be willing to go to extremes to keep him. They go weeks without using him, two months without pitching him all but twice at home, and they carry an extra reliever around to make all that possible. It seems like now it is up to Ryan Franklin. There are things he can do or assignments he can accept that would make it possible for the Cardinals to keep him, try to build him back up, and reinstall him later if it works. But that's mostly Franklin's call. It's getting harder to see how the Cardinals can afford to keep him on the active roster (they've been straining to do so here), but the club's actions have said they want to do whatever they can to keep him in the organization.