Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
To replace who?
Walden's going to be back shortly and Cishek is here now.
With a 7 man pen (god help me if you ask for 8) you have:
Rosenthal
Walden
Maness
Cishek
Villanueva (just stop - he's not going anywhere. Matheny will not have a BP without a long man)
Siegrist
Choate (again, just stop. We already know that Choate will be on this roster until the rapture comes; if he were open to replacement, Lyons would have already taken his job)
Where are you going to put another reliever? And is he really going to be better than Tuivaila or Socolovich have been? If you need to have more innings absorbed, we have more arms to do it.
There's just no need for another bullpen arm at this point. As for starters, you have Cooney and Marco coming back.
This franchise has plenty of arms. Cardinals fans are to pitchers what Chiefs fans are to offensive lineman at this point. No, the answer isn't always "My god! we need more arms!!!" We have scarce resources and much more pressing needs than an 8th potential RH reliever.
The 3 relievers in the top 4 in appearances thing isn't a personnel issue, it's a Matheny issue. I've been saying this for 2 years - Matheny will ride his top 3 guys into the ground every single season. Give him a 10 man !@#$ing relief staff and it won't matter because he'll still find three he likes and he'll flog them until they have to be shot on the track.
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I'm only going to bitch about Choate. He can't stay in for more than 1 batter unless he faces 2 lefties in a row or a righty who has bad splits vs left handed pitching. Villanueva in long relief and everyone else is fine. Cishek being a late inning option with Seigrist, and soon to be Walden, might help alleviate the problem. But the LOOGY who usually stays in vs 1 batter does nothing except for get lefties out.
Edited to add: After May and the SP swoon that followed after Waino getting hurt, I was calling for Hamels. But I've backed off. They don't need a SP. Cooney has been fine. Jaime's been ****ing great. And Gonzalez and Lyons are there if a nuke is dropped on 2/5 of the rotation. So, I don't think a starter is a need anymore.