Clement

Ponson & Weaver are long gone. Thompson appears to have made the starting rotation. Reyes hasn't been traded yet.

Save your anger for what is, not what might be.

$1.5 million is chump change (relatively speaking). if he flames out, it's still a reasonable gamble.

You know you are taking a gamble when you sign a pitcher coming off shoulder surgery who hasn't pitched in over a year. I think at the price they signed him, it was a reasonable risk to take. Until the guy gets out there and throws a few times, no one really knows where he is at or how fast he can be expected to progress. Prior is apparently throwing 75-80mph with the Padres right now, by the way.

The problem as I see it is that, even knowing what a gamble it was, they seemed to have Clement penciled into the starting rotation before spring training. That makes essentially no sense when you know it is entirely possible a guy may not pitch effectively, if at all. Signing a guy like this is like buying a lottery ticket. If you win, great. But you can't make it your retirement plan.

Yep, so far Clement is fire-baller compared to Prior.

Someday it could be like a scene from a Zucker movie with Priors entire arm in the catchers mitt, still holding the ball.

would be in the rotation on opening day when they signed him, doesn't that imply that someone from the Cardinals had, you know, actually SEEN him pitch for 5 minutes before signing the contract? Does this mean that they merely took the word of the player or his agent that he was back in form? Sheesh.

I don't know that anger is a good emotion for the Clement signing. Shoulder injuries are really tricky, from what I've seen. Some guys come back fine (see Carpenter), and some guys never regain their form (see Matty Mo). For 1.5M, it was worth the gamble. If it doesn't pay off, think of all the great arguments over Reyes/Wellemeyer/Thompson it has provided us.