If for no other reason than to have him start games.

they have each only pitched 1 game, it is far too early to tell who will need to be moved to make room. i'd guess welly and thompson will be the first 2 outta the rotation since they both have the most relief experience (i know loop does as well, but i think he is set in the starters role from here on out). but i don't see piniero coming back as a starter but more likely a long reliever, mulder/clement are done (imo) so that just leaves carp to bump welly or thompson and maybe reyes will bump the other eventually.

Reyes needs to start. There is no other alternative in my opinion. When Mildew gets back, Reyes needs to head to AAA to get some more work on his arm mechanics. Wellemeyer or Looper can in turn, move back to the bullpen to be the long relief guy (or in Looper's case the set-up man if Franklin is still scaring the bejeesus out of Cardinal Nation).

enough. As alluded to earlier, it's very early, and although each pitcher that is a candidate for demotion is making a strong case to stay with the big club, the law of averages say that one or more will slip up, and the choice will be obvious. So, who will that be?

My gut tells me it will be Wellemeyer and Thompson, with Wellemeyer stumbling first. Unless he can start throwing strikes on a regular basis, the 5 inning 90 pitch outing will catch up to him sooner rather than later. Thompson is a one trick pony as pitch repetoire, and as I think it was HoustonCardinal who pointed out so astutely, on days his sinker doesn't sink he gets knocked around pretty well. (If it wasn't HC who wrote that, my apologies to the poster who did--please correct me).

Of course, the LaDunc attitude towards Reyes always makes him a candidate for demotion to AAA, with Well/Thompson taking Anthony's spot in the bullpen, but if Reyes keeps pitching as effectively as he is from the 'pen, I don't see how they could justify that move, especially if you have to pull Todd or Brad from the rotation for ineffectiveness.

As to trades, if I'm Mo I'm not pulling the trigger as soon as Mulder, Clement, and Pinero come back, because of their injury history. I wait until June or July, track those three and then look at Carp's return date before I start making any moves, but that's just me.

which pitchers still have options?

If Wellemeyer has options, I'd send him and his 95 pitch count through 5 innings to Memphis. I like our bullpen, but I don't want to see it four innings a day.

I'd like to keep Reyes if for no other reason than Mo to establish dominance over Tony and Dave. Think Cesar Milan, the Dog Whisperer...tssst!.
Dave: Mo, we gotta send FlatBill down; he doesn't pitch to con- TSSST!
Mo: IronBill stays.

we hoped of our "A" starters, its a nice problem to have. My guess is that McClellan will go down to start at AAA and they'll keep Reyes in the bullpen (contra to what others think). If Reyes continues to dominate, like he did the other day, they'll give him a chance at starting---of course you would have to question his stamina for 4 + innings. Besides who's to say everyone who is healthy now will stay that way?

These decsisions should be made soley based within the context of need. If all five pitchers are doing really well (not likely) when another is ready to come pack. The pitcher that is ready to come back should go on rehab and at least prove their readiness in the minor leagues before bumping someone that is geting results.

That said, I doubt Wellemeyer will keep posting zeroes, for reasons mentioned by other posters. It will probably be Pineiro that comes back and replaces him as I see Mulder having to do an extensive rehab to prove that he will not do what he did last year and just end up screwing the team. If Welley does get booted, I want Franklin on the DL because he has looked terrible so far, even with the scoreless inning last night he was getting crushed, it was just being caught.

Thats three cents I think.

Because right now our bullpen is pretty beat up and an extra arm wouldn't hurt. As much as I love the guy, Schumaker might need to go down to AAA and figure his swing out.

is Skippy out of options?

was going to mean that you were making a chatroom for during games when there are millions of comments, but no continuity to the discussion. a chatroom would help with that...

I would hope that Mulder would do a long re-hab stint. I would make sure he was for real before I did anything. If Mark struggles against minor league hitters then he will be the one who is gone. If Mulder mows done the kids then bring him in to face major leaguers. Welley or Baby Face Thompson can be moved to the pen. McClellan can be sent down.

I watched the Met game last September and I really was impressed with what Pineiro was able to do that day. If Pine Fresh comes back strong it might then be time to move Reyes.

I wouldn't mind Reyes/Duncan or Reyes/Schumaker being moved for prospect(s).

they could always go with a 6 man rot. until one of the pitchers flames out.. im affraid that a struggling mulder or pinero, will get starts over one of the guys thats making quality starts. i doubt welly and tommy boy can sustain this level of pitching but wierder' things have happened..

and yes im suprised reyes hasnt gone "postal worker" on that club house.. dud must have some cold stones. hell through him in center because of his "solid throwing arm"...

duncan.. your a beauti..

I wonder what kind of decent prospects we could get for Reyes or Lohse if they start pitching real well (of course would we want to trade them if they do so well for us)

Reyes can pitch 6 innings consistently, but he has to last past the 4th effectively to do so (he could do that with a team that's rebuilding/not bent on winning a division), he's young and he's been brought up a starter anyhow.

I don't trust 6 man rotations, looper and wainwright didn't perform as well with 5 days rest instead of 4 days, it screws up their pitching and workout habits between games, especially looper.

"wait and see"... when Piñiero comes back, the least-effective starter is likely to move to the 'pen.

Best guess is that'll be Wellemeyer, unless he can get his pitch count down. Who gets the Memphis trip? I sure dunno... but somebody else might get hurt between now and then.

McClellan has looked mighty good, but he is a projected starter who hasn't seen any AAA innings... sending Reyes down doesn't accomplish anything, if the object is to trade him; he's more attractive as a major-leaguer than as a AAA starter.

I agree his tendency to not get past 5 innings without 90 to 100 pithces makes him the most likely to go back to the pen when Piniero comes back.

I also smell a trade a brewing. Maybe and OF/Pitcher combo of sorts.

Thompson seems to have a few more pitches now if he keeps it up he could stay or be a nice trade piece.

Maybe Reyes needs to go to AAA and pick up some experience closing out games eh?

in today's p-d suggested that Springer stunk last night perhaps b/c he was "still smarting from a 32-pitch inning Wednesday night." I ask again, why the hell was he even out there on Wednesday?

He entered the game in the 9th inning w/ the Cards up 8-3 -- a five run lead for a reliever who should be either the 7th or 8th inning option in a close game, not a mop-up guy. When he entered, the Cards had a 98.6% chance they would win. This was the time to use Reyes, thus saving Springer for a more high-leverage situation.

Maybe this means that he's used in Thursday's game, up 3-0 in the 8th -- when Reyes was used. If so, LaRussa wouldn't have used him last night, as he doesn't like to use him two nights in a row, and he wouldn't have struggled. McClellan or Reyes or someone doesn't give up 3 quick runs and the game never becomes as close as it did.

Plus, now Springer's going to be unavailable AGAIN today! It just made no sense then and makes less sense now.

It's Reyes. He'll be traded. We saw last night why. McClellan couldn't find the plate with a map and compass and was hanging every breaking pitch he could throw.

Yet, he's Duncan's "Homeboy" and was given more than enough rope to finally get out of the inning. If it had been Reyes, Aaron Miles would have been called in to finish the inning.

It is such a shame that the braintrust is going to trade Anthony just when it finally seems he has gotten his mechanics back on track and that he could be an extremely valuable starting pitcher.

Thompson, who is a great long reliever, should go back to the bullpen. Reyes should go into the rotation. But alas, it is moot at this point.

Pineiro's return date?

Team website says April 13

Post-Dispatch says he'll make two rehab starts (the first on Tuesday, April 8) which would make an April 13 return impossible.

Neither give quotable evidence. Any ideas?

by Piniero?

And to a lesser extent that A Reyes is probably headed out of town via a trade?

Trade...

Duncan, Reyes package for ?

SP or SS...

That way Brendan Ryan can play 2b, where he'll be better ... somewhere down the line ...

Isringhausen ... I hear this kind of thing all of the time ... I think it's ludricrous ... don't most people realize how important Izzy is to this team? He completely solidifies our bullpen ... our bullpen is a shambles when he's not there ... when healthy, he's as reliable as anyone you can find ... and he's healthy ... so why wouldn't you want to hang on to him? He's a local guy who loves to pitch for STL ... it would be stupid to replace him until he's physically unable to perform at his present levels ... I like Perez ... (and maybe someday Motte ... I was listening to the Memphsis game the other day ... he's bringing it at 98 MPH ... and mowing'em down ... he's going to be a great addition sometime) ... but Perez isn't ready ... I like keeping Izzy around and letting him go out on his terms ...