Actually, while watching the game on FSN midwest last night, they had Mo as their guest and were interviewing him. It think it was McLaughlin (sp?). At any rate, the question they asked was "we've got so many pitchers, and granted it's early, but what do you think will happen come the trade deadline? If we've got such a surplus, do you make a trade?" And Mo was pretty candid with his answer, stating that given the choice to stand pat or make a trade with a surplus of starting pitchers, he would hope that the market would be such that we (the Cards) would have the pieces to make a play or two and in return, get something that would help us improve in the areas we might be needing something, not just for this year, but the future in general.

Sure, he was choosing his words carefully, but I found it optimistic that he'd want to make a trade (or multiple trades) for talent that wouldn't just fulfill the "win now" mentality, but would help set us up for success further down the line. That and the fact that I couldn't help but think maybe he was referring to the SS position in terms of "needing something."

Wellemeyer, Looper, Clement and Lohse should be traded or released by mid-season.

Wainwright, Pineiro, Mulder, Carpenter and Reyes should battle it out for the rotation with Thompson going back to his very good long relief role.

Mulder has 4 months to show the club that it is prudent to pick up his option. Reyes has 4 months to raise his stock with either this club or any other club looking for a starting pitcher in the off-season.

is also why he needs to pitch up in the zone. His fastball hops and tails when thrown at the top of the zone, but is pretty straight otherwise.

Dunc's comments about Thompson pretty poor performance last night, as if to imply that circumstances just made it really difficult on poor Brad. He was playing w/ a handicap, so don't be so harsh about Brad's poor performance last night. Absurd! It's hard to believe anything that comes out of that man's mouth.

Personally, I read Tony's quote as applying only to the single game, i.e., that the Cards wouldn't have succeeded last night without Reyes, but not as a comment on the team's chances for the season.

That said, I agree that Tony's comments likely are geared toward ginning up a trade partner. We've got about five pitchers too many, both starters and relievers, and we can't afford to DFA all of them. I see Springer, Franklin, Reyes, Villone (or Flores), and Clement leaving the team by some means or another.

Despite Reyes' success, I don't see how he stays on the team through June, much less after Carp comes back.

I disagree wholeheartedly with your LaRussa comments. Everything I've read regarding LaRussa has been either positive for Reyes or if negative, defending something Duncan has said. Tony and Dunc don't agree on everything but he will always publicly back Duncan.

That being said, he constantly talks about "Reyes toughness getting through last season", and you could tell how proud LaRussa was of Reyes after he took him out the last inning (when the FSN cameras panned to him going over to talk to Reyes twice). He came over and looked like he was giving him effusive praise.

While Reyes may still be far into Duncan's doghouse, he left LaRussa's a long time ago. I actually think LaRussa likes him (thus he's been putting him in bigger situations). I also think the relief role might be the best thing for Reyes. At least in the short term. (It definitely helped Wainwright).

Thompson. I think we'll have a better idea tomorrow. I don't think Looper gets bumped first, unless he just stinks it up tonight.

will have to have a lot of really bad performances to get moved from the rotation. There seems to be a lot of sentiment here for that to happen but is he appreciably worse than Thompson or Wellemeyer? No and even if it should happen, it won't unless he pitches poorly for an extended period of time.

But we'll see. I agree that Looper would make a great 8th inning man. They could just as easy decided to let the rotation go through again.

As I mentioned in my comment yesterday, I think Thompson goes to the pen first, then Welle when Mulder returns, and Loop goes only when Carp comes back.

this comment:

we pretend to know what's going on in the clubhouse when we actually have no idea.

however, boiling Duncan down to this:

an old grump who, for some reason, doesn't like Reyes.

is short-sighted.
obviously, there are some issues between the two. It's likely a personality conflict or just stubbornness on both sides. who knows what the specifics are? There seems to be an eager forgiveness of Anthony's ineffective play and rush to chastise Duncan.
When it comes to distributing blame, i'd prefer to be a little more even-handed.

Get some different players?

Mandatory 'B12' shots?

Suits of robotic armour?

Maybe some sort of deal could be struck with the Castle Greyskull folks.

Honestly, that's my real concern. There are just too many automatic outs at the bottom of this lineup. So far, it hasn't been a problem, but I really do worry about just that subject.

has not, you're absolutely right. They're still a nightmare. However, I do think he's doing a much better job of incorporating his legs into his delivery, allowing him to generate more power. Will it help him long term, with that much of an Inv. W? Probably not. But for now, he's generating much more oomph on the ball, and I feel that it has everything to do with his much more aggressive, (at least to my eye) leg drive.

His arm action hasn't changed. But Baron is right...He's been a lot more physical with his lower half, which should take some (not all, some) pressure off his arm. Arm action is just one part of pitching mechanics.

may need to tread a little lightly in the batter's box today, but if that's all they've really got to talk about, it must be an awfully slow news day. It was a little cheap, but not over the top ridiculous what the hell was he doing cheap.

Let's put it this way: It wasn't Shelley Duncan cheap.