Hate to say it, but at this point I don’t think the Cards should be counting on Mulder to come back at all this season and they should just cut their losses now and maybe look for another alternative if need be. Sadly I am getting the same feeling about Clement as well. I guess they were both worth a gamble at the time, but at least with Mulder, it was a bad one. Time to move on…...

I wasn’t expecting much when they signed him, and I think he’s pretty close to being done. Even if he does return healthy I can’t see how he’s much better than our 6-7 best starters.

...is a lot easier to come by with the Birds in 1st place, and the current rotation pitching as well as they have. If Mulder or Clement pitch at all in 2008, I’ll be surprised.

Can this rotation sustain its’ performance through an entire season? Nobody knows (except maybe The Shadow), but I think this club will battle their collective behinds off all year long. I think Don Tony likes this group; they play hard, and one can win a bunch of games on that alone!

I’m of the opinion that Carpenter will be the first and maybe only DL starter to appear in a Cards’ boxscore this year. Hope I’m wrong…

“This can not be considered positive news.”

It’s hard to imagine a situation where a rotator cuff strain is considered good news.

I had a mild rotator cuff strain once…I was throwing again in 3 weeks, but it lingered for 5 or 6 months before I really felt like my shoulder was 100% again. Hopefully Mulder will get better medical care than I did.

....so I say shelve him on the DL until he is fully recovered. Then give him a few ML starts. if he can help us after the All-Star break, that would be very positive news, but I am not cownting on it. I thin the Ol Goaler hit it on the head: Carp is probably the only DL guy who is gonna help us this year, and that won’t be until late July – August is you ask me (you know you want to!).

:=8)

time to move on people. time to move on.

The Earth continued it’s orbit around the sun today.

Another setback such as this and it might be time to admit Beane got the better of Jock in the Haren trade.

that this move is somewhat trumped up? It sure seems fortuitous that the struggling, overpaid, recovering pitcher that is just about to finish his 30-day rehab happened to come down with an injury that would reset his rehab clock? I know that this organization is too forthcoming to ever mislead the fanbase or MLB, but it seems like he needs a great deal of additional rehab time to improve both his velocity and movement.

Think I’m off-base?

there’s little question that Mulder, upon returning to the rotation, would have made it distinctly worse. I’m not a big Wellemeyer fan but he’s many times better than Mulder right now. The last thing we need is him taking the ball for 2-3 innings every 5 days. If “late June” allows his injury to be fixed so that he can be a solid contributor for the last 3 months, that’s good. If it just delays his inevitable return to the rotation, that’s also good.

...won 88 games between 2001 – 2005, a 5 years span as good as anyone’s. I don’t think its unreasonable to give the guy every chance at getting healthy and cowtributing to the club. There is something to be said for loyalty, and there is something to be said for taking chances. if there is a chance we can get the old Mark Mulder back, then its worth taking. Granted, that chance gets slimmer and slimmer the moore they push him before being ready. There is no need to panic; our current rotation is doing just fine. Let him rest, let him heal, and let’s see what he can do for us later in the year. We have no reason to hurry the man’s rehabilitation, and there is no reason to dump a guy is still relatively young, who has a proven track record, and who cud potentially give our club a very strong boost – it just won’t happen soon (if at all). He’s one of our Cards; let’s stop pushing him out the door without giving him the full chance he deserves to get over his injury.
>:=8/

This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.

would you want a $6m albatross hanging around your neck?
He was good. He got hurt. He’s not good anymore. Life isn’t some damn fairy tale where you get 4 chances to come back and be stellar. Move on…..

This team exists for two reasons: 1) to make money for it’s owners and 2) provide entertainment. Mulder fits niether requirement. Don’t give me this “For the Love of the Game” crap with dusty sunsets and Vin Scully calling Mulder’s first game back as a perfect game.