feeling good about carpenter, ankiel, birdos

Carpenter, after 5 innings vs. the Cubs and a win tonight, has a 0.00 ERA in 10 innings pitched this year. Last season, he pitched 15.1 innings and maintained an ERA of 1.76. For comparison, his FIP in 2009 is 2 and 3 in 2008. While obviously, that's not a whole lot to go on, and we have no idea if he will avoid the DL or for how long this year, it is a very encouraging sign that our team's recent slide is not going to be the character of this team.

What's made Carpenter so effective in his limited time the past few seasons is his mastery of his pitches... his WHIP so far this year is .7 and in '08 it was 1.3. Which is pretty fantastic even when considering how little time he's pitched. The last time he was a regular pitcher, way back in '06, he pitched over 220 innings, had an ERA just over 3, 3.44 FIP, and an amazing 1.07 WHIP... in '05 he pitched even more than that and had a 1.06 WHIP! To say those two seasons were impressive is a vast understatement. In a comeback year in '04, he pitched over 180 innings and posted a 2.04 WPA.

Career-wise, Carpenter is at a 4.05 FIP, largely due to his career with the Blue Jays..... oddly enough, his career ERA is also 4.05. Carp's ERA+ is 113 for his career, but  was at 242 in '08 (remember only 15 IP though). His BB/9 is 2.7, but his 1.8 for '09 is closer to his career as a Cardinal. Having Carpenter in your rotation is like trading to get an extra strikeout for every game....

So far this season, it is encouraging to see that he is as effective as ever, SO/9 at 8.1, among his career best. One more little tidbit, his '05 season he held batters to a .230 batting average in over 240 innings! (.151 this season in a small fraction of the sample size). 

So with what little info we have on his performance during the last few years, we can see that he has mastery over his specialty pitches along with being able to paint the corner when needed. The question of course will be how much he can pitch for us. If he holds up, he is even better in the playoffs so they will need to be careful with him, even while batting. I advocate him batting 9th when he plays, just to reduce a few at bats. I am very excited about Carp's return, but also a little nervous. Every start should be an adventure. 

info. found at fangraphs.com and baseballreference.com____________________________________________

As far as Ankiel goes, they are taking it easy with him and not rushing him back into play when he's not hitting the ball well. Unfortunately, this means a few more days of Stavinoha, but hopefully this is the last time we'll need to have him on the team until Ludwick gets back. Ank is still a .803 OPSer with a career .345 wOBA, so he will still be nice to have back. Perhaps most encouraging for the team, will be a move to right field when he gets back, according to stlcardinals.com:

When he first returns, Ankiel is likely to play right field. He began the year as the Cardinals' primary center fielder. However, since he's been out, Colby Rasmus has played well in center, and the club believes that Ankiel might benefit from some time in right while he returns to full speed.

"That's one less issue, a little peace of mind there," La Russa said.