Cards Starting Pitching

I am still amazed that the Cardinals are World Champions given the ineffectiveness of their starting pitching. Obviously the relief pitchers were great and their effectiveness overshaddowed the ineffectiveness of the starters. In my opinion, Chris Carpenter turned in one of the best Cardinal performances of all time with his terrific game five victory in Philly. He seemed to have to gut it out in the Series and he did just that giving the Cards just enough to put away the Rangers.

I am very hopeful that Wainright and Carpenter will have great years and set the tone for the front of the Cardinal rotation. Maybe Garcia will also show some more maturity and durabilty and be able to get deeper into games. If we are really fortunate maybe Lohose will return to his pre-injury form and be a 15 game winner. Maybe these things will happen, but it seems to me that even the most optimistic fan should be very concerned about the ability of the starters to go deep into games.

If I may play the devil's advocate for a moment and present some what if's from a negative point of view. I certainly think that going deep into the games is going to be the big issue because while it was a great formula for a seven game series, it will be a disaster over a 162 game schedule. So I am going to throw out the negative possibilty of why this is possible and I hope that some of you great Cardinal fans can respond with some positives that will make me feel a lot better. I ,like many Cardinal fans, am very excited about the everyday line-up and I believe that this team is going to be very good if the starting pitching holds up.

Getting Wainright back is very exciting and the fact that many pitchers who have had similar surgeries are stronger than prior to the surgery is also so very encouraging. I hope this is the case with Wainright but I think it would be wise to remember that he is coming back from serious surgery and expecting him to immediately head up the rotation and go deep into games might be stretching it a little bit. Seems to me that it would be better to count on him for a middle of the order performance and if you get more then that would just be great.

Carpenter was simply great in the post season this past year. It seems like it took him forever to win a game in the regular season and then he pitched with some bad luck and should have had more wins than what he actually got. Once they got to the playoffs he really provided the leadership and without his great game five performance against Philly then the season would have ended that night. Carpenter gives me great hope that he can have another solid year and avoid the injury bug that plagued him early in his career. He is getting on up there in age and one has to wonder if he will decline any in the coming season. I hope he is able to give us another good year, but if the decline does happen then I fear that the number of innings that he is able to pitch is where it will rear its ugly head.

Garcia was very good but faded down the stretch and could not get deep in most of the post season games. Maybe he is maturing and just maybe he can get deeper into games and maybe he can now be counted on to be a durable pitcher in the final couple of months. Of course there is also the possibility that he just cannot develop this stamina and that he is that five or six inning pitcher. I certainly hope that his durability and stamina improve but getting deep into the games and having something left in the tank at the end has to be a concern.

The durability and stamina concerns of the top three starters is probably further complicated by the lack of stamina and durability of both Lohose and Westbrook. I know both have been durable pitchers in the past and maybe they will return to form in the coming season, but odds are that they will both be hard pressed to give more than five or six quality innings. I think this puts so much pressure on the front of the pitching staff to go deep into games, and as alluded to previously, that is the one issue that is most concerning.

Edwin Jackson was not very good for the Cards during the post season, but he was really durable and effective after they acquired him in the trade. It is my opinion, that he is absolutely perfect for the Cardinal rotation going forward because he provides that stamina and durability that is such a concern.

I know that the Cards have a lot of money tied up in Lohose and Westbrook and that each have a NTC, and I also know that Lynn and McClellan give us some starting pitching depth, but I really would like this starting staff a lot better if Jackson was a starter and Westbrook was the long man in the pen. Lynn might could be really effective starting but he is also very effective out of the pen and once again how long could he last as a starter?

I am really hoping that the Cards can find a way to shed some salary in some type of trade that would allow them to try to sign Edwin Jackson. Many have advocated Oswalt but once again he is injury prone and might not be able to give you those innings that this staff may really need someone to deliver. Jackson might not get you as many wins as Oswalt but I would bet money that he will get you innings.

Maybe this team is set just the way it is, but just maybe there is another upgrade in mind. I find it hard to believe that the recent memories of the World Series would not inspire the Cardinal brass to try to add some pitching durability and depth either by a free agent signing or via a trade. It seems that everything else is pretty well covered and maybe starting pitching durability will not be a problem, but why take the risk when there are options out there.

It is not my money and it is easy for me to spend someone else's money, but they have about 110 million invested and I believe that it is prudent to protect that investment by strengthing the starting staff.

It does not appear that Edwin Jackson has had a lot of interest so I am hopeful that he could be had for a very reasonable contact. I think he would be a very good insurance policy and well worth the investment.