Post ASB rotation announced

i hope this is the start of tony:

a) making more sense in his decisions

b) keeping brad thompson in the rotation

i like the move to start wells and demote wellemeyer to the bullpen. when carp comes back, wellemeyer should be the one to go with wells going to the bullpen.

Here's the link to that entry, by the way.

Carpenter's next start should be the 13th against the Clearwater Threshers. If he was asked to do another rehab start, it would be the 18th against the Lakeland Flying Tigers (?). If he only does the start against the Threshers for his third rehab start, he'd be inline to replace Wells on the 18th for the last game against the Marlins.

I'd like to see Wells succeed as a starter for the second half. If he doesn't pitch well against the Phillies after the break, I guess he'd be back in his long-man role where he's been thriving of late.

have posted it here:

Maybe I'm in the minority based on a few comments I've seen here, but I'd rather see Wellemeyer and Wells stay where they are for the immediate future. They both seem to be doing fairly well - obviously Wells has been very good since he went to the bullpen, and Wellemeyer isn't setting the world on fire but he keeps us in games and doesn't give up many big innings. It would be nice if he went a little deeper into games, but will Wells be an improvement?

Maybe I've just got too many bad memories of Wells' starts. He's obviously pitching different out of the bullpen, but I'm not at all convinced that will translate to his starts.

Speaking of our bullpen, did you see the ERAs we threw at SF today? 1.42, 1.59, 1.23, and 1.53 for Cate, Percival, Franklin, and Izzy. I know Cate and Percival especially are small sample sizes, but those are fun numbers to see. Throw in Spiezio's 0 ERA and BAA, and that's a pretty solid bullpen!

that wellemeyer and wells should be left where they are. why mess with a good thing? isn't wells' ERA in relief 1 or so? the cards are 7-1 in welley's starts, why change it? maybe wells could pan out as another reliable starter turned reliever such as franklin?

In all honesty, Wellemeyer is NOT a starting pitcher.  He has pitched reasonably well in that role in us since coming over from KC, but he hasn't pitched deep into games, save for a few occasions.  

Kip Wells might have been horrible, but I like his chances of parlaying his success in the pen into a starting role better than that of Wellemeyer sustaining whatever sort of relative success he's had as a starter.

Also, remember that Wellemeyer was a mess in KC.  It seems like he's stabilized, somewhat and might be an effective weapon out of the pen.  

Although, if it came down to it, I think I like Thompson as a starter over a possibly resurgent Wells...

My idea is that we might be able to trade Springer ( one of our stalwarts and one guy I love to see enter a game, but probably our most trade-able bullpen piece) for some prospects.  Since we will always have 2 LHP in the pen (Cate, TJ or Flores) a right hander will have to go to make room for Carp (unless the unthinkable happens and Flores is let go, Cate demoted and Maroth moved to relief...please don't do that) Springer to me just seems like the odd man out if a contending team can give the Cards a good enough deal, Springer + JRod to an AL team might work really well too.

release anyone with out trying to move them. Now that Wells has pitched well from the pen there maybe a market for him. Keep giving him innings out off the pen. This will build his marketablity.

IMHO, they should help clear the logjam a bit by "announcing" that Flores has an injury of some sort and banishing him to the DL for a while.  He's been by far the worst of the remaining bullpenners.

Putting Flores on the DL would allow them to keep Cate with the big club once TJ returns, plus provide a little more time before Carp returns to evaluate Wells and Wellemeyer...who, quite frankly, have both done a better job than Flores from the bullpen this season.