During FOX Sports Midwest’s always-solid Cardinals Live post-game show following Wednesday night’s loss to Pittsburgh, analyst Rick Horton was asked which minor league players he thought could be called up to St. Louis first.
Horton singled out three likely candidates – outfielder Joe Mather, reliever Chris Perez and outfielder Nick Stavinoha. Each made his major league debut during the 2008 season with the first two having seen enough action to exhaust their rookie eligibility.
All of them make sense. The last cut of the spring, Mather seems logical as the first bat in line to return to the majors. Perez seems a likely call-up to help, especially if the closing situation becomes unsettled. Stavinoha is a bit of a longer shot, but could leapfrog over Mather if he begins the regular season hot.
Still, the name I had most expected to hear was not even mentioned – P.J. Walters. The right-hander has not yet made his first MLB appearance, but seemed to vault to the front of the line as the defacto sixth starter for the Cardinals based on a strong spring during which he allowed just one earned run in nine innings. He then pitched seven strong innings for St. Louis against his Memphis teammates last weekend, with only one unearned run having scored.
Originally scheduled to be Memphis’ opening day starter at home against Oklahoma on Thursday, Walters was pushed back to Saturday to keep him fresh and ready in case he is needed in St. Louis. He would need to be added to the Cardinals’ 40-man roster first, but with just 37 players currently, there is room for Walters if needed.
Mitchell Boggs will be taking the mound instead of P.J. on Thursday night in Memphis, with Adam Ottavino, a mild surprise to have made the club, getting the call on Friday. Ottavino assumes the spot previously held by Jess Todd before the latter was moved to the bullpen. If Walters is not in St. Louis first, he is scheduled to pitch for the Redbirds on Saturday.
I single out Todd since a key reason he was reportedly moved to the pen was to accelerate his ascension to the major leagues. While he may not be quite ready yet, I can easily envision a scenario where Todd falls right in line behind Perez.
Through the first three games of their initial 2009 series, the Cardinals have dodged the rain that would have forced a double-header that almost certainly would have driven a call to Memphis for help. While there is a 70 percent chance of rain on Thursday afternoon increasing to 90 percent that evening, if that game cannot be played, it will likely be rescheduled for later in the season.
So far, the Cardinals starters have not pitched deeply into games, an early indicator of what could be a challenge all season long. The rotation members are averaging fewer than six innings over their first three games. In other words, the bullpen has been asked to pitch over an entire full game’s worth of action already – 29 outs worth to be exact.
If the Cardinals staff doesn’t require reinforcement this coming weekend, at this pace, it still could happen sooner rather than later. After all, the club has just one scheduled day off in their first 34 days of the season.
We are 3 full games into the season and our minds are pondering who is going to jack up the pitching staff? Maybe it is because we actually have some pitchers at Memphis that the question arises at this early point. Perez, Walters, Todd? The answer may partly lie with who will graciously be first to donate their roster slot?
Thompson seems a candidate for Memphis, sinker seems at belt level, 87 mph. No great shakes in spring training. In recent years Brad has spent time at Memphis. If Brad does the honors of toddling off to Beale Street, Perez or Todd could be upward bound. Since Todd was a starter last season, he might be suited for the long man role in St Louis. Perez can sharpen his closing skills at AAA, in case we need an additional closer in future.
PJ seems in the important role of 6th starter. Its important because someday the 6th starter will be needed. On this, we can rely, the fundamental things apply, as time goes by.
However, first, fans may need to endure patiently a bunch of blah starts by Wellemeyer, because as soon as we call up PJ, as fate will have it, another starter will go down and then who is the 6th man? We need to identify the 7th starting pitcher to provide depth behind PJ, so PJ can get the get call. Wellemeyer at least worked through 5 innings and got his pitches in. From more such vigorous exercise, Wellemeyer may gather steam and could even improve, in the weeks to come.
I agree that Walters is probably #6 and think that Boggs is #7. That will pretty much be up for grabs though after the Memphis rotation starts to work. Hawksworth, Mortensen or Ottavino could surpass both Walters and Boggs with a hot start.
I feel that Thompson is a weak link on the staff and agree that Todd may be in that long relief role if Thompson continues to struggle. I feel that his command has deteriorated over the last two years and he just doesn’t have the stuff to get away with poor command.
If Motte has trouble in the closer role I feel that he and Perez would probably shift spots.
Might be off-topic, but Zach Duke could win 20 games this year. With his curve, he is a big time talent, who must have gone a bit astray amid the losing in Pittsburg the past 3 years. Duke was a rare scouting success story by the Pirates.
I’m wondering if Horton spent time in Florida during Spring Training or is just answering from his own hip. More and more, we see “expert” analysis from guys like Joe Morgan and Al Hrabosky that don’t seem to do their homework.
I’m willing to bet that CariocaCardinal and JumboShrimp put more time into researching minor leaguers than either Morgan or Hungo. I don’t know about Horton, though.
I did talk with Rick in Florida, but did not see him on the minor league fields while I was there, nor did I expect to. That doesn’t mean he couldn’t mine information from others, though. I am a Horton admirer.
I will mention a few things about Duke, because he is illustrative of some scouting/player development issues, in a broad sense.
Duke was a 20th rounder of the Pirates out of high school near Waco, Texas, in June 2001. Maybe he did not throw hard enough in high school to excite scouts with radar guns. Many high school kids have not played yet at colleges, where strong results can draw attention to their skills, so they are often not high draft picks. To illustrate, LHP Jaime Garcia was a 22nd rounder out of another Texas high school.
Duke pitched ok in summer 2001 in the Gulf Coast, jumped to the S. Atlantic League in 2002 and held his own, then became brilliant in 2003-5 at higher rungs and as a rookie for the Pirates. He has sufficient fastball for a lefty (90), a fine curve as an outpitch, and a change. He threw a lot of innings in 06 and must have been worn down by the losing experience of being a Pirate. But if Duke applies himself and reconnects with what he showed in 2002-05, he can be a ML all-star.
So when the Cards sign pitchers like McClellan or Garcia or Casey Mulligan or Blake King or Additon out of high schools past round 20, they can sometimes come up with guys who develop into impact players. In the 08 draft, the Cards selected but could not sign high school southpaws Leith (rd 31), Jimenenz (37) and Miranda (50). In such cases, presumably the scouting hope is to unearth another Zach Duke.
If Hawksworth isn’t in the top 4 options from Memphis (looks like Walters, Boggs, Todd, and Perez are probably ahead of him) we should probably look at letting him go.
We need Hawksworth for Memphis, and he is not blocking a stronger prospect. Maybe Hawk will enjoy a fine 2009 season!!
Hawksworth looked mighty fine in SPring Training and was the 2nd to last SP cut…he even got the first start for the team. Just because he didnt live up to the hype many people wanted doesnt mean he shoudl be thrown to the scrap heap. I think he actually might be ahead of PJ for the 6th starter gig because he is already on the 40man. Duncan said he wouldnt have thought to bring him up last year…but this year he said he will be paying close attention. If a spot start is all that is needed, then i think BLake will get the nod over PJ (as long as he is pitching well enough) if for no other reason than to keep a 40man spot open just in case. Blake still has very nice stuff. Now if a staretr woudl go down for along period, then i think PJ or Boggs might get a bit more consideration with Blake… Blake needs to get a shot against MLBers so out guys can see if being an SP is really in his future. If not, i dont think he is out of the organization. I think he woudl be a great set up man, much like Franklin.
I dont get the Stavy callup ideas though…i woudl think Barton woudl get that nod, since he can play a bit better defense and provides a little spark…Mather woudl seemingly get the first callup if an OFer was needed which woudl give us the bigger bat…if heaven forbid we needed a second OFer BArton seems the most logical because ofh is experience, 40man spot, better defense and speed
jager, if they had any concern about adding Walters to the 40-man, they wouldn’t have altered the Memphis rotation to keep him available for the first week in case he was needed in StL. I think if a spot starter was needed from the guys already on the 40-man, Boggs would get the call. He was sent down earlier in camp because he wasn’t 100% healthy coming in. Of course all this can change once the season begins and people perform in games that count. It also depends on timing as to who is ready on any given day.
Good point on Barton. I meant to mention him in the original post but got all focused on P.J. and forgot to come back to it.
I dunno..i see what you are saying about PJ, but it seemed like he got put there mroe to cover Carp for that Memphis game more than getting ready to the 6th man…. still you coudl be right. As for Boggs over Hawk..i just dont see it right now…mayeb he gets it because of the cred from last year…which is legit no doubt…but I dont think Hawk is that far off, especially if we are going on Spring Training buzz and performance. I jsut dont feel Boggs getting a call unless Hawk is stinking it up…if for no other reason than making sure Boggs is totally healthy…he got knocked around a lot when comign up last year and im not sure TLR wnts to do that to him again, especially if an injury is not that far off… My main point is that people seem to want to throw Blake away as if he is worthless…he hit some injuries at a bad time and is finally starting to get it together again…will it continue? I dunno…buti like his stuff, either from the rotation or the pen, i thin he has a future in STL. Catching the eye and interest if Duncan can be a tough thing, and Blake definitely is not out of Duncan’s sight and thoughts so i dont think he shoudl be out of ours either.
jager,
PJ’s dad posted right before opening day that they were doing a rain/snow dance in their household for Opening Day. Referenced a Saturday start. Made it pretty clear that the plan was for PJ to have a ML start on Saturday if Opening Day had to be postponed with an ensuring split DH’er the next day.
Walters pitched a tremendous game for Memphis on Saturday night – a two-hit shutout for seven innings with six strikeouts and just one walk. Congrats to him.