2009 marks the third year of the St. Louis Cardinals’ use of the tandem starter system at Class A, implemented by two full-season clubs, Palm Beach of the A-Advanced Florida State League and Quad Cities of the A-level Midwest League.
The primary benefit is to enable the organization to develop eight starting pitchers rather than five by pairing four groups of pitchers. The two in each pair take turns starting every fourth day, with the other following in relief. The starter might go five innings or 70-80 pitches, with the second starter scheduled to take over in the sixth.
Just as in 2008, the system has first been abandoned at A-Advanced Palm Beach, though this time around it occurred 19 games or about three weeks earlier than last season. The flash point was the promotion of ace Lance Lynn (pictured) to Double-A Springfield last weekend, but as one Cardinals official explained, “it wasn’t working as well this season as last.”
At the time the deployment of the tandem starters ended last season, the Florida State League club had played 40 games. The club’s record was a stellar 25-15 (.625), the second-best mark in the league and a major contributor to their four-game lead in the FSL East Division.
This season, the final game of the approach occurred on May 1, or about three weeks into the season. The club had a losing record, at 9-12 (.429). In all fairness however, it is difficult to assess the amount of blame for the decline to be placed on the tandem system itself. Clearly the club was looking for a change as when the switch was made, the Cardinals had lost 11 of their previous 13 games.
As the following table shows, the 2009 tandem starters did not earn a single win, in significant contrast to 2008. They had just five decisions in 21 starts. The piggyback starters managed a .500 record but blew four of five save opportunities this season, not performing as well as in 2008. The true relievers are doing slightly better in 2009 in terms of wins and losses, but do not seem to be the difference-makers in terms of this year-to-year comparison.
Looking at the offensive support provided helps to confirm the problems are not all pitching. The hitters’ scoring is down year-to-year between a half and three-quarters of a run per game. The Palm Beach offense is in the bottom third of the league in scoring this season despite them being third in batting average.
| 2008 40 games | Won-Loss | No-decisions | Saves/opps | Runs/game |
| Tandem starters | 9-8 | 23 | ||
| Piggyback starters | 10-2 | 6 of 8 | ||
| Relievers | 6-5 | not avail | ||
| Offense | 4.28 | |||
| 2009 21 games |
||||
| Tandem starters | 0-5 | 16 | ||
| Piggyback starters | 5-5 | 1 of 5 | ||
| Relievers | 4-2 | 5 of 6 | ||
| Offense | 3.67 |
In terms of the pitchers themselves, here are the initial pairings from the start of the season:
Mark Diapoules / Ryan Kulik
Brian Broderick / Lynn
David Kopp / Nick Additon
Shaun Garceau / Richard Castillo
Thomas Eager was the first starter candidate to move into relief as he was the odd man out from the nine potential starters coming out of spring training. Eager has been very busy out of the pen with a dozen appearances since.
This starting group remained intact until April 27 when Kulik was called up to Springfield. Scott Gorgen, coming off minor shoulder surgery, was promoted from Extended Spring Training to replace him.
Next was Lynn’s promotion on May 2. Chuckie Fick, who had been starting at Quad Cities, was the replacement. However, he went directly into relief upon joining Palm Beach.
The other tandem starters now moved to the bullpen are Garceau and Diapoules, leaving Gorgen, Broderick, Additon, Kopp and Castillo as the five-man rotation going forward.
Looking at the following table, sorted by ERA, one can understand how the decisions were made, as the two pitchers with the highest ERAs were reassigned to relief. Kulik’s ERA was not tidy, but check out his strikeout to walk ratio – same as Lynn’s 17-to-3 when he was promoted.
Those currently starting are denoted with an “S”, those promoted with a “P” and the pitchers moved to relief are labeled with an “R”.
The remaining guys really need to cut down on the free passes. As a team, the Cardinals currently lead the FSL with 107 walks, a bloated total that is 26% higher than the second-worst team and 41% above the league average.
| With Palm Beach | W | L | ERA | G | GS | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | WHIP |
| Scott Gorgen S | 0 | 0 | 1.29 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 0.71 |
| Lance Lynn P | 0 | 0 | 2.30 | 5 | 2 | 15.2 | 16 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 17 | 1.21 |
| David Kopp S | 1 | 2 | 3.18 | 6 | 4 | 22.2 | 25 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 17 | 1.50 |
| Brian Broderick S | 2 | 1 | 3.65 | 6 | 4 | 24.2 | 22 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 10 | 1.01 |
| Nick Additon S | 0 | 1 | 4.82 | 6 | 3 | 18.2 | 16 | 17 | 10 | 13 | 12 | 1.55 |
| Richard Castillo S | 0 | 3 | 5.14 | 6 | 3 | 21 | 26 | 17 | 12 | 11 | 8 | 1.76 |
| Ryan Kulik P | 1 | 1 | 5.25 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 15 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 17 | 1.50 |
| Mark Diapoules R | 1 | 1 | 5.79 | 6 | 3 | 14 | 18 | 10 | 9 | 14 | 11 | 2.29 |
| Shaun Garceau R | 0 | 2 | 6.16 | 6 | 3 | 19 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 1.26 |
It remains to be seen if the change can help right the Cardinals’ ship, but at least most of the way the first time through, it hasn’t yet helped the bottom line.
Since the tandem system was scrapped, four more defeats have ensued on 18 total runs allowed. That has extended Palm Beach’s skid to seven in a row and 15 losses in their last 18 games.
Hopefully, the Cardinals brass can come up with a way to tweak the offense too, as they scored just 11 runs in the four games, or fewer than three runs per, a trend that is not heading in the right direction.
For current rosters and up-to-date transactions at all levels of the Cardinals minor league system, don’t forget to check out the Roster Matrix.
Note that Future Redbirds has also posted a Palm Beach “Club Check” in the last 24 hours with additional information on the team worth checking out.
The downside to dropping the tandem is this drops Garceau and Diapoules into relief roles These guys have had some success in the past. Garceau’s WHIP this year has not been bad. With luck, Gorgen and Kopp can pitch their way up to AA, giving Garceau and Diapoules more work.
The Palm Beach W/L record has been slowed by modest slugging. Recent activation of Big Matt Arburr could help. Promotion of Cruz and return of Kozma would help in future.
1. Brian Barden, 3B
2. Joe Thurston, 2B
3. Albert Pujols, 1B
4. Ryan Ludwick, RF
5. Yadier Molina, C
6. Chris Duncan, LF
7. Khalil Greene, SS
8. Mitchell Boggs, P
9. Colby Rasmus, CF
What do you think Jumbo, Brian?
Hope this isn’t inconvenient Brian. The other thread was slowing down.
Duke’s success is his angle of attack, designed to tempt and disturb pull hitters. Thurston and Yadi have been enjoying the off field. Albert will if he has to. Everyone else tends see opportunities to pull that don’t exist. Hopefully Barden plays the role of a lead off hitter. We will need at least 5 runs.
You need more power in the #5 spot. Switch Molina and Duncan.
Thats Tony’s line up Nut.
Yeah, just noticed. Which of the two drove in the runs, though?
WC, in general, I don’t think about lineups. That’s TLR nano-stuff, not Jumbo’s. (You can discuss them with Brian and Dizzy, they seem to share your interest.)
Jumbo would have promoted Shane Robinson to platoon in CF with Kid Rasmus. TLR did the best with what he had by batting Rasmus 9th.
Thurston seems in good standing to collect a start over Skip.
I like Molina 5th against the southpaw. Sends a positive message to Molina.
Duncan is taking good at bats and in his prime, as a hitter.
Going back to this thread’s topic…..
Palm Beach needs more hitting. The other three minor league teams are finding ways to win, PB ways to lose.
Curt Smith seems the new Steven Hill. A real hitter, but with a tough problem finding a position.
Peterson is not a surprise. He is going to hit for average.
The improvement of Chambers is a surprise and a reward for the Cards playing him the past two seasons at JC and QC. As a football player, he had latent potential to improve, but its still nice that he has harnessed this.
In contrast, Pham has speed and arm, but his struggle at the plate is not a surprise. He needs to shorten his swing.
Another way to help the offense at Palm Beach would be to promote Cutler. He is too good for Midwest League pitching.
Beau, unless Kozma is a tremendous failure at Springfield, I sincerely doubt we’ll see him back with Palm Beach. They do need help offensively though, as they were shut out last night. 3-16 in their last 19 games.
The Cards are in a good situation viz. Kozma. The injury to Ryan allowed an upward ripple and the audition of Kozma at AA. If he plays ok, Pete can stay. When Tyler Greene bumps back to Memphis, Solano would find less playing time. Or, if Kozma is over-matched at AA, he can bump back to his normal development rung, Palm Beach. This either/or works out well for the Cards.
In 2007′s first half, Palm Beach enjoyed the tandem of Hamilton and Craig. The initial 2009 squad lacks pop beyond Curt Smith. Yet the Cards have lots of players at EST who can provide reinforcements to the A level teams. They recently seem to be making roster adjustments. More should follow.