Anyone who caught Tuesday’s St. Louis Cardinals series opener in Pittsburgh witnessed Todd Wellemeyer get hammered 7-1 by a badly slumping Pittsburgh Pirates club, losers of eight straight and 12 of their last 13 games coming in.
It was such a bad evening that when Wellemeyer tried to retaliate against a pair of Cardinals hit batters by firing a pitch up at Freddy Sanchez, he missed the second baseman entirely, throwing behind him.
But the subject of this post isn’t to complain about Wellemeyer, who allowed seven runs on nine hits over 4 1/3 innings. Instead, it is a quick look at the troubles of the Cardinals starting pitchers as a group this season to-date.
In the big picture, Chris Carpenter remains on the disabled list, Adam Wainwright is consistently allowing too many baserunners, Kyle Lohse and Joel Pineiro were sick then off their respective games and Mitchell Boggs remains youthfully inconsistent.
On one hand, even with the Tuesday loss, the starters in aggregate have a 15-8 (.652) record, among the best in the National League.
A look at their numbers in greater depth illustrates some of the problems. The table below lists the NL starting pitching stats by team coming into Tuesday’s game ranked by ERA. I then added Wellemeyer’s Tuesday line into the totals, giving the up-to-date Cardinals a second line.
| RK | CLUB | W | L | PCT | ERA | G | IP | H | TBF | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | AVG |
| 1 | LOS ANGELES | 14 | 6 | 0.700 | 3.70 | 33 | 185 | 149 | 776 | 80 | 76 | 12 | 84 | 153 | 0.224 |
| 2 | SAN FRANCISCO | 11 | 10 | 0.524 | 3.96 | 31 | 179.2 | 160 | 764 | 82 | 79 | 21 | 82 | 175 | 0.241 |
| 3 | ATLANTA | 13 | 12 | 0.520 | 3.99 | 32 | 189.2 | 176 | 812 | 93 | 84 | 20 | 73 | 162 | 0.246 |
| (4) | St. Louis (5/11) | 15 | 7 | 0.682 | 4.00 | 32 | 189 | 205 | 811 | 96 | 84 | 14 | 64 | 125 | 0.281 |
| 4 | PITTSBURGH | 11 | 13 | 0.458 | 4.04 | 31 | 189.1 | 183 | 803 | 91 | 85 | 18 | 70 | 100 | 0.261 |
| 5 | ARIZONA | 8 | 16 | 0.333 | 4.14 | 33 | 193.1 | 184 | 814 | 92 | 89 | 29 | 65 | 148 | 0.250 |
| 6 | CINCINNATI | 17 | 11 | 0.607 | 4.14 | 32 | 198 | 188 | 843 | 99 | 91 | 25 | 76 | 150 | 0.251 |
| 7 | HOUSTON | 7 | 12 | 0.368 | 4.17 | 32 | 172.2 | 178 | 741 | 84 | 80 | 13 | 67 | 124 | 0.274 |
| 8 | MILWAUKEE | 10 | 10 | 0.500 | 4.19 | 32 | 187 | 170 | 803 | 93 | 87 | 27 | 75 | 145 | 0.242 |
| 9 | CHICAGO | 13 | 8 | 0.619 | 4.22 | 31 | 185.2 | 176 | 791 | 91 | 87 | 27 | 70 | 171 | 0.251 |
| 10 | St. Louis (5/12) | 15 | 8 | 0.652 | 4.24 | 33 | 193.1 | 214 | 836 | 103 | 91 | 16 | 67 | 129 | 0.285 |
| 11 | NEW YORK | 15 | 8 | 0.652 | 4.42 | 31 | 175 | 167 | 767 | 91 | 86 | 18 | 82 | 138 | 0.253 |
| 12 | COLORADO | 9 | 11 | 0.450 | 4.59 | 30 | 170.2 | 169 | 747 | 94 | 87 | 20 | 74 | 121 | 0.259 |
| 13 | FLORIDA | 8 | 12 | 0.400 | 4.61 | 32 | 183.1 | 196 | 809 | 104 | 94 | 19 | 65 | 141 | 0.271 |
| 14 | SAN DIEGO | 5 | 11 | 0.313 | 4.71 | 32 | 179.2 | 174 | 772 | 99 | 94 | 16 | 80 | 144 | 0.259 |
| 15 | WASHINGTON | 9 | 11 | 0.450 | 5.16 | 31 | 167.1 | 199 | 770 | 116 | 96 | 22 | 78 | 96 | 0.295 |
| 16 | PHILADELPHIA | 7 | 10 | 0.412 | 6.28 | 29 | 157.2 | 196 | 722 | 110 | 110 | 38 | 58 | 114 | 0.308 |
On Monday, the Cards starters were fourth in the league in ERA at an even four runs per game. Once Wellemeyer’s Tuesday performance was added in, almost a quarter run per nine innings was lumped on the starters. That would drop them all the way from fourth down to tenth in the NL.
Another indication of the concern is the batting average of the opposing hitters. Prior to Tuesday, the Cardinals starters were touched for a .281 batting average, third-worst in the league. Wellemeyer raised that to .285 on Tuesday.
There is some positive news in that Carpenter is inching closer to a return, perhaps taking the mound in rehab later in the week, but the current five starters seem to be struggling all at once. With Monday’s day off, instead of skipping Boggs this time through, Tony La Russa instead decided to give Lohse and Wainwright an extra day of rest. It seems early for that, but given everything it is probably a good thing.
As a result of the difficulties, the Cardinals are playing only .500 ball over their last ten games. Obviously, over the long haul, that won’t be good enough. While St. Louis is still on top of the NL Central, they are also just two games out of where they finished last season – in fourth place.
Brad Thompson could get some starts, if Wellemeyer cannot right himself. Or Mortensen. Or McLane. Or Walters. Or Hawksworth. Good news: the Cards have some depth at Memphis.
For years, the Memphis team could not play .500 ball, indicative of the weakness of the minor league system. However, in 2009, Memphis is winning games, even though some hitters began cool (Jay, Stavinoha, Anderson, Freese, Mather, Craig, Hoffpauir). These guys are good bets to heat up with the weather.
McLane may be in the tradition of Ludwick, Thurston, Barden, a low profile minor league veteran sought by the Cards to fill a need.
That extra days rest also lines Lohse and Wainwright up against the Brewers Friday and Saturday. Tony knows if we get blown there, at home, its man the life boats. Pittsburgh hasn’t been winning, but they are hitters. Considering a number of scenarios I’m looking at, we could easily be in 4th place next Monday. I see the news on Ludwick is a Hammy. Tony may be through experimenting for awhile. He needs 6 runs tomorrow for a W.
Injuries are an important aspect of the game. One bit of good news is the injuries to Carpenter, Ankiel, and now maybe Ludwick have not been as serious as with Glaus and Mather. The former will return before too long. In the interim, injuries provide a chance for rookies to gain valuable experience. This silver lining will strengthen the Cards in the future.
Let’s make this a thread about optimism and perseverance.
Its encouraging to see Tommy Pham get another homer and steal at Palm Beach. PB is tough for a lot of hitters, who later get a lift at AA.
At Quad Cities, Morales and Edwards are warming up with the weather, each clubbing 5 homers. If Morales keeps it up, he will find himself at PB.
Some negative nellies will worry about Ryde Rodriguez. Ryde-Rod played mostly in the Gulf Coast last summer; its a huge leap up to the Midwest League; the Cards are just trying to give Ryde some early experience at the Quad, because he should be assigned to Johnson City or Batavia after those teams form up.
One of the strengths of this team is its bullpen. The righthanders in descending ERA order are Franklin, Boyer, Perez, McClellan, Motte, and Thompson. Thats a good group, so far. Dunc has Boyer pitching well for the first time since 2005 and Motte has been fine since removed from the closer role. Reyes and Miller provide the loogies needed.
I have a hunch Boggs will turn out ok. He has enough experience and arm strength to hold his own.
A rotation of Lohse, Wainwright, Pineiro, Boggs, and Wellemeyer is what it is. It can battle, but its probably a 50-50 group.
The crucial guy is Carpenter. We need him to take time to get over the muscle strain. When he comes back, he gives us a Cy Young winner and elite pitcher who will win most games. Carp can give this team a big lift and make everyone else look better. Carpenter is to the pitching what Pujols is to the hitting, the key guy.
Command seems to be the biggest issue. A lot of pitches over the middle of the plate. Add some seeing eye hits and you get a lot of crooked numbers. Command comes and goes and all of these guys have had better command most of their Cardinal starting careers.
The injuries are hurting. Carp would be the big stopper that we need now. We had a herd of rookies in the game at the end last night. Not the lineup we started the season with.
We are also hitting a lot of attem balls lately and warning track shots. Every team goes through those streaks. When all the bad happens at once.
Does anyone think the Phillies are stealing our signals or reading our pitchers. We can’t seem to get any of them out. Ditto the Pirates.
At this point, I’d rather see Boggs stay in the rotation than Wellemeyer. I know that is not going to happen, barring another injury, but something’s just not right with Welle.
“Let’s make this a thread about optimism and perseverance.”
Jumbo…………. We are adults here. As discussed at length pre-season, pitching cannot hide everything. The season is developing every day. Good teams win by bludgeoning there opponents on occasion. Often if necessary. 10/9 8/7……..what ever it takes. Pitchers can’t give you just two or three runs to beat every night. We technically, are an inferior hitting team. Pittsburgh will very likely sweep the Cards with the at bats we are taking. Everyone starts going off-field against the Reds in game three, and all are hero’s. Now were back to players trying to get their power numbers up for their career considerations. Cinnci pounded the Cardinals away for two and a half games before any adjustments were made. What that about? The “giving young players experience” comment is lacking. We will only have young players shortly. At this rate, in two weeks you won’t be talking about anyones numbers except Albert’s. BD will make his presents known this month sometime.
“BD will make his presents known this month sometime.”
I hope he knows my birthday is coming up next month.
Heroes is plural of hero, not hero’s. Presence not presents. Not sure every adult here is up to speed on his dictionary.
Duke is a good southpaw, back on his game. Happily, the next five games, the Cards should see right-handers. Watch for them to hit more than against Duke.
All pitchers throw the majority of their pitches away, because outside pitches are harder to pull for distance. Its nothing earth-shaking, not a new tactic recently discovered by the Reds.
Dizzy, you might want to slip him a reminder.
Jumbo, as we fall farther back, your lines of reason and argument will once again become the fashion. Thanks for the proof read. I’m practicing Rodrigo songs in Spanish at the moment which heightens my insensitivity to English grammar and spelling.( which we all are aware are sorely lacking) As I read you message again Jum, who are you performing for? As the games pass, anyone that bares witness to what is said here will form their own opinions. Hit more??? Nasty lefty???
Jumbo, Ryde was sent back to EST.
To bear witness, like the right to bear arms, is borne, rather than bared.
The Cards match up better against right-handed pitching opponents, such as they will be facing.
Ryde-Rod is aptly-situated at EST, for the time being.
The very gravity of my intellect and grammatical insistence will undoubtedly change future rules of usage.
Are you saying that its happening tonight for the Cards Jumbo? Are you saying Duncan is going to respond to the call as the clean-up? I can’t exactly hear you. Your mumbling.
Our lads are eager to go after opposing pitchers during the next five games.
Brian, thanks for the info on Ryde. He needed to get back to EST and pump some iron, firm up those muscles. Its go time for Jarred Bogany to rip into MWL pitching.
“Another indication of the concern is the batting average of the opposing hitters. Prior to Tuesday, the Cardinals starters were touched for a .281 batting average, third-worst in the league. Wellemeyer raised that to .285 on Tuesday.”
That makes me nervous. Part of that is clearly the lack of strikeout pitchers on the team, but part of it is defense. Any idea where the Cards stand in BABIP?
St. Louis relies on its defense to make outs, but this season they’ve got Greene instead of Izturis at shortstop, Schumaker instead of Ryan/Miles/Kennedy at second, and a number of middle infielders playing out of position at third base instead of Glaus. They’ve got Duncan out there in the outfield and they had been trotting Ankiel out in CF and Rasmus in RF at times when their roles should have been reversed.
One thing is clear. The salary dumping will start 6 weeks earlier for most teams. Its highly unlikely that K Greene makes the deadline now. He doesn’t represent any real chemistry. The question is, are we willing to take on salary in a trade. And for what. The Troy issue is unlikely to go away. Management will start talking him up soon enough since they know they’re stuck with him. Carpenters return won’t hurt, but Tony has now platooned all the juice out of Barden and some of the early spark plugs. Stava is a sign of the end times. I’m watching Arizona. They could be an example of a new depression era strategy in which a team tries to bail all salary to rebuild in the highly stressed free agent market. oh ya. With new coaches!
Nutlaw, I only recall seeing BABIP for hitters, though I know what you are asking.
WC, the wild card is the same this season as last, so I see no reason to think trading will be any different timing-wise this year across MLB.
Westie, can you name specific players who the Cards have salary dumped during a season? This topic seems to fever your mind, yet seems solely based on what you think some other teams do.
Since this is the optimism thread…..I like the way Springfield hits the ball. If Robinson and Stavinoha do not impress in the majors, could Steven Hill get a call from AA? I doubt it, since it would tie down a roster slot for next November. But Hill is unusally effective with the lumber.
Sad to say, I even like it when Palm Beach struggles. This puts pressure on the Cards to send reinforcements from extended spring training.
Boggs will have to get after the Pirates tomorrow. Right now, hes our ace.
The Cards pitchers are at .301 in BABIP while the league is at .297. Last year the team was slightly below the league, .298 to .300.
I think new ideas are likely Brian. I’m watching Cinci work AZ as I write. The fans are making odd noises. Its difficult to recognize or remember the implications of moves and non move that were made pre-season. This isn’t about injured players. The team has problems. It has had problems. There is an expense to Tony’s platoon system. It makes him a critical part of the Team chemistry. When players no longer respond to each other, and coaches have made there moves, thats trouble. Carp could give a lift, but our real weaknesses won’t be addressed. Chris D throwing his helmet down two times in a row, thinking that behavior is appropriate, is a sign of little league immaturity, aimed at daddy no doubt. This is more than a losing streak. Its an exposure of an unbalance team chemistry. I’m smiling because the bull pen guys are all loose because they have nothing but mop up to deal with. You know that the cost of this will be Pujols? He will get more opportunities on a losing team. His numbers will flourish as they did late last year, when we fell out of contention. Think about Greene’s physical Brian. This team was aware of complications. SD was entertaining a legal action based on the obvious, supported probably by his private history. They didn’t because it wasn’t a viable strategy. He is showing a restricted range all of a sudden. Inflammation in the wrist based on what trauma?
BD is busy right now. He will get around to baseball soon enough. I’m pretty sure his problems in the greater world aren’t going away soon.
Somewhere between WC’s view of darkness in every corner and Jumbo’s delight in seeing Cards minors teams lose because of the opportunity it creates is a happy, normal medium. I’d like to think that is where I am. Even if I am not, it is better to believe I am there.
Brian, sometimes its best not to drive at night. This team tried to make player moves based on future pay roll flexibility. That should be obvious by now. The only real argument is on whether they thought it would be justified in a future team concept. I’m almost positive that Pujols isn’t apart of their plans except on BD’s conditions. That will be unlikely considering Pujols push to be thought of as the greatest player. BD’s got the money. He just might not be able to use it in a timely fashion. It doesn’t really bother me. If everyone is healthy in two weeks, we might be able to crank it up, but for how long? Ankiel isn’t the solution, Duncan isn’t the solution, Rasmus is a kid, Shumaker is still a slow double play. Glaus is an unknown. He could have an upside, but if anyone offered anything of interest for him, they would snap it up in a New York minute.
We all want to believe that this is more than a entertainment, or a business with only a profit motive. I see that we have no jam. No matter what new discovery’s Wainwright comes up with, he will have to confront the truth, his arm angle changed for a reason, not by accident. His fastball wasn’t getting it and he instinctively tried to make his 12/6 curve more dominate by creating more downward motion. Yeah, it cooked his two seamer, but he will have to deal with the original problem of not locating his fastball when he flattens back out. And thats another story. Where the hell is Duncan now? Everyone gives him credit for the success, how about the rest?
The Cards system has a lot of extra players, as has been discussed. There are nearly 70 guys stashed at EST. If some minor league players do not do well, then there is a silver lining, in that poor performance enables the Cards to cull them quicker and allocate playing time to someone else.
Many folks write dominate, instead of dominant. Mr. Trauma is by no means unique in this particular pecadillo.
love you Jumbo.
While going nothing for three and dropping to .217, Greene also didn’t get to a grounder to his left in the sixth inning and saw not much about which to be happy.
“He’s getting upset,” said La Russa. “He’s banging things.”
Regarding his defense, which has featured six errors and other plays that didn’t get made, Greene said, “Early in the year, my defense was really bad. I can’t say why, necessarily. Just trying to find the speed to play at … I don’t know.”
Many of us fans like it when players bang things and throw their helmets. Its normal. It shows us that they care.
Players need to make sure they do not hurt themselves via their tantrums, as K Greene did last year in San Diego and Izzy supposedly did.
For perspective, K Greene is still ahead of Mitey Cesar’s OPS (by a wee bit) and there is potential for him to do much better with the stick. Last spring, Cesar made a few errors and press hotheads went beserk. SS is a tough position to play.
This winter, Mo must have felt great about a Murderer’s Row of Ankiel, Pujols, Ludwick, Duncan, Glaus. Now Rick and Luddy have been injured in the line of duty, while we had a bad medical read on Glaus.
When Glaus was finally diagnosed, we seemed in a good way, with Freese in reserve. But then Freese had a traffic accident. Fortunately, Mo had prepared for all eventualities, by having recruited Thurston and Barden. Its not like we would be doing better if we had Kennedy or Miles still on board.
The good news is we will get back some impact players, when they recover, in the near term. Meanwhile Kid Rasmus, Boggs, Robinson collect useful experience. Schumaker is doing ok fielding at 2B and uncorked a homer last night. We need production from Skip, Duncan, Rasmus, and Thurston, to help Albert and Yadier. Anything from Greene and Robinson is a plus. Boggs has the lowest ERA among the starters. We can beat the Pirates today, but they are not patsies on their home field and have a better lineup than last year. Go Boggs!
Two things helping the Pirates: 1. They are developing some young starting pitchers, in Duke, Maholm, Ohlendorf. 2. They came up with a useful leadoff man in Nyger Morgan found in a low draft round.
We could use Boggs to step up and become our Ohlendorf.
From the perspective of the Cards, the purpose of the minor league teams is to develop talent for the ML team. The won-loss records of minor league teams are of secondary interest. The Cards want to use minor league play to discover who can play from those who are less able. In this way, progress can still be made, even when a W-L record is lousy.
I’ll admit to some surprise at seeing Robinson start two games in a row and bat second. I know that they want Schumaker to continue to get practice at second base, but I’d move him back to the outfield while Duncan and Ankiel are out and use one of the infielders at second.
Er, while Ludwick and Ankiel are out.
There were many mistakes in the Littlefield issue. But the Pirates also deserve credit for doing some things right. McLouth was a low round draft find, probably because he required a big bonus as the top high school hitter coming out of the state of Michigan. Zach Duke was another great signing, at a low round. Morgan was a Canadian guy unearthered at Walla Walla CC at a low round. If the Pirates had made some better choices high in the draft, they would have won more games in recent years.
Littlefield era.
Nutlaw, TLR has gone on record as saying he doesn’t want to mess Schumaker up by moving him back to the outfield. I can see where he is coming from. If they are still fully committed to Skip at second, he needs as much work there as possible.
Tony takes a few chances, smartly gives the hook to Boggs, makes me nervous with Miller, has both Mott and Boyer up, thinks better of that idea. He is doing everything he can to win this game. Some more runs wouldn’t hurt.
TLR moves Schumaker to the outfield in late innings more often than every other game. What’s the harm in putting him there for a week?
Lohse sees pretty much whats expect. Stayed in the strike zone enough that off speed bailed him out against Braun and Fielder. Must stay agressive and take his chances. The other way is slow death.