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Bad news for the pen.
Keynan Middleton (forearm strain) was an under-the-radar free-agency signing for the #STLCards in Jan. and he figured to be a key piece in their 'pen.
He had not walked a hitter in 3 scoreless IP this spring. He last pitched in a game on March 7. He'll open on the 15-day IL.
— John Denton (@JohnDenton555) March 16, 2024
The very fact that Mo had to go outside the org and hire a middle relief guy is disgraceful. The woeful and abject failure of the pitching pipeline is really a remarkable development. If you can’t produce your own middle relief, you need to get out of the baseball business. And yes, I know we were looking at him handling later inning set up type work. The fact Mo went out and hired a middle relief guy to do setup work is telling, and pathetic.
I didn’t target him, but he does add a couple hundred mlb IP to the pen, off of a good platform season.
As a career mid-leverage reliever I was expecting him to be given some higher lev sits, which he’s had in the past, to help him graduate to a late inning holds/saves guy we could count on.
We’ve got many unproven candidates. I hope they are not pushed into roles they can’t handle.
bccran wrote……
I don’t get all these injures. Is it because of weights, or over conditioning in other areas?
I’ve never understood all the injuries either. And I’ve wondered about weights and all the other off-season conditioning programs.
I still say Herzog put it best – just eat hot dogs and drink beer. As old as I am I think I could still go out there and play and not get injured all the time.
r/Esteemed Rat
I’ve never understood all the injuries either.
My theory is if a kid wants to be taken seriously he has to throw heat from a young age. The damage begins before they are old enough to shave. It’s just a matter of time the arm comes apart. Every year there’s a kid “hitting 98, sitting 95”, and everybody is frothing at the mouth and backing a dumptruck of money into his driveway to great fanfare for all to see and dream about. Its enticing kids to their own destruction, enlisting coaches and dads to help. I don’t think bubble wrapping them their draft year does any good, because its already too late.
I don’t know what to do about it, but I don’t think all the injuries is hard to understand.
If O’Brien continues to pitch well, and with King not showing much so far, as of today the bullpen starting out looks like it’s going to be:
Helsley
Gallegos
Kittredge
Romero
Pallante
Liberatore
Fernandez
O’BrienIt seems most of the pitchers that they sign on the cheap rarely work out and if they do they extend them prematurely,a very dismal record indeed
Middleton and Rodriguez out, Pallante and O’Brien added. King wasn’t in your last draft either, Mud. I liked your placement of Pallante, pushing Kittridge and Romero up. So we have a top 3 familiar with their roles, and many ladder climbers trying to establish themselves.
Pallante’s glaring deficiency is the reverse split. He gets hit hard by righties. His K rate is low and his K/BB is so bad it is very concerning. Maybe this or that will happen, but if some swing and miss guys are looking good this year, Andre may be running out of time.
Yes, vs rightie issue / trend needs correcting quick.
I think Mudville is watching who is being effective in ST, and I’m not, so I’m working off his template 🙂
With the projected pen now scrambled, I thought it would be useful to see who has been getting the most looks.
There is a group with 7 appearances:
Ryan Fernandez
Nick Robertson
Riley O’Brien
John KIngBehind them is a group with 6 appearances:
Romero
Kittredge
Gallegos
Pallante
Leahy – not on 40 man
W. Rodriguez – not on 40 manHelsley has 5
Liberatore and Thompson have been working up as starters and have 4.The name that pops out is Robertson, for not having been in the conversation, yet is getting looks. He is one of the high K rate guys Mo went out and got, presumably because he doesn’t like the guys we already had.
The low K rate guys on the list are King and Pallante. They are vulnerable. Of course, there would have to be a better option, but we must remember that the definition of better has probably shifted.
I think Mud has it right. 4 guys are virtual locks to make it. Pallante has pitched well, has his new “deathball” to combat righties, and still gets ground balls at one of the most elite rates in MLB history so he’s in. Fernandez has been solid enough to keep rather than giving him back for peanuts. So he’s in. O’Brien has been one of the best so far (after Helsley & Kittredge) so I think he’s now earned a spot.
That leaves 4 possibilities for the last guy (Wilking Rodriguez has had serious command issues so I’m excluding him): King and Liberatore from the left side and Robertson and Leahy from the right. Of that group, Leahy has had the best results, but he’s not currently on the 40 man roster so someone would have to get booted out if he were added. With Liberatore, the Cardinals may still obstinately want to keep him as a starter. I understand that, but with the logjam of starters in the Minors, I think he should be moved to the pen and be the final guy. King hasn’t looked very good and Robertson looks like he’s still ironing out a few of his pitches which could be done at AAA. So my preference would be Libby for that final spot but it wouldn’t surprise me if the Cardinals go with King despite him being the least deserving just because he’s a lefty and has the most MLB bullpen experience.
Liberatore, if effective, could take on the multi-inning role better than King.
Bernie recently showed our current rotation made 80 six inning (or more) starts last season.
The multi-inning role could help Libby get 80+ IP, even if he’s in no-ones rotation.
I agree with mud’s projection. Fernandez is a rule 5 guy so they have incentive to keep him and O’Brien has been very impressive so far.
I still say Herzog put it best – just eat hot dogs and drink beer.
Remember, during Herzog’s watch, we had a few vegetarians, such as John Tudor? And they were getting hurt all the time
So vegetarian diet is to blame.
I didn’t think is was, but someone on the coaching staff back then made some comments to that effect. Not sure about the White Rat, though …..
Hopefully Middleton won’t be out long but I must say that one thing the front office did over the winter was bringing in some nice looking under the radar relievers in addition to Middleton. I am speaking of Kittredge, Fernandez, O’Brien, and Robertson. Who knows how those guys will look under the bright lights but we may have really improved our bullpen depth. I think most, if not all, of those guys were affilitated with previous teams of Chaim Bloom so perhaps he deserves a little credit there.
Kittredge, Fernandez, O’Brien and Robertson accounted for 34 IP last season, and you are right, who knows how they will perform. Half our pen.
We should know if we are sellers, pretty early on.
I’m with Jnevel’s logic all the way as far as bullpen composition with a couple of weeks of spring training to go. I would only add that, besides O’Brien’s outstanding performance so far this spring, Blake Newberry said in WWW, that O’Brien has been working on new pitches recently. O’Brien has been Blake’s’ surprise/sleeper for this spring.
I’ve been viewing Pallante as a RH version of King. GB experts but shaky vs righties.
JoJo Romero as the Genisis Cabrera role, with similar results. Brilliant, then where did the strike zone go. JoJo is trying to climb the late inning reliever ladder. Role changes up, in leverage situations, have a real failure rate. I expect struggles and brilliant outings. No take-backs on that trade.
Helsley has IP / injury concerns but I’ll take all the shutdown impact I can get.
Gallegos has been a mainstay since Martinez was the closer. His effectiveness took a dip last season and I’m genuinely concerned. No take-backs on the GG trade too.
I guess we have a white horse ready for Kittredge to ride in and save the day. I hope you guys really like what you’ve seen so far.
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