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Here’s an article and a video of Pallante throwing his newly developed ‘death ball’ during this past offseason. Since it’s a new pitch, I wouldn’t be surprised if Pallante goes back to Memphis to practice throwing it to live batters. Also, I could see Thompson going to Memphis to work on his new ‘split change’ pitch. I think that would pretty much guarantee Liberatore that spot in the Cardinals’ bullpen.
https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2023/12/24/24013387/cardinals-in-the-lab-offseason-tracker
If Pallante does go down to Memphis, then I think they’ll keep Ryan Fernandez since they’ve got 100K invested in him, and they will lose half of that amount if they send him back to Boston.
You just can’t ignore John King’s success pitching out of the Cardinals’ bullpen in 2023. But Rom is also a lefty and could earn a spot. Then, there’s Robberse and Robertson who both show promise. Wilking Rodriguez was injured in 2023 and only pitched 5 innings. But he was lights out for those 5 innings. I’m going to call W-Rod my sleeper pick to make the major league bullpen, but I admit that I’ve got a soft spot for players like this who have been chasing the big bucks for so many years, but always keep missing out.
So, mudville’s 2024 bullpen coming out of Spring Training looks like this:
Helsley
Gallegos
Middleton
Kittredge
Romero
Liberatore
Fernandez
RodriguezA gaggle of printout clutching wonks are going to keep telling Mo that King is no good due to the lowly K rate. That will probably do him in. I do still think that at some point before opening day Mo will pull off some type of trade to thin out the herd of arms, since there are not enough roster slots for them all.
Thanks for posting a link to that video, mud. I had flagged it back when it came out intending to watch it and then lost track of it somehow. Very interesting stuff.
I have a soft spot for Pallante and Thompson because they had a rough way to go getting beamed up through the system and thrown to the wolves. If they could emerge it would be great. Also enjoyed seeing something on the new guy O’rielly.
I don’t know what the Cards saw in Fernandez. In 26 games at AAA last season he had an ERA of 6.16. WHIP of 1.565. Ouch.
What they saw is a K/9 of 10+ with a reasonable walk rate. He didn’t do so great in his 30 inning stint in AAA, but he did maintain the good K rate and walk rate vs the more advanced hitters. He will be 26 in June, so its now or never. I could easily see Mo sticking him at the end of the bench taking low leverage innings now and then. If the starters regularly go deep, the last guy on the bench out there could be my grandma.
Jacob Bosiokovic signed on to a minor league contract.
I saw on another thread that Ponce deLeon is looking for a job.
The Ponce release emphasized his unbelievable movement in three directions of 20 inches or more. The problem here is he had trouble locating pitches and had too many walks. They didn’t fix that. His handlers boasted he was now hitting 95 with ease. Interesting how they frame a reduction in velocity as growth.
Two groups of pen arms.
In-house:
Helsley
Gallegos
Pallante
Romero
LiberatoreAdditions:
Kittredge
Middleton
O’Brien
Fernandez
RobertsonWhich group will be better in 2024?
This is easy…..
if Helsley stays healthy,
if Gallegos returns to form after an off year in 2023,
if Pallante’s new ‘death ball’ is for real, if Romero pitches as well as he did in 2023,
if Liberatore turns out to be the lock down closer he wants to be,
then the first group will be the better of the two groups.I’ll take the first group too, but it could be close. I agree with some of the points Mud is making. Helsley will likely be healthier. Gio seems like he’s got to bounce back some after years of being extremely consistent. I’m not sold yet on him because while the slider still looks great, I think the fastball isn’t quite as sharp as it used to be. With Pallante, last season he was unlucky with ground balls getting through for base hits. Plus now he has that nasty “deathball”. Romero is likely to regress some, but he should still be pretty good. And Liberatore has all the tools to be excellent in the pen if the Cards choose to leave him there.
The 2023 version says Pallante and Liberatore struggle vs righties, which leaves Helsley and GG with setup/closer value. Romero may be better than Genisis Cabrera? What do you think?
The additions Kitttedge, Middleton, O’Brien, and Fernandez should all have a vs rightie best case. None bring the hold/save value of Helsley and GG, but they could bring what the pen needs. Hicks and Stratton both were effective vs righties.
I don’t have a feel for who will do what, but I do feel like it is an impressive group of names. It may take a few weeks to sort out who are the better performers, and who fits in what role, but I do not think our pen will be terrible like we thought last spring.
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