Quad Cities alters tandem rotation

After starting the season with five pairs of tandem starting pitchers, the St. Louis Cardinals’ A-level club, the Quad Cities River Bandits, have dropped the pairings down to four, effective this weekend.

In the process, the Midwest League club moved one pitcher down to Extended Spring Training, George Brown, and slid two others into the bullpen. They are Miguel Tapia and Andres Rosales. In addition, 2008 River Bandit then surprise retiree Josh Wilson is back, promoted from Extended Spring Training to take Brown’s place.

Bravo was promoted from EST one week ago when Chuckie Fick was bumped up to Palm Beach. With the arrival of Wilson, that tandem pairing has both Quad Cities newbies.

These pairings remained the same:

Adam Veres and Gary Daley

Kevin Thomas (pictured) and Hector Cardenas

These changed:

From Jonny Bravo and George Brown

To Bravo and Josh Wilson

From Miguel Tapia and Scott McGregor

And Andres Rosales and Arquimedes Nieto

To McGregor and Nieto

With Tapia and Rosales to relief

Wilson was to have his first tandem start of the season following Bravo on Friday, but the game was suspended in the second inning due to rain, to be resumed on Saturday. Veres/Daley take the hill for Saturday’s regularly-scheduled contest, then Thomas/Cardenas go on Sunday, the first pair to come off three days rest. In the previous five-pairing system, the latter turn would instead have been taken by Rosales/Nieto.

After a day off on Monday, Tuesday’s double-header at Peoria is driving a very minor adjustment, with both tandems getting a start. McGregor will take the mound in game one while his tandem partner, Nieto, will start in game two. The normal four-man rotation of Wilson/Bravo and so on will follow.

Following are the stats for the Quad Cities starters this season coming into Friday’s game ordered by ERA. “T1” etc. shows the new tandem pairings in order, with “BP” denoting those shifted to relief. “PB” is for Palm Beach and “EST” is for extended spring training.

2009 QC starters W L ERA G GS SV IP H R ER HR HB BB SO WHIP
Adam Veres T4 2 0 0.54 6 3 0 16.2 12 4 1 0 0 12 20 1.44
Kevin Thomas T1 2 0 1.31 7 2 1 20.2 12 4 3 0 0 5 13 0.82
Arquimedes Nieto T2 0 2 3.26 6 2 0 19.1 17 9 7 1 3 6 23 1.19
Andres Rosales BP 2 1 4.08 6 2 0 17.2 14 8 8 2 3 11 18 1.42
Chuckie Fick PB 0 2 4.24 4 3 0 17 21 9 8 1 0 4 13 1.47
Miguel Tapia BP 0 2 5.03 7 3 0 19.2 20 13 11 2 0 9 21 1.47
Hector Cardenas T1 2 1 5.40 5 3 1 18.1 21 17 11 1 0 5 14 1.42
George Brown EST 0 2 6.16 8 3 0 19 21 16 13 1 1 10 14 1.63
Scott McGregor T2 1 1 6.75 6 3 0 18.2 26 17 14 1 0 5 18 1.66
Gary Daley T4 2 0 10.54 7 2 0 13.2 20 19 16 3 0 12 19 2.34
Jonny Bravo T3 0 0 36.00 1 0 0 1 1 4 4 0 0 6 3 7.00
Josh Wilson T3

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.