“He was not progressing the way we needed or expected him to,” Luhnow wrote in a text message. “We need to give the valuable innings to other players who deserve the opportunity.
His performance was cited as a reason for the release.
“He had been given substantial opportunities in the organization,” Warner said. “He wasn’t progressing the way we had hoped and the way we thought he would. He was taking innings away from guys we thought were more deserving.”
But it wasn’t enough for the organization. Warner said Herron’s release was based solely on his performance on the field.
{Update}
I have no idea who Luhnow is referencing in “other players” if they are looking at performance. Herron hasn’t been great but he’s certainly been as good as some of the other guys they keep around (and promote) so that doesn’t add up for me.
All the talk of performance strikes me as odd but at this point, there’s no way for us to know what else it might be. You have to hope the team isn’t being disingenuous when revealing why he was released but teams (not just ours) have been known to DL people for mysterious illnesses; it would be naive to think they aren’t capable of telling the truth but telling it slant.
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With all the emphasis on performance, it makes you think it’s not really about performance. It’s like when a new signee says “it wasn’t about the money”.
Taking innings from who? Brandon Dickson? Brad Furnish? Ryan Kulik? These are not prospects, and this statement is transparently false.
I don’t understand it. I assume there’s something else going on. I find it hard to believe that his performance merited release or that he had no trade value.
False. Why lie? Why not just say that he was released and leave it at that. Don’t understand this one… I guess they theoretically would need to protect him this year but sheesh…
In other news, anyone here where in the world is Mark McCormick?
The tail end of today’s strauss chat on the PD site suggests the real explanation: “He apparently did little to impress the major-league staff and, according to some in the organization, had coachability issues. I wish I had more for you.”
“Coachability issues”? The truth is out there.
Didn’t he sign a $675k signing bonus in ’05? It’s no wonder the Cards never have any money, they’re constantly wasting it. Between Kennedy, Greene and Herron that’s a pretty good bat that could added to the lineup.
There is more to the to the story and yes I don’t think they were going to protect him from Rule 5. I don’t know about anyone else but this rule 5 thing is a joke. It takes most players 5 years to make it to the bigs. So why should you have to protect college players after 3 years and HS players after 4 years. I think if it takes more than 5 years you should be able to resign them as free agents as the current system allows. But the 3 year deal for College Players is really too little. Most pitchers take 4 or 5 years unless agressively promoted. This is one of the reasons that I believe you see players being moved threw the organization faster.
Take a guess who it is?
Selected by the Cardinals out of Louisiana State University in the seventh round (No. 230 overall) of the June 2005 First-Year Player Draft…resides in Houston, Texas.
Took this guy 4 years.
Nick Stavinoha
@redbird … have no problem with the rule 5. if the org thinks they will be major league talent, they add them to the 40 man which gives them 3 more option years (correct???) so it’s not like the player has to be a star within 4 years of being drafted. Rule 5 gives the players a chance to catch on with a team that gives values them more. If the big club doesn’t protect and no one values them that highly, they are still under the original team’s control.
This one is a head scratcher. OK…so say he was hard to coach or not a great clubhouse guy. He wasn’t pitching that bad really this year. His BB’s were high but his ERA wasn’t too bad at 4.3X. Why not try to use him in a insignificant trade to get something back or a smaller piece in a bigger trade? You can’t tell me some team out there wouldn’t have been at least semi-interested.
I am thinking this is a tough time for all sides.
Eddie Degerman was activated from the 7 day DL and took the roster spot of Herron. If Herron was taking inning away from guys like Degerman, that wouldn’t bother me at all.
it’s blatantly obvious this isn’t about performance and i think most of us with a brain can surmise that.
Pretty sure Jess Todd got the call up, guessing Lohse to DL. He should arrive in St. Louis tomorrow.
Todd? Really? I’m thinking one guy up as a starter for lohse’s next turn – boggs? And one guy up as bullpen help – walters or the hawk, maybe kinney or even scherzer as other 40-man types. Thompson and perez down to memph. I don’t see them putting todd on the roster just as a temp.
I know 100% for sure Jess got the call.
The organization said it was about his performance on the field. What is the big conspiracy? I must be looking at different numbers than everyone else because from the ones I’ve seen—Herron was ordinary at best. And I’m sure most of you know that stats in the minors can be misleading. When coaches are trying to get a pitcher to use a new pitch in games, he can get blown up while learning those new pitches. The kid more than likely had attitude problems and good for the organization for taking the high road. I think the point that everyone is missing is this: The guy was once a top prospect and if there was ANY hope that he was on the radar—-the organization would have been able to trade him. The fact that they could get no return for a once top prospect screams volumes about Herron’s current potential.
Herron had “myeh” numbers, but look at those around him. Performance isn’t the backbreaker here. The term “coachability” can cover a lot of issues…
Regarding Todd getting the call as opposed to a starter, I’m thinking LaDuncan wants Boyer to step into the vacant role and see if they can “Wellemeyer” him. Just a hunch.
When is Piniero set to pitch again? If he is back in the rotation, Thompson earned the next shot at the 5th spot with his performance the other night. It makes sense to add bullpen help since they were likely depleted the last couple of days.
Herren to be replaced in the rotation by Brad Furnish (per Goold). It’s hard to see why this perennial underachiever is more worthy of the innings than Herren. If Furnish has “coachability,” we haven’t see much evidence of it.
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