Thanks for all the kind words about yesterday’s DFR. The talking head theater may strike again when you least expect it.
As for today’s bumper, I pose this to the group: During today’s Cardinals/Brewers broadcast, Mozeliak was quoted as saying they are aware of the Wellemeyer problem but that there is no one else in the entire organization that they can replace him with that is any better. Not to be too snide but Todd Wellemeyer has the worst WHiP in baseball and the 10th worst FIP. So, to put words into his mouth, John Mozeliak is saying that if we brought up Mitchell Boggs, Blake Hawksworth or Clay Mortensen, they would be worse than arguably the WORST PITCHER IN BASEBALL.
Anyone else really think that?
On to the DFR!
- I called out Mitchell Boggs. I said tonight Mitchell need to snap out of his funk and pitch his way into the Cardinals rotation. What did Mitchell do? Well, he went 2-for-3 with a HR. He also decided he’d pitch lights out baseball by walking 2, striking out 7 and giving up only 4 hits over 8 innings. He was tagged with an unearned run. The ball is in your court, Moz.
- Jess Todd was not so Destroyer like. He came in, gave up a HR but then decided to shut things down with 2 groundouts and a strikeout for the save. Enjoy Cleveland, Jess. /sadface
- Brett Wallace was the only major offense of the night (outside of Mitchell F. Boggs). He went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs. He also had 2 throwing errors but throwing errors are ok. It atleast means he got to the ball!
- Tyler Greene AWAKE. 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base.
- Brandon Yarbrough was 1-for-3 with a double.
- Shane Peterson was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
- Tyler Henley hit a double and had an RBI.
- Mike Folli went 2-for-3 with a triple and 2 runs scored.
- Ryan Kulik had a rough go of it. He only lasted 4.1 innings and gave up 7 ERs. He was tagged with 7 hits, walked 3 and only struck out 1.
- Samuel Freeman pitched 0.2 innings, giving up 2 hits, walking 1 and striking out 1.
- Brian Broderick gave up a run of his own in 2 innings. A hit, which was a HR, and a strikeout filled out his line.
- Eddie Degerman pitched an inning and was tagged for 2 hits and 2 ERs. He too gave up a HR, walked 1 and struck out 2.
- Aaron Luna had 2 doubles and an RBI.
- Oliver Marmol was 3-for-4 with a double.
- Domnit Bolivar picked up a double as well. He also had an error.
- Jorge Rondon probably wishes he had stayed in bed this morning. He pitched into the second inning but didn’t get any outs. He gave up 8 runs (7 earned) on 5 hits and 4 walks.
- Yonathan Gonzalez had to eat up some innings, pitching 3. He too gave up 5 hits. Yonathan walked 1 and struck out 2, while giving up 2 ER.
- Continuing the run hemorrhaging, Thomas Eager gave up 4 ER in his inning, with 3 walks and a homerun.
- Francisco Rivera pitched 1.2 innings giving up 2 more runs (1 ER) and Casey Mulligan mercifully finished the game off with 1.1 innings of scoreless baseball. He struck out 3.
Quad Cities 2, Lansing 1 (10 innings) Game 1
- Jose Garcia was 2-for-4 with the game winning RBI.
- Matt Carpenter had a double.
- Osvaldo Morales went 2-for-4 and picked up the other RBI.
- Hector Cardenas pitched 6 great innings, giving up 3 hits and 1 unearned run while striking out 5.
- Ramon Delgado pitched 2 innings of relief and allowed an inherited runner from Cardenas to score in the 7th. He gave up 2 hits and struck out 1.
- Matthew Frevert picked up the win by closing out the game with 2 innings, 1 hit and 3 strikeouts.
Quad Cities 4, Lansing 3 (11 innings) Game 2
- That’s right, that is 21 innings of baseball today for the QC.
- Alex Castellanos and Matt Carpenter went 2-for-5. Castellanos had a double.
- Jon Edwards was 2-for-4 with a HR and 2 RBI.
- Arquemedes Nieto used his death ray to strike out 7 batters in 4 innings. Unfortunately, the mirrors weren’t adjusted properly and 3 ERs snuck past.
- Nicholas McCully and David Carpenter both pitched a scoreless inning with a hit.
- Miguel Tapia pitched 3 perfect innings (other than his own error) and struck out 4.
- Joel Pichardo picked up the win pitching the last 2 innings and striking out 2.
- D’Marcus Ingram was 1-for-3 with and RBI, a walk and an OF assist.
- Xavier Scruggs picked up a hit.
- Jairo Martinez had a hit and a walk.
- Tyler Lavigne …yeah, and I’m Jerry Cougar Mellancamp, pitched 3 innings of 3 hit ball. He was tagged for 2 ERs and walked 1, striking out 3.
- Deryk Hooker was strong for 5 innings, striking out 5. He walked 1 and gave up a hit.
Entries (RSS)
Matt Frevert has been pretty much lights-out for QC this year. Does anyone know what his stuff is like?
In answer to the question posed:
Sadly, I suspect it may be all too true. If so, it’s a damning indictment of the Cardinals’ development of starting pitchers, but I have no confidence that the pitchers named or anyone else in the system would be any better than Wellemeyer has been this year.
I’m still not sure why Boggs is ahead of PJ on many peoples depth chart. Right now at AAA its:
FIP: 3.58 vs 4.85
k/9: 7.07 vs 6.26
bb/9: 2.78 vs 3.93
Whats making PJs number deceptively bad is his poor strand rate at 59%. His changeup is a major league out pitch. He should be getting a shot.
1)I think Duncan and Boggs are like oil and water. We should package him in our next deal because he and Dunc will not work.
2)Hopefully, the FO thinks Mortensen needs more seasoning.
3)Hawksworth—yes, I think the FO has lost faith in the guy.
So what about next year? Are we going to put one of these guys who aren’t better than the worst pitcher in baseball in our rotation? All of these guys have at least nearly a year of AAA experience so its not like they are likely to show vast improvements in 2 more months of minor league pitching.
Just like with prospects, in looking at current players we tend to think of their potential and I hope this is what Mo is doing. Welly when he is right can be very good (as he showed last year). It is just that he is seldom right with any consistency. If Mo is seeing this reality and still thinks none of these guys is any better than either we are in trouble with a lack of prospects or we are in trouble because of lack of talent evaluation skills at the top.
I thought that Boggs has pitched well, when he was in the Majors? Why would be and Duncan be oil and water, I don’t know much about him. To me Mortenson and Hawksworth really haven’t got much of a chance.. Have to get them some starts a young guy throwing long relief doesnt show what he can do.
I look at the problem this way. If what Moz is saying is that there is nobody in the organization that can pitch as well as Wellemeyer has so far, along with the fact that there is no bat to come up and help, Moz should be held accountable. Seriously. This was a thin team to begin with and I understand that Glaus, Freese & Mather are unavailable. But that’s been the case for most of the season. Walters and Boggs were not the disaster that Wellemeyer is most nights when they were up so I don’t understand the hesitation to make a move. Pitching rookies out of the bullpen is a poor meter for what they can contribute as starters, IMO.
Fine, Moz, we can just keep conceding every fifth game. But to say that Boggs or Walters wouldn’t give this team a better chance is not only wrong but, like Mike G said, a huge indictment of our farm system. Funny how perception changes so quickly.
Matt Carpenter has hit in 16 of 17 games (going 0-1 with a walk in the other). 9 of those 16 games were multiple hit games. He hasn’t shown much power though his ISO Slugging is over .200 at QC (no HR though). Does anyone know anything about his glove? Can he play anything other than 3rd?
Wellemeyer 2009 FIP in 100 IP: 4.90
Walters MLE FIP in 73.2 IP: 4.10
Mortensen MLE FIP in 92 IP: 5.25
Ottavino MLE FIP in 77.1 IP: 5.40
Boggs MLE FIP in 55 IP: 5.03
Hawksworth MLE FIP in 62.1 IP: 4.00
MacLane MLE FIP in 96.1 IP: 4.81
Hawksworth is the guy I’d most like to see get the chance. At AAA he’s posted great K/BB ratios (this year) and limited the opponents’ hit totals. And he’s already on the active 25 man roster.
And I’ve been reading this site for a while, but this is my first post. Great site, thanks for all the info all of you post here.
Welly was “right” for about 200 innings over the course of his career. Assuming he can settle into that kind of production strikes me as overly optimistic.
In Mo’s defense Boggs and Walters have pitched pretty bad at triple A this year, especially Boggs. Mort has pitched very well but he still needs more time, they rushed him last year to ask him to pitch in the big leagues this year but be really rushing him. In the end though it comes down to what it always does; they are paying Wellemeyer 5 million this year. As long as he throws a good start every 4 or so outings they are going to keep rolling him out there because of the price tag. It really doesn’t have much to do with someone else being able to do an equal job.
Sorry, but I would also have to go with Mozeliak on this one especially as it pertains to current crop of Memphis rookies. Dave Duncan has shown that he can get best out of very mediocre pitchers on numerous occasions, so I would not rule out getting back the 2008 version of Wellemeyer.
Nothing that I have seen out of Boggs, in particular, would change my mind on that one. Now, if Boggs can string together several starts at the minor league level like his last, then yeah lets get him up there. However, he has to “earn it” as Larussa likes to say, not just be handed the job. Besides the last time the Cards handed a guy a starters job that should have been in the minors, he went 2-14 with a 6.04 ERA.
Looks like Gorgen got promoted as he’s now on Springfield’s roster. I guess he and Lynn are the organization’s next great hopes. I was high on Castillo, Diapoules, Additon, and Rosales last year, but all seem to have faded.
Seems like the three OF at Springfield now are carbon copies of each other. All throw left, bat left, maybe 10-15 HR power, 15-20 SB speed, probably .290 hitters, and none play CF.
pHrEe MiTcHeLL BoGGs
- shane09 – Even though our Springfield OF has some similiar type players there is one that could be a game changer. DJ Tools doesn’t have a great arm but has speed…and plenty of it. If he continues to develop as a hitter and works on his base running/stealing he could be a legitimate top of the order hitter and play an above avg left field and cover alot of ground with Rasmus. I still think he is developing and not close to topped out. If he can add the element of basestealing he can be a very good professional OF IMO. I think the only other OF on our AA roster that could blossum is Henley. I need to see another year of him though.
What does FIP mean?
BayDan-
It is Fielding Independent Pitching…It measures things like strike outs, walks, home runs to produce a number that should represent an expected ERA if all fielding through out the league was equal.
google: “pitching fip”
Freaking Idiot Pitchers.
Thanks BigJawnMize. I wish you had had one more homer in 1947.
I like mine better.
I am still not sure what earned Boggs banishment. He has been solid. His big league numbers are good. The problem is LaRussa and Duncan don’t give the young guys the same chances that they give vets. while that might ordinarily be because the older guys have a history of success, Wellemeyer’s success is very limited. Why they keep running him out without giving the other guys a shot is beyond me.
I dislike FIP as a stat; at least the way it’s used. It way overvalues HR’s, which are partly park dependent, and assumes that those (walks, K’s, and HR’s) are the only stats that pitchers control , which is wrong.
It will be interesting to see if the Cards call on Mortensen for the 5th spot in the rotation if he continues to pitch well through July with his increasing GB rates.