This is Kyle Lohse. He is not good at hurling the ball towards homeplate in an attempt to flumux the bat swingers.
What we have below is 3 Once and Future (and Current) Redbirds which will likely be considered options to replace the $23 M burden should the team finally make a move either by cutting him (unlikely) or by moving him to the pen (probably also unlikely).
Of course, there are other options. Which is where you come in. What do you think is the best option, should the Lohseapaloza come to an end? One of these 3? One of the younger starters such as Lynn or Walters? One of the guys trying to restart (or start) their careers like MacLane or Hill?
Ponder that as we move on to the DFR! Springfield had the night off and the Riverbandits apparently aren’t as adapt with watery conditions as their namesake would have you believe and were thus rained out.
- James Rapoport went 2-for-4 with a R.
- Daniel Descalso went 1-for-4 with 2 RBI.
- Mark Hamilton was 3-for-4 with a 2B and 2 R.
- Brian Anderson was 1-for-4 with a 2B and 2 RBI.
- Amauri Cazana went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI.
- Kevin Howard came off the bench and picked up a PH.
- Lance Lynn evened his record at 2-2 with 6 IP of 3 H, 1 ER baseball. He struckout 6 but walked 3.
- Matthew Scherer, Oneli Perez and Rich Rundles combined to throw 3 perfect innings, with Rundles picking up a strikeout.
- Jose Garcia was 2-for-3 with 2 R and 2 BB.
- Richard Racobaldo continued his strong season with a 4-for-5 performance, a 2B and 3 RBI.
- Xavier Scruggs struck out 3 times, picking up a hit.
- Jarred Bogany went 1-for-4 with a 3B.
- Jared Bradford went only 3 IP, with 8 H, 6 ER and 2 BB.
- Joel Luc Pichardo came in and gave up 3 H in 2 IP with 1 K.
- Ramon Delgado pitched 2 scoreless innings, with 2 H and 2 K.
- Despite Bradford’s start, Matthew Frevert took the loss with the solo HR he gave up for his only blemish in a 2 IP, 4 K performance.
Entries (RSS)
While I like MacLane the reason that his BB’s are so low is because he is always around the strike zone and very hittable.
I think it would be in the following order for candidates from AAA:
Walters 11.2 IP 6 H 2 BB 15 SO 1.11 GO/AO
Ottavino 23.2 IP 27 H 7 BB 23 SO 2.21 GO/AO ** Outstanding GO/AO ratio
Lynn 38.2 IP 28 H 21 BB 31 SO 1.33 GO/AO ** Last 5 outing have been improved
MacLane 45 IP 57 H 4 BB 27 SO 1.23 GO/AO
Hill 28 IP 24 H 17 BB 26 SO .90 GO/AO ** In his last 5 IP he has only 1BB
@mizzcards: I can agree with this thinking.
I think it’s time for Ottavino to test his stuff against big league talent. If he can keep progressing he is the best bet to replace Penny next year. With the rest of our staff we won’t be expecting wins out of him every fifth day just to keep us in games and show a little heart. No matter how bad the offense is now it’s bound to pick up and we will once again run away with the division. I just hope we peak at the right time this year. That being said I think Walters should get the second chance at Lohse’s spot. He’s succeeded at AAA we need to find out if his stuff able to playl against big league hitters. Lynn still needs some development and will probably be with STL next year. I don’t believe Hill has a shot at all he has already rejected Duncan’s philosophy in Spring Training and is incredibily wild. Why would Duncan and TLR want to call someone up who doesn’t listen. Send Lohse to the pen to eat non-leverage innings and call Ottavino up. The more he’s around Carp, Waino and Duncan the better it will be for him.
Mozielak said in a radio interview yesterday that PJ is 1st in line for a call up.
If Lance Lynn can rattle off another 5 or 6 impressive starts I think he’ll leapfrog everyone – possibly even Lohse
Last night was another unimpressive impressive start for Lynn. Low runs but extremely high pitch counts. I think he’ll get better but he’s not ready now by any means. My guess is he wont be until mid season next year.
Zawacki up to Palm Beach. The Card’s seem to be trying a different philosophy this year in keeping lots of guys in EST and promoting some of them straight to higher levels such as Palm Beach. Guys such as Zawacki and Bogany who had just moderate success last year at QC are being promoted to PB above guys with solid success at QC this year. Hopefully they know what they are doing but I”m skeptical about this approach.
Ottavino has to be number 2 in line if Walters is number 1
Surprising they would elevate PJ’s status that quickly after just a couple of starts.
I would stay the course right now. We are in 1st place with a bad #5 starter. If he can become a .500 pitcher, that would be fine.
If I had to choose, I would bring up Ottavino
If any of these guys were more adept at getting major leaguers out as starting pitchers, they’d already be doing so. My inclination would be to give trials to whoever you’re least uncomfortable writing off if (when) they don’t succeed. That probably means MacLane and Hill, followed by PJ.
With a fifth starter — and let’s face it, the way Senor G has pitched, Lohse IS the fifth starter — you don’t expect them to be good, and you do expect them to be fungible. Let it work that way, with the minimum ill effects on the organization and farm system if guys get hung out to dry.
HL – you don’t believe in FIP? Lohse has a FIP < 4.00 — what about that is not good? Why is that a burden?
Lohse will be fine. As Cario noted, he has been very unlucky so far FIP-wise. He’ll be the most overpaid #5 starter in baseball, but there is very, very little chance of him getting removed from the rotation unless he is hurt.
Honestly, I don’t think anybody from Memphis would jump in at the 5th starter role right now. It probably would be Kyle McClellan before anybody else, given that Duncan’s been wanting to turn him into a starter for a couple of seasons now and that Kyle did nothing not to win the job during spring training, other than not perform like he’s an ace, like Jaime did. Besides, I believe McClellan would be a better back-of-the-rotation guy than being in the bullpen.
In that case Lohse would move to the bullpen. If Lohse was injured, Ottavino or Salas would be called up to take McClellan’s spot.
I must admit that I suspect one of the reasons that Matt Carpenter got the bump to AA is the performance of Richard Racobaldo. Pretty good results so far for a 37th round pick in 2009.
Richard Racobaldo Link:
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=573108
Rocobaldo was playing OF until Carpenter was promoted. Since then they have moved him back to 3B (same position as Carpenter). I can only conclude from that that the OF experiment with Rocco failed. Rocco is older than Carpenter. He will turn 25 in July. He needs to see AA this year.
What about that kid we drafted last year out of high school in cali…he was a big shortstop, and we drafted him in the middle rounds…he did not play well last year, but he was only 18…i cannot remember his name? anyone know who i am talking about…beuller?
@ VolsnCards5
Tyler Bihames is currently serving a 50 game supension for what was called abusing or use of a drug of choice. Apparently he is not that bright if that is who you are asking about. He is 6-2 190 and played at GCL Cardinals last year and was actually moved to the OF.
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=RF&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=572720
Lohse’s contract makes this situation a huge predictable mess. I think they’ll go a long way with him before replacing him with one of those suspects.
Bighames may be in some legal trouble as he was caught running from a cop, on foot that is. The drug of choice suspension is usually for marijuana so it’s not PED’s or anything hard. Ready for him to get back
LANCE LYNN. I am really high on this guy. The only question I have is if he is ready for the bigs. His numbers indicate a pretty good season so far in Memphis but if you look at the game logs, he has had a hard time now and then. Not a great start, and he is definitely coming around, but I’m not sure if he is ready. This is his third season in the minors but he does have 30 starts in Springfield/Memphis. So who knows, maybe he is ready.