Pitchers on the mend

RockintheRed · 07-03-2008, 11:10 AM

The Cardinals have four guys currently working their way back to their former selves in rehab and the minors. The group includes two aces, a troubled Flat Bill, and a recovering Red Sock/Cubbie who hasn't pitched in a major league game since 2006. That's not including Mark Mulder, who's rehabbing on the fly with the big club; Jason Isringhausen, who's trying to work his way later into games; and Todd Wellemeyer, who may or may not be healthy right now. Let's look at the status updates of our four recovering pitchers, plus one.

Chris Carpenter had some good news after his recent setback, describing his 60-pitch, full arsenal bullpen session yesterday like this:

"It's exciting, because I feel good," Carpenter said. "But I try not to get too excited, because I've already gone through what I went through a few weeks ago, where I was feeling good and had some issues."

Cautious optimism here. Carpenter had his Tommy John surgery nearly one year ago, so you have to imagine that the timetable is getting close to a Chris Carpenter return. I'm still betting on an early August return, albeit in the bullpen.

Adam Wainwright and his "stinking little finger" are taking their time as well, although a return around or before the All-Star break seems more likely for Adam. Per Lee Hurwitz of the official site:

On the disabled list since June 8 with a sprained middle finger on his pitching hand, Wainwright is making steady progress toward rejoining the Cardinals. On Friday, the right-hander was able to take off a brace and will be re-examined next Monday.

The article makes a good point in that the team is playing well enough right now to afford him to take his time, but gaining back a healthy Adam Wainwright will be a huge boost to this team. As in, Brewers-trading-for-C.C. Sabathia-huge. In a week we'll probably know what his rehab schedule is going to look like.

Last night, Anthony Reyes made his first start since being put on the disabled list, going 2.1 innings and allowing one earned run, one hit, and one walk, complete with one strike out. He threw 47 pitches with 27 of them being strikes, which probably means that he was on a 50-pitch limit for the start. If you recall, Anthony was placed on the 15-day DL on July 18th with a right elbow strain. Unfortunately, Triple-A Gameday doesn't give you pitch velocity, so it's hard to get a read on how successful the outing was and how well that elbow held up. He'll be stretched out and work his way back into the Memphis rotation in the coming weeks, but for now it's good to see him back on the mound and pitching well.

Our other Memphis Redbird, Matt Clement, made another relief appearance last night, throwing 16 pitches in one scoreless inning. He walked one and struck out one, making it 4 scoreless relief appearances in Memphis since moving to the bullpen. On June 20th, Matt started a game with Memphis and allowed 6 runs off 8 hits in 3 innings. It's a good idea to let him work back from the bullpen, as it's pretty clear he doesn't have all of his stuff back yet. Derrick Goold of the Post-Dispatch has this to report about Clement:

Cardinals righthander Matt Clement concluded his 30-day rehab assignment Wednesday night with a scoreless inning and continued uncertainty about his next move. The Cardinals will keep Clement on the disabled list and plan to address his situation by this weekend, general manager John Mozeliak said. Among the considerations will be optioning Clement to Class AAA Memphis or outrighting him there in an attempt to float him through waivers and into Class AAA to continue working toward the majors.

At this point, Clement is basically in the same boat as Freddy Garcia, who is also hoping to return this season, except that Matt currently has a contract. If I'm Mo, I'd move Clement as slowly as possible up to the majors, as he could still have value by coming back in August when our other pitchers might start getting fatigued. Putting him on waivers might be the only way to make sure that happens, as it's not likely that another team would put in a claim at this point.

Mark Mulder had a hiccup last night, but, as LBoros states, it probably wasn't the best situation to put him in the game. Bernie seconds that, and a comment by a reader here about "spoon-feeding Mulder's psyche" probably couldn't have been more true. Nevertheless, Mulder is still a "pitcher on the mend" and is taking baby steps to getting where he want to be. His velocity seemed a bit slower, but he still was consistently hitting above 90 mph.

With at least four pitchers one the mend and as many as seven, the Cards have quite a few internal solutions to pitching problems when they come around. The success of Mitch Boggs coupled with a very rough start by Randy Wolf last night lead me to believe a starting pitching problem would be better off addressed within the organization than outside of it.

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07-03-2008, 11:10 AM	#1 (permalink)
RockintheRed Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 194	Pitchers on the mend The Cardinals have four guys currently working their way back to their former selves in rehab and the minors. The group includes two aces, a troubled Flat Bill, and a recovering Red Sock/Cubbie who hasn't pitched in a major league game since 2006. That's not including Mark Mulder, who's rehabbing on the fly with the big club; Jason Isringhausen, who's trying to work his way later into games; and Todd Wellemeyer, who may or may not be healthy right now. Let's look at the status updates of our four recovering pitchers, plus one. Chris Carpenter had some good news after his recent setback, describing his 60-pitch, full arsenal bullpen session yesterday like this: "It's exciting, because I feel good," Carpenter said. "But I try not to get too excited, because I've already gone through what I went through a few weeks ago, where I was feeling good and had some issues." Cautious optimism here. Carpenter had his Tommy John surgery nearly one year ago, so you have to imagine that the timetable is getting close to a Chris Carpenter return. I'm still betting on an early August return, albeit in the bullpen. Adam Wainwright and his "stinking little finger" are taking their time as well, although a return around or before the All-Star break seems more likely for Adam. Per Lee Hurwitz of the official site: On the disabled list since June 8 with a sprained middle finger on his pitching hand, Wainwright is making steady progress toward rejoining the Cardinals. On Friday, the right-hander was able to take off a brace and will be re-examined next Monday. The article makes a good point in that the team is playing well enough right now to afford him to take his time, but gaining back a healthy Adam Wainwright will be a huge boost to this team. As in, Brewers-trading-for-C.C. Sabathia-huge. In a week we'll probably know what his rehab schedule is going to look like. Last night, Anthony Reyes made his first start since being put on the disabled list, going 2.1 innings and allowing one earned run, one hit, and one walk, complete with one strike out. He threw 47 pitches with 27 of them being strikes, which probably means that he was on a 50-pitch limit for the start. If you recall, Anthony was placed on the 15-day DL on July 18th with a right elbow strain. Unfortunately, Triple-A Gameday doesn't give you pitch velocity, so it's hard to get a read on how successful the outing was and how well that elbow held up. He'll be stretched out and work his way back into the Memphis rotation in the coming weeks, but for now it's good to see him back on the mound and pitching well. Our other Memphis Redbird, Matt Clement, made another relief appearance last night, throwing 16 pitches in one scoreless inning. He walked one and struck out one, making it 4 scoreless relief appearances in Memphis since moving to the bullpen. On June 20th, Matt started a game with Memphis and allowed 6 runs off 8 hits in 3 innings. It's a good idea to let him work back from the bullpen, as it's pretty clear he doesn't have all of his stuff back yet. Derrick Goold of the Post-Dispatch has this to report about Clement: Cardinals righthander Matt Clement concluded his 30-day rehab assignment Wednesday night with a scoreless inning and continued uncertainty about his next move. The Cardinals will keep Clement on the disabled list and plan to address his situation by this weekend, general manager John Mozeliak said. Among the considerations will be optioning Clement to Class AAA Memphis or outrighting him there in an attempt to float him through waivers and into Class AAA to continue working toward the majors. At this point, Clement is basically in the same boat as Freddy Garcia, who is also hoping to return this season, except that Matt currently has a contract. If I'm Mo, I'd move Clement as slowly as possible up to the majors, as he could still have value by coming back in August when our other pitchers might start getting fatigued. Putting him on waivers might be the only way to make sure that happens, as it's not likely that another team would put in a claim at this point. Mark Mulder had a hiccup last night, but, as LBoros states, it probably wasn't the best situation to put him in the game. Bernie seconds that, and a comment by a reader here about "spoon-feeding Mulder's psyche" probably couldn't have been more true. Nevertheless, Mulder is still a "pitcher on the mend" and is taking baby steps to getting where he want to be. His velocity seemed a bit slower, but he still was consistently hitting above 90 mph. With at least four pitchers one the mend and as many as seven, the Cards have quite a few internal solutions to pitching problems when they come around. The success of Mitch Boggs coupled with a very rough start by Randy Wolf last night lead me to believe a starting pitching problem would be better off addressed within the organization than outside of it. More...