Adding an Arm

So after blogging and blogging that the pitching was fine and that things would be OK, I take a couple of days off and the Cards go out and sign Kyle Lohse.

Honestly, though, after the latest on Joel Pineiro, something really did have to be done.  When you have three starters (well, four if you count Carpenter) that are going to start the season on the DL, it's tough to come up with enough bodies to fill out a rotation.  Someone has to pitch the innings.  While I think I'd have been more excited about Jeff Weaver, just knowing his history in St. Louis, but VEB makes a very good case that Lohse isn't as bad as I have in my head.

It will be interesting to see if Larry's comparison to Jeff Suppan holds up.  If so, that'll help the rotation quite a bit this year.  He likely won't have the chance to come up as big as Suppan did in playoff games, though.

At least the money will be right.  Just over $4 million is pretty decent for a guy who wanted $10 million a year for five years when the winter started.  He won't break the budget and the contract can be absorbed if he doesn't do well and everyone gets healthy.

Let's say, though, that he is effective.  That could make the decisions later in the year very interesting.  Wainwright is a lock, of course, but you get Clement, Mulder, Pineiro back, who goes and who stays?  My thought right now is that Looper would make it back to the bullpen.  He's not been very effective this spring (his outing yesterday was indicative of that) and if he doesn't turn it around, he'd seem to be the first candidate to be replaced.  In that situation, you'd also have to figure out something to do with Anthony Reyes.

That's a long way down the road, though.  Let's actually get to the season and see how people start throwing the ball.  By the way, you can read a little more about Lohse here.

The other big news in Cardinal land is that team president Mark Lamping has resigned to take a job in New York.  Lamping had been in St. Louis for 13 years and presided over a great stretch of Cardinal baseball.  His tenure has been pretty noteworthy and we'll see how Bill DeWitt III will handle the job.  Of course, this gives new ammunition to the group that has ownership on their blacklist, calling it nepotism and probably making some comment about how the kid would work cheaper than anyone else.  Nepotism's fine if you keep it in the family, of course.  Seriously, though, this president will probably have a stronger focus on him than any other, so we'll see how it goes.

On the field, the Cards take on the Dodgers today.  GameDay link is here (via VEB).  It's a split squad game for the Dodgers, since a good portion of them are half a world away in China.  I believe Clayton Mortenson is scheduled to start.  I know he and Jamie Garcia are on the pitching schedule for today.

Various other links:  Here's the minor league game highlights from yesterday, what Derrick Goold terms "the Vuch report".  Some of these young pitchers are really exciting to hear about.  Too bad they aren't a little more advanced or we wouldn't be quite as concerned about the rotation......It looks to me that Juan Gonzalez is going to wind up in Memphis to start the season.  Having an abdominal strain after playing the field doesn't help your cause much.....This week's chats include John Mozeliak as well as Joe Strauss.  Mo reads the blogs (well, at least VEB), so if you are out there looking in here, howdy.....There are some awesome things that you can do when you are a ballplayer.  Wish I was rich enough to make a bid.........Be sure to check out the blogs on the blogroll.  Lots of talk about Lohse, much better than what you read above.


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