Grading the Cardinals IV: The Relief Corps

Ask a Cardinal fan to name their top disappointment for 2008 and 90% of them would say “the bullpen” or some variation (occasionally profane) thereof.  (The other 10%, huge Chris Duncan fans.  Go figure.)  There aren’t a whole lot of great grades to pass around to the bullpen, though it could have been much worse as a lot of the problems were concentrated on a few individuals.

A couple of notes first.  Today's UCB roundtable should be showing up at The Redbird Blog sometime this morning.

And I wanted to acknowledge the passing of George Kissell.  You see a lot of references to "The Cardinal Way" in stories about his death.  It's probably not a coincidence that the Cardinals have the highest number of Gold Gloves of any team and have been so successful over their history.  He will be missed.

Now, onto the relievers......

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Also on the Network: √ Doing Our Part [Depressed Fan] √ A Quick Question [Depressed Fan] √ Lineup Suggestions and The Bulls (Again) [Depressed Fan] √ Arb Surprises [El Lefty Malo] √ What's In A Name (Besides Taxpayer Money)? [Loge 13] √ None? None At All? [C70 At The Bat] √ Holiday Quick Hits: Too Much Turkey [Arin It Out] √ The Yankees Hate Draft Picks [Depressed Fan]

Jason Isringhausen: D.  Let’s just get this one out of the way.  2006 was terrible for Izzy and he eventually had hip surgery.  That seemed to correct the problem, as 2007 was another strong year for him out of the pen.  There wasn’t just a lot that went right for Isringhausen in 2008, though.  It wasn’t just the high-wire act that went along with saves, it was the fact that he fell off so often, starting with the first week of the season.  

The losses piled up, even in games that seemed to be safely in hand.  Izzy finally hit the DL, then came back in middle relief.  He was occasionally good in that role, but not consistently, and another crack at closer didn’t last long at all.  And a team that, at one time, was within a handful of games of the NL Central title looks back on the ones that got away with real regret.

Isringhausen had surgery before the season was over and will be looking at an incentive-laden deal with whatever team he goes with for next season.  There’s still a chance that he’ll return to the Cardinals, but getting those last saves for 300 may be beyond his reach if he does.

Ryan Franklin: C-.  When Isringhausen lost his grip on the closer role, Franklin was moved into the role.  It was risky at best, as Franklin had been a little shakier in the eighth inning than his stats may have reflected.  Numerous inherited runners allowed to score, long fly balls that wound up finding a glove instead of causing damage, things like that.

Franklin was able to get some saves, but it wasn’t long before those problems reared their head again.  You have games like Washington, where the Cardinals rallied to force extras before he allows a home run to lose it.  When a team is overachieving, it can’t afford to give away things like that.  But this team did it way too often, which is the biggest reason they didn’t see October.

Kyle McClellan: B-.  He was the surprise story of spring training, impressing Tony LaRussa and Dave Duncan enough that he made the team with no AAA experience.  LaRussa didn’t wait around to throw him into the fire, letting him come in with runners on in a close game on Opening Night.  With a successful debut, he was relied on more and more, especially when the rest of the bullpen went up in flames around him.

Cardinal fans hope that his late-season slide was due to the number of innings and some fatigue building up.  He’s still rumored to have a chance at the rotation for 2009, but even if he stays in the bullpen he’ll need to work up his endurance.  If it was more of the league catching up to him, he’ll have his work cut out for him this offseason to make those adjustments.

Russ Springer: B.  In a season full of drama, intrigue and gut-wrenching performances, Springer quietly went about his business and did a bang up job.  You rarely heard much about him, but then you looked at the numbers and realized that he was steadily getting batters out and keeping the Cardinals in the game.  Springer is a free agent, but the Cardinals would do well to resign him to a modest contract to help keep the youngsters in line.

Ron Villone: C-.  What good is a lefty specialist when he winds up walking the one guy he faces in his appearance?  There’s no doubt that Villone was a good solider for the Cardinals.  He was left out in some blowouts and his ERA suffered from those poundings.  But, for a guy that was usually brought in for one or two hitters, he was way too erratic about getting those guys out.  He’s made noises about wanting to come back for next year, but hopefully the front office will conveniently ignore them.

Jamie Garcia: C.  The top pitching prospect in the organization made his major league debut this season.  The results weren’t terrible, though he didn’t get to spend much time in the starting rotation, instead getting used as a left-handed long man.  Garcia had surgery late in the year and is out for all of 2009.

Chris Perez: B.  The closer of the future made the future now by the end of the year, though he was never officially named the closer.  (Just the guy that comes into the ninth inning when the game is less than three runs in the Cardinals’ favor.)  Perez made his mark early, dominating batters with his fastball and getting them out with his slider as well.  However, the league caught up with him and he blew some saves down the stretch, which gave LaRussa a reason to move him out of the “closer” role and put Franklin back in.  (And, to be fair, it was pretty much over by then anyway.)

Perez needs to get that slider a little sharper and he’ll be the closer of the future again.  However, that future may not be 2009, which, after the Anthony Reyes debacle, makes you wonder what his future in the organization actually is.  Supposedly, the closer role is up for debate coming into the spring.  Whether that’s LaRussa’s way of keeping the young guns motivated in the offseason or just another way of saying old is good may be answered if the Cardinals sign a veteran closer in the offseason.

Randy Flores: D.  For a team that go no wins out of left-handed starters, they didn’t have a ton of success with left-handed relievers either, which was why that seemed to be the pressing need at the trading deadline.  Flores completed the journey from star of the 2006 “kiddie corp” that lead the team to the title to a pitcher that will likely be non-tendered in the offseason.  Flores lost much of his command, walking batters frequently and allowing big hits when he wasn’t walking them.  He wound up spending time in Memphis and then hit the DL at the end of the season.  Even as badly as the Cardinals need a southpaw in the bullpen, it looks like Flores and Villone will be somewhere else when the season picks up in April.

Kelvim Jimenez: D.  What is there really to say about Jimenez?  He bounced between Memphis and St. Louis, spending most of the time in Memphis.  When he was with the big club, he was scored on regularly and only used in mop-up situations.  An expendable part of the bullpen that should be cut loose in the offseason.

Brad Thompson: B-.  You start to wonder, exactly, where Thompson thinks he’s going in this organization.  Does he get sick of being the swing man, the guy that goes from starter to reliever to starter to Memphis (because he still has options) back to the majors?  Is he looking forward to a trade or his free agency years?  Or does he enjoy helping out the team no matter what the situation?  Thompson filled a lot of roles this season and, for the most part, he did so competently.  He had some starts where he blew up, some relief outings that didn’t go so well, but for the most part, it was another decent year for him.  Where he fits into the picture for 2009, well, that’s anyone’s guess.

Jason Motte: B.  Motte got the callup when the rosters expanded in September and easily was the most intriguing guy that came up.  The former catcher had blazing heat, even if his secondary pitches needed some work.  As LaRussa did with many of the young pitchers, he threw him into the fire early and Motte came through with flying colors.  By the end of the season he was picking up occasional saves and making the closer decision for next year anything but a foregone conclusion.   If he is able to come up with an effective second pitch, a late inning combo of him, McClellan and Perez will really shorten games up for the Redbirds.

Josh Kinney: A-.  If you were like me, you’d pretty much forgotten about Josh Kinney.  A big part of that young bullpen in ’06, surgery and rehab had kept him out of circulation until this season.  When he did return to the majors, he showed that he still had the slider that was such an effective pitch for him.  The league didn’t score off of him in his limited September innings, which at least holds out the hope that he’ll be an effective part of a revamped and improved bullpen next year.

Reliever incompletes: Mark Worrell.

I’ve written close to 6500 words over the past four days on the 2008 Cardinals.  We’ve looked at most everyone that contributed to the squad in the past season.  Looking at this team as a whole, though, I think you’d have to give an overall grade of B to them.  They won many more games than even the most optimistic fan thought.  They stayed in contention for the NL Central crown until early September and weren’t eliminated from the playoffs until the last week of the season.  Finishing ten games over .500 for a team that some predicted would be one of the worst teams in the league is definitely overachieving, especially when you realize they did it without Carpenter and only had Wainwright half the year.  If the bullpen had been a little stronger, maybe a higher grade could have been awarded.

Many people will have a fondness for most of these players long after their time in St. Louis is done because of what they did this year.

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