Recently in D'Angelo Jimenez Category

Dashing Reyesd Hopes

First off, a happy Easter weekend to all of you.  I've said before this year that Lent is the spring training for Christians, which makes Easter our Opening Day.

Secondly, the UCB roundtable continues.  Here's Thursday's, brought to you by Rockin' the Red, and Mike on the Cards should have yesterday's transcript up soon.  I'll be posting my questions soon (if I can come up with something we haven't covered yet!) and should have the transcript up Monday or Tuesday.

The biggest story today seems to be that Brad Thompson will be the fifth starter, supplanting Anthony Reyes.  This just seems like another blow to Reyes, who seems to have twerked off someone in the organization.  (That someone likely wears sunglasses and sits in the dugout, but that's just a guess.)  Yes, Thompson has had a pretty good spring.  A 2.38 ERA and less than a hit an inning does look pretty good compared to Reyes's 4.85 with 17 hits in 13 innings.

Reyes has had four starts this spring.  Two of those he didn't allow a run, including his last outing.  He has 11/2 K/BB ration, which seems pretty good to me.  Almost a strikeout an inning.  (Thompson is 10/3, which is good as well, of course.)  When you look past the ERA, the numbers for the two are pretty similar, especially since Thompson has only started one game this spring.

I guess what bugs me, besides the fact that I think Thompson is a great relief pitcher when he's on, but he's not necessarily a starter, is this quote from Duncan:

"For that role, you aren't sitting on the edge of your chair not knowing what's going to happen every time he goes out there."

Yet, for all of that, the Cardinals continue to throw Braden Looper into the starting rotation.  He of the 7.98 spring ERA, 7 walks to 6 strikeouts, and 20 hits in 14.2 innings.  And he's a better option that Anthony Reyes?  Looper was almost the definition of "edge of your chair" last year after his strong start.  Either he was going to pitch well or he was going to blow up.  You never quite knew.

Someone, I think it was at VEB, mentioned that they thought the comments earlier in the week by LaRussa saying that they wanted to make the "least disruptive" decision meant that they'd probably start Thompson and move him to the bullpen when Clement, Pineiro etc. were ready to go, because that'd be less disruptive than sending out Reyes then.  Seems like something this group would do.

I thought over the winter that Reyes might need a new organization, though I was glad when he wasn't traded, figuring they'd make a commitment to him.  The first thought might still be the correct one.

In other news, apparently Brendan Ryan has gone and gotten himself hurt, which means that D'Angelo Jimenez might actually make the Opening Day roster.  Hopefully this injury won't give LaRussa an opportunity to send Ryan down to the minors to "catch up" while carrying another weak but veteran infielder on the major league squad.

I see Ron Villone has his ERA in the 1 range.  He could be in the Percival/Springer mold as a veteran who revives his career in the Cardinal bullpen.  Which will be good, since apparently Tyler Johnson won't be around anytime soon.  (Anyone want to lay odds on when they announce he needs surgery?)

Today's game has a lot of interest on the mound.  First off, Kyle Lohse makes his Cardinal debut, which is enough to get bloggers ready to go.  Then, apparently, Mark Mulder may face hitters.  That could give us some information on how long he's going to be out.  If a good Mark Mulder joins this club in May, the people who are selling on the Cardinals might get a surprise.  (EDIT: They were minor league hitters, but the results looked pretty nice.)

The game is on the Cardinal Radio Network and apparently FSN as well.  Looking forward to seeing the results!

New Cardinals, Former Cardinals

The Cardinals made a minor move yesterday, signing D'Angelo Jimenez to a minor league contract.  There are a couple of things that come to mind when I hear about Jimenez.  One is that, when they were coming up in the Yankee organization about a decade ago, observers were split on whether he or Alfonso Soriano would be the better player.  That comparison doesn't happen much anymore.  And, secondly, I remember he had a pretty solid year for the Reds a few years back.  Looking through that PD article, they note it was 2004, with a .270/12/67 season.  Boy, if the Cardinals got anything close to that, they'd be thrilled.

His signing, however, is just one of those insurance things.  If Jarrett Hoffpauir needs more time at Memphis, then Jimenez could be the backup guy on the bench.  You figure that Brendan Ryan and Adam Kennedy will be the usual starters in the middle infield, but Cesar Izturis and Jimenez could be the backups.  Jimenez can play third base as well, which ups his value.

Then we have our former backup catcher, Gary Bennett.   Not as bad of a week as you'd expect for someone named in the Mitchell report.  Bennett admitted he used HGH, then signed a new contract with the Dodgers.  Which is surprising, because Bennett isn't that great with extra help, but anyway.  It just goes to show me that the culture of baseball hasn't done much changing with these allegations and admissions.  You aren't going to be punished.  You aren't going to have that much of a stain on your reputation, especially if you come out and admit it.  I mean, how much focus on Andy Pettitte has there been versus Roger Clemens?

There's the big focus on Bonds and Clemens, but other than that, the steroid stuff is going to just go away, I think.  Hopefully the testing and the mindset has been changed enough that it won't happen again, but without serious punishments for those that did it, I wonder if that's the case.

Site note: I plan to use Wordpress's new option for tags to take former Cardinals out of the categories section.  So in case you start looking, now you know.

Also on the Network: √ Yanks Beat A Lefty? [Depressed Fan] √ Yanks Start Second Half With "W" [Green Pinstripes] √ All-Star Breather: The Giants Catchers [El Lefty Malo] √ Rock Is Dead; Shea Stadium July 18, 2008 [Loge 13] √ Citi Field Revealed (FYI: No Loge Here) [Loge 13] √ My Rifle, My Pony and Me [Beantown West] √ Quick Chicago roundup [Tremendous Upside Potential] √ Giants Reveal New Stadium Ticket Plans [Loge 13]