Somehow, despite having possibly the worst bullpen in all of baseball, the Cardinals have managed to stay afloat all season long. They were winning games without their two best pitchers, Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter, so the general consensus was that if they could keep their heads above water until August, they’d have a serious chance of sneaking into the playoffs. They felt there was no real need to address their bullpen problems, because when these guys returned, they’d be able to shuffle things around. Sure, two Cy Young caliber pitchers had just been brought into their division, but the Cardinals had two of their own on the shelf.
In a perfect world, just as the season was slipping away, these guys would come swooping in and save the day just in the nick of time. But as we all know, things don’t work out like that very often. If you’re lucky, you get one of them back in time to have an impact, but if you’re being realistic you plan like both of them are a wash for the rest of the season.
Apparently everyone in Saint Louis is living in a fantasy world. They’ve been banking on these guys coming back at 100% all season long, and have no contingency plan for the worst case scenario, which is now staring them in the face.
Apparently Carpenter tweaked his surgically repaired shoulder and could be headed back to the disabled list, and Wainwright is getting absolutely smoked by minor league hitters. So now, with the way their bullpen is pitching, the Cardinals can pretty much kiss the playoffs goodbye.
All they needed to do was add one effective arm. That’s it. We aren’t talking about Francisco Rodriguez here either, just someone that they could’ve relied on to go out there and preserve a lead once in a while. Even if both guys come back, an extra arm wouldn’t have hurt. It’s not like anyone in the bullpen has been effective, as a group they’ve blown 27 leads this season. There’s no excuse for this.
Didn’t anyone notice that over the last 7 years, Carpenter has spent more than 3 and half of those on the disabled list? He hasn’t pitched since the 2007 home opener, you mean to tell me that no one noticed this and said, ‘maybe we need a back-up plan’? The guy already escaped a shoulder injury that ended Mark Prior’s career, now he’s trying to come back from Tommy John surgery. At 33, the odds aren’t on his side. Even if this latest setback ends up being minor, chances are he isn’t going to be worth a damn until next season. Even if he is, they need guys that can go six, seven innings to keep the bullpen off the mound as much as possible; Carpenter isn’t going to make it past the fifth very often.
Wainwright is finally healthy, but he’s been completely ineffective in the minor leagues. The club is hoping that they can use him as a late inning reliever, but it appears that he is a long way off from being ready. In his first start he gave up three runs in a third of an inning before reaching his 25 pitch limit. In his second start he faired a little better, giving up two runs in three innings.
A miracle could happen as to where they get both of these guys back, but at this point one would provide a huge boost. Wainwright is probably their best hope, he’s starting to come around, but they can’t afford to put someone out on the field before they are ready. Something like that could cost them the season. Then again, it’s not like they can do really do more damage.
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Wiz 08.12.08 at 3:14 pm
I’ll be shocked if Carpenter is on the roster at the end of the season. But I think that you are giving up on Wainwright a little prematurely here.