Weaver a Possibility?

The Cardinals have shown a mild interest in adding another arm to the competition for the available spots in the starting rotation.  Coming into camp, three pitchers were vying for the fifth spot, at least until Mark Mulder’s return.  Now, with the news on Matt Clement, the trio of Reyes, Wellemeyer, and Thompson would be competing for two rotation slots.

According to the Joe Strauss, of the Post Dispatch, the Cardinals have contacted the agent of former Redbird Jeff Weaver.  Weaver is one on a short list of available pitchers.  Read Strauss’ article here.

I’m in favor of adding to the competition in Spring Training, but I’m not if favor of adding any of the retread arms that are left in the bargain bin, including Weaver.  Don’t get me wrong, Weaver eventually got back on track late in 2006 and had a great stretch run.  Without him, the Cards wouldn’t have won the World Series. I just question whether or not a guy like Weaver would be any better than the previously mentioned threesome.

Remember, Weaver had a terrible time in ’06 with the Angels, and when the Cardinals first acquired him, he was still terrible.  It took a while for Dave Duncan and staff to get him better results.  After turning down the Cardinals’ two year offer, Weaver had an equally poor year with Seattle in ’07.  View his stats here.

Ideally, the Cards will get back Clement and/or Mulder in May.  Certainly a guy like Wellemeyer can make a few starts until then, and likely, make them better than Weaver could.  On the other hand, with the track record of Dr. Paletta and company, we might not see any of the injured pitchers back this season.  Could Weaver come in handy then?  Maybe.  But I think that the guys already in camp have just as good a chance to succeed as he does.  For more on this story, check out Jeff Gordon’s article, here.