Changing Landscape

The Cardinals starting rotation is in complete disarray, and the club may have finally decided to “look further” into adding help from the outside. The list of pitchers on the mend but “progressing nicely” is getting longer by the day.  Already Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder, and Matt Clement won’t be ready for the start of the season, and now it seems that Joel Pineiro might not be either.

“I’m not assuming he won’t be there opening day,” said pitching coach Dave Duncan.  “I’m assuming he won’t be there until he starts throwing again.”

Duncan goes on to say that he’s never gone this deep into spring with so much uncertainty surrounding the rotation.

Cards’ GM John Mozeliak has slightly changed his tune by inquiring about free agent pitcher Kyle Lohse.

“I think given the Pineiro situation, the landscape has changed to some degree,” said Mozeliak.

Read more on the state of the Cardinals staff from Joe Strauss, and hat tip to Kurt Hunzeker and Bird Land for the credit on the above logo.

Lohse, 29, pitched for both Cincinnati and Philadelphia last season, going a combined 9-12 with a 4.63 ERA.  For his career, Lohse is 63-74, with a 4.82 ERA.  View all of his stats here.

Without any additions, the Cardinals rotation consists of only two pitchers that started more than 20 games last season:  Adam Wainwright and Braden Looper.  Until the rehabbing pitchers return, the other three spots would fill out with some combination of Anthony Reyes, Todd Wellemeyer, Brad Thompson, or even one of the youngsters, Mike Parisi or Kyle McClellan.  I don’t think there’s anything wrong with any of those pitchers, and I wouldn’t mind seeing one of them in the rotation, but not three.  It seems like adding a guy like Lohse would make sense.  When you think about it, Pineiro made only 11 starts in ’07, and Carpenter, Mulder, and Clement combined for just 4.  That is a lot of uncertainty to be riding on.  Lohse made 32 starts last year, and has made 30 or more in five of the last six seasons.

“The key concern is how do we bridge the gap until we get our pitchers back,” Mozeliak said.

I say bring in Kyle Lohse.