St. Louis Cardinals: Trevor Rosenthal’s future

The bottom line St. Louis Cardinals fans is that you will still see the image above quite a bit in 2016.

My take from the Trevor Rosenthal future saga is this.

First, he will save 42 games in 2016 and compile an ERA of 2.15 with a WHIP that drops to around 1.05. Rosenthal sharpened up his WHIP and first batter out percentage in 2015 and it will improve as he gets older and smarter.

His backup will provide him with more rest so I don’t see him getting a golf cart from Adam Wainwright(he can ride with Matt Carpenter in his so it’s all good). Still, he will get plenty of chances and again be among the MLB lead in saves. His save percentage will be right around 93-94 percent and his strikeouts will stay around 9-10 per 9 innings. I do expect his innings load to drop.

Second, next season I smell a three year team/player friendly deal that carries Rosenthal closer to age 30 and the point of no return for a longer contract. Scott Boras or not, Rosenthal and the Cards come together on a deal if he produces another high quality season. You can have seven closer types in the pen but you can’t get rid of a guy who is very very good at his job. Siegrist is more likely to leave than Rosenthal, especially if he really wants to start.

Next: Cardinals Mailbag

Third, I do see Rosenthal finishing as a closer/reliever. His starting days were buried in the 2012 minor leagues folks. He started 20 games that year before coming up to the Cards late in the season. He is a closer or possibly towards the very end of his career, a setup man. You don’t see a guy spend 3-5 seasons as a closer and switch over to a starter. It’s usually the other way around.

Those are my predictions on Rosenthal, aka Super Smoke Stack(my nickname!).

Thanks for reading and always find me on Twitter to tell me how good or bad I am doing here, @buffa82.