Not a good day to be a Cardinals fan. Loss to the Cubs puts them 7 back in the division and 3 back of the Brew Crew in the wild card. Probably still too early to say the division is out of reach, but they need to play way better than the .500 ball they have been the last 6 weeks. Even worse news potentially is that Carp left in the 6th with a "triceps strain". Now this may not be that bad. He may not even miss a start, but if he has to go back on the DL, it will be deadly. They have Wainwright rehabbing as a reliever. One of the reasons for this (besides the obvious one that the bullpen needs help in a big way), is that he should be able to make it back to the big club faster. If Carp is going to be out for an extended period, however, they may have to reconsider that idea. That means (most likely), that it would take longer for him to get back, and that the bullpen won't get the help it has needed for so long. Anyway, a grim day all around. The good news, as I see it, is that the remaining schedule is not too bad. The only games we have against above .500 teams are Florida (7), Brewers (2 at home), Arizona (7), and Chicago (6). We have 20 games against below .500 teams left. 22 left on the road, 20 at home, but 12 of the 22 against the good teams are at home. I think 27-15 is what is needed to get the wild card. Better than that for the division. A difficult task to be sure, but the schedule makes it possible. We will need Carp thought. We'll see what happens.
-Trey
3 comments:
If Carp comes back okay, then (and I don't believe I'm saying this), you can try the strategy of Waino in the pen.
Without Carp, Waino must return to the rotation.
But...the next experiment is Pineiro to the pen, not Waino. However, if anyone can do a study on Pineiro's effectiveness out of the stretch first, I may or may not have to take my spikes out of my mouth.
I just don't like Waino going to the pen when we need to fill so many starting innings.
Someone please build on this, or scrap it for a better idea.
Pineiro had his second straight quality start tonight after struggling mightily the last two months, so maybe he has turned a corner there. I have to agree that he may not help the pen that much. He didn't show much promise as a reliever when used in that role in Seattle and Boston afterall. Waino is being rehabbed as a reliever, so I assume he will come back as that even if Carp is out for a while. On the plus side, McClellen and Perez looked great tonight. Perez was a little nervous at first, but Yady's CS or Uggla seemed to settle him down big time. Those two guys plus Waino might make for a nice back-end of the bullpen......
Pineiro has had a tendency to give up leads, which could be magnified if he went to the bullpen. Still, he's the most logical candidate.
Unless Carp's going to be out for a while, then you should just swap him for Wainwright while he heals.
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