blingboy wrote: As interested as I am in how the Cards deploy the guys who emerged last year (Rosey, Kelly, Lynn, Miller), I'm perhaps even more interested in whether another group can step up this year. I plan on keeping a close eye on Memphis and Springfield. There could potentially be a massive log jam by later in the year. It seems very strange to be heading into a season knowing that the rotation is not vulnerable to the injury bug. Knock on wood.

UncleDenny wrote: It's hard to imagine Rosenthal going back to Memphis the way he performed last season.

forsch31 wrote:

blingboy wrote: As interested as I am in how the Cards deploy the guys who emerged last year (Rosey, Kelly, Lynn, Miller), I'm perhaps even more interested in whether another group can step up this year. I plan on keeping a close eye on Memphis and Springfield. There could potentially be a massive log jam by later in the year. It seems very strange to be heading into a season knowing that the rotation is not vulnerable to the injury bug. Knock on wood.

After 2013, that log jam could be eased quite a bit with the possibility of Carp, Westbrook and Wainwright not being re-signed.  Also, there is still a lot of concern about Garcia.  We could very well have a 2014 rotation of:

Miller
Rosenthal
Wacha
Martinez
Lynn

with Kelly, Cleto, Gast and a few others on hand to fill in as starters, if needed.  There will be openings for some to rise if this happens.

Teufelshunde4 wrote: If Carp bounces back it would not surprise me to see him re-up for another season or two..  Nor do I think the Cards will push they guy out the door. 

I myself wouldnt mind a log jam at pitcher..  Nice to have in the end..

Sawatski wrote: As far as Rosenthal is concerned, the tension would be between having your 12 best pitchers on the 25 man roster versus maximizing your assets. The manager would want his best 12, I would think. But the GM may think more about value.

Thinking in terms of value, Rosenthal is much more valuable as a starter. If he spends the year in the bullpen, he gets, maybe, 75 innings. How will that affect him next year? Can you plug him back into the rotation and expect 180 - 200 innings? There are people who have studied this and found that pitchers who have that kind of jump in innings are much more susceptible to injury. So, Mo might conclude that the way to maximize Rosenthal's value is to plug him into the Memphis rotation--assuming health at the MLB level, and let him build up his innings. This would still make him available in, say, August for the stretch drive and post-season.

If the major league rotation is healthy, this will be an interesting situation to watch.

Jmodene1 wrote:
Don't forget the Earl Weaver/Baltimore model of having a young pitcher spend a year in the major league bullpen before he joins the rotation.  Curt Schilling is the classic example, although in his case he actually spent about 4 1/2 years in the Houston and Baltimore bullpens before he went to Philadelphia and they made him a starter midway through the 1992 season.

In other words, there should be no problem for Rosenthal, who has been a starter in the minors, if he spends some time in the Cardinal bullpen before joining the rotation.  It's not like, say, we had decided to make Joe Boever (who was a reliever almost throughout his minor league career) a starter.

Besides, there are a lot of folks who think Rosenthal could potentially wind up Motte's successor as closer.

Those folks are fools then.  Rosenthal is a starter.

The only issue with him is innings load and I'd like to see them employ the Medlin plan with him, like as you said, start him in the bullpen, then move him to the rotation midway through the year.

Rosenthal's innings last year were 140 and they were 135 the year before.

He would be in line for 160-ish this year.

BTW, I think he would have a Medlin-like impact on our rotation too.  He is going to be a star.

I think Miller should get Garcia's spot once he goes down.

Domeboys wrote: There are two separate, but potentially related issues being discussed here. What started us down this path is whether Rosenthal is the future closer. We were told a "lot of folks" think that. I am not one of them, believing Rosenthal is a starter. I also made a side point, observing that Motte still has a hold on the closers' job.

The other issue is whether Motte would be disposed of over the next two years. One apparent reason would be his salary with the other being competition from others. While paying Motte free agent money in 2015 and beyond might be questionable, I would be surprised if anything changes in the interim.

While either has a non-zero chance of happening, I think they are both unlikely. Combining the two increases the long-shot nature of the proposition. Others are certainly welcome to believe they are more probable.