Does Anyone Know Someone Who Can Play?

Not long after Tony Larussa brought in Mark McGwire as a part of the coaching staff two years ago, Larussa made some interesting comments about wishing he could put the big former first baseman in to pinch hit.  At the time, I remember wondering if this was some kind of a joke, or if the crazy old man was serious.  Who knew that only a couple short years later, we would be looking at this possibility more realistically?  Could Jose Oquendo still be “The Secret Weapon?”  There was once a time when he could play every position on the field, but do we think that 20 years later he could just make a spot start in the outfield or second base?  At least with the addition of Mike Matheny as manager, we know that when the inevitable and season devastating injury to Yadier Molina comes around, the Cardinals will have veteran options to fall back on under contract. 

Ok, in all seriousness, the Cardinals are still a ways a way from bringing “The Secret Weapon” out of his lock box that has been stowed in John Mozeliak’s closet high out of the reach of his children.  We keep hearing about the depth that this organization has and the talent in the minor leagues, but with the number of injuries that the Cardinals have seen already this season, no amount of depth will make up for the lost members of the team.  The current Cardinals DL could compete in the National League Central.  With Berkman, Schumaker, and Matt Carpenter, the team is only a shortstop away from a pretty solid infield, and when you throw Jay and Craig (although he is set to be activated on Friday) into that lineup, you have a solid middle of the order. 

And this is only the players who are listed as on the disabled list.  Mike Matheny has been hampered just as much by the players who have been unavailable to play as the players who have been officially put on the disabled list.  With David Freese and Carlos Belran needing consistent days off due to wrist and knee ailments, the Cardinal’s bench at times can be shockingly short.  Through all of these injuries to key members of the Cardinals everyday lineup, hitting coach Mark McGwire has done an amazing job of helping those few healthy players put runs up on the board.  I would be completely insane to not also point out the evolution of Yadier Molina into one of the top 2 hitting catchers in baseball.  It has been commendable in how this team has overcome these many injuries to put up more runs than any other national league team, but maybe these many and big names are not the reason for a 13-16 record in May.

While the loss of Chris Carpenter is no longer a shock and losses of pitchers like Kyle Mclellan and Scott Linebrink seem to be less disabling when they happened, injuries to the Cardinals pitching staff has been far more damaging to the team’s record.  Even with the amazing streak of success that the Cardinals have gotten out of Lynn, the loss of Chris Carpenter’s leadership has been felt, and more pressure has been put on guys like Garcia, Westbrook, and Lohse.  Westbrook and Lohse, although good early, simply do not have the talent to be dominant pitchers, and they’re fall back to earth has been rough.  Adding to the theme of too many injuries, a sore elbow for Jaime Garcia could be the knockout punch for the Cardinal’s chances at sticking with the streaking Reds in the Central Division in the early parts of the season.

The real damage to this Cardinals team has come in the loss of dependable arms in their bullpen.  I have already spoken at length at how much this unit has struggled lately, but I cannot speak enough about how much the loss of Lance Lynn’s flexibility as a talented power arm at the end of a game or an equally if not more valuable piece to come in early in the game when the tiring starter leaves a mess to be cleaned up in the 7^th inning.  It is this type of flexible pitcher that the Cardinals need more than anything, and this is the type of player that the Mozeliak needs to target in some way.  It would be great if Salas could recover from early season ineffectiveness to regain the form to be this type of a pitcher.  Another option would be Eduardo Sanchez who has shown brief flashes of the same brilliance that Lynn has taken to the starting rotation.

The biggest fear of any Cardinals fan before this season began was that the Cardinals would have the exact injuries that they are encountering right now.  Just about everything that could go wrong up to this point has for the team, and they still find themselves only a game and a half out of first place.  I am knocking on wood furiously over here when I say that the law of averages has to work itself out and the numbers of injuries for this team not continue at the pace that seems to find multiple players reporting to the disabled list every week.  The bright spot is that the Cardinals have not had many injuries to their players that are threatening the season other than Berkman and Chris Carpenter.  It seems like this season is going to be one of those years when we watch the TV and over analyze every grimace in fear that the next injury is on its way.  Last year, the Cardinals lost their best pitcher for the year before spring training fully got going, and they were still able to win a championship so there is still hope for this injury filled season.  And I guess when I really look at the bright side, just how many Cardinals players need to go down before I get a call from Mozeliak asking if I would like to pitch in the 7^th inning of a game.  Any more months like May, and we all may get our chances.