Baseball Notes 2/5

Here's what I think we know about the St. Louis Cardinals: They have a reasonably powerful offensive ballclub. (Only three teams in the NL scored more runs in 2008) They currently possess the best hitter in the world, Albert Pujols, who's also supposedly entering a hitter's peak years between the ages of twenty-eight and thirty-two. (He turned Twenty-Eight in January) They have a surplus of potential plus-hitting outfielders in Rick Ankiel, Skip Schumaker, Chris Duncan and Ryan Ludwick. We also know GM John Mozeliak might feel the urge to trade one of those four any time this season and could expect a reasonable haul in return, instantly bolstering his ballclub from a spare part. We also know they're getting a great bargain in starting RHP Kyle Lohse, who gave the team fifteen wins and a 3.78 ERA in 2008. But what will shape the outcome of the 2009 Cardinal's is something the team and the rest of baseball know absolutely nothing about: Just how effective will RHP Chris Carpenter be this season?

Bernie Milkasz of the St. Louis Post Dispatch recently talked to Cardinal's pitching coach Dave Duncan. One of the topics: coincidentally enough, Chris Carpenter's prospects for Spring Training.

Duncan said that team trainer Barry Weinberg told him that Carpenter can have a normal routine in spring training. Carpenter doesn’t have to be held back, or handled with extra care. He can throw and get his work in like all of the other pitchers.  That’s why Duncan is optimistic. Because Carpenter will be ready to go from Day 1 of spring training. No baby steps are needed.

So maybe that sheds a little light on the dark, dark tunnel that has been Chris Carpenter over the last three years. Before then, Chris Carpenter was as good as any pitcher in Baseball. He put together one of the more brilliant pitching seasons of the decade in 2005 when he was 21-5 with a 2.83 ERA. Hitters have always hated facing him, and many around baseball have lauded his 'stuff' as being the best in the game. However, instant domination shouldn't be expected from Carpenter this season. Being a solid anchor of a starting staff with occasional flashes of brilliance should. 

Would Cardinal's Manager Tony La Russa be disappointed that a pitcher once annually expected to win twenty games may only be pegged to win a fraction of that? Not at all, because if Carpenter wins fifteen games, thats fifteen more wins than last year. Any Carpenter is better than no Carpenter. And that's why the cardinal's don't mind being patient with their ace. This may seem like tedium for Cardinal's fans, but they know in their hearts just how much of a difference maker Carpenter can be. The Cardinal's don't mind talking Spring Training prospects for Carpenter as long as the conversation eventually shifts to postseason prospects for the team, as the two invariably go hand in hand.