I realize the St. Louis Cardinals came away from rain drenched Cincinnati with a pair of wins after defeating the Reds 7-6 on a long Thursday afternoon.
I realized that the facet of the Cardinals game most are concerned about is the offense, despite the seven-run outburst on Thursday. The combined one run in the team's first two contests is still fresh in the memories of most.
But it is the bullpen that has had this fan most worried entering the season and after the season's first series victory, I am still extremely worried about this bullpen both in the short-term and in the long-term as to how it will hold up over the course of a season.
It should be noted, I have zero reservations about the quality of Trevor Rosenthal and Carlos Martinez at the back end of the pen. I realize Martinez had a rough ninth inning on Wednesday, but he is a guy that could put up a quite a special season in a set-up, so manager Mike Matheny limit the talented future starting pitcher to just the eighth inning.
There certainly is no concern over Rosenthal either.
But outside of those two, and maybe Randy Choate, the rest of the bullpen is clearly standing on loose ground and once again cause stomach aches around Cardinal's Nation early in the season, just like the past couple of years.
Possibly the most important component of the this club's bullpen this season is Kevin Siegrist, who dazzled out of the pen last season to the point where many started to believe that a role as a closer could be in his future.
Siegrist's success last season seemingly came out of nowhere and it is likely he is going to regress compared to the eye-popping numbers he posted last season. Thursday's performance was not encouraging in the least. The Cardinals need Siegrist to be nails and not just in a role as a lefty specialist, but in a much broader role if this club hopes to be successful.
Then there is Pat Neshak, who is a veteran that the Cardinals brought in off the scrap heap. Like many veterans that are hanging on to the end of their careers, Neshak had a great spring.
But outside of 2012 with Oakland, Neshak has been primarily ineffective out of the pen since coming up with the Minnesota Twins eight years ago. He is a specialist from the right side and could serve a purpose if effective, but can this bullpen, with its lack of depth, afford to have a right-handed specialist?
Finally, here comes the problem with this bullpen. It has no depth.
Cardinals fans fell in love with Seth Maness last season and his ability to get ground ball outs. Johnny Gomes loves Seth Maness as well and ever since Gomes torpedoed a sinker that did not sink until it landed well beyond the fence, Maness has not been the same.
Maness was terrible all spring and in my opinion, its surprising that he was not pushed harder and made to compete like most young players entering their first full season at the big-league level. Maness was handed a job on this roster, but his lack of usage at this point tells the story.
Keith Butler is great Quadruple-A reliever, but he is not good enough to be on many rosters and is a placeholder until Jason Motte returns from Tommy John surgery and is ready.
A healthy Motte will definitely make this bullpen better and more importantly, deeper.
What I do not understand is why Sam Freeman is not a member of this team right now. Freeman had a great spring, threw the ball well and by all accounts, has shown tremendous growth since making his debut in the Bigs a few seasons ago.
There is little to complain about after starting the season 2-1 by winning a series against a division rival.
But the bullpen has worried me ever since the Cardinals decided to non-tender John Axford and virtually go with a group that outside of Choate, is largely untested over the course of a 162-game season.
Luckily, general manager John Mozeliak has time to identify the potential issues and has proven capable of solving the problems.
In the meantime, the Cardinals will have to get by with a bullpen that is loaded with talent in the back-end, but short on quality depth overall.
I realized that the facet of the Cardinals game most are concerned about is the offense, despite the seven-run outburst on Thursday. The combined one run in the team's first two contests is still fresh in the memories of most.
But it is the bullpen that has had this fan most worried entering the season and after the season's first series victory, I am still extremely worried about this bullpen both in the short-term and in the long-term as to how it will hold up over the course of a season.
It should be noted, I have zero reservations about the quality of Trevor Rosenthal and Carlos Martinez at the back end of the pen. I realize Martinez had a rough ninth inning on Wednesday, but he is a guy that could put up a quite a special season in a set-up, so manager Mike Matheny limit the talented future starting pitcher to just the eighth inning.
There certainly is no concern over Rosenthal either.
But outside of those two, and maybe Randy Choate, the rest of the bullpen is clearly standing on loose ground and once again cause stomach aches around Cardinal's Nation early in the season, just like the past couple of years.
Possibly the most important component of the this club's bullpen this season is Kevin Siegrist, who dazzled out of the pen last season to the point where many started to believe that a role as a closer could be in his future.
Siegrist's success last season seemingly came out of nowhere and it is likely he is going to regress compared to the eye-popping numbers he posted last season. Thursday's performance was not encouraging in the least. The Cardinals need Siegrist to be nails and not just in a role as a lefty specialist, but in a much broader role if this club hopes to be successful.
Then there is Pat Neshak, who is a veteran that the Cardinals brought in off the scrap heap. Like many veterans that are hanging on to the end of their careers, Neshak had a great spring.
But outside of 2012 with Oakland, Neshak has been primarily ineffective out of the pen since coming up with the Minnesota Twins eight years ago. He is a specialist from the right side and could serve a purpose if effective, but can this bullpen, with its lack of depth, afford to have a right-handed specialist?
Finally, here comes the problem with this bullpen. It has no depth.
Cardinals fans fell in love with Seth Maness last season and his ability to get ground ball outs. Johnny Gomes loves Seth Maness as well and ever since Gomes torpedoed a sinker that did not sink until it landed well beyond the fence, Maness has not been the same.
Maness was terrible all spring and in my opinion, its surprising that he was not pushed harder and made to compete like most young players entering their first full season at the big-league level. Maness was handed a job on this roster, but his lack of usage at this point tells the story.
Keith Butler is great Quadruple-A reliever, but he is not good enough to be on many rosters and is a placeholder until Jason Motte returns from Tommy John surgery and is ready.
A healthy Motte will definitely make this bullpen better and more importantly, deeper.
What I do not understand is why Sam Freeman is not a member of this team right now. Freeman had a great spring, threw the ball well and by all accounts, has shown tremendous growth since making his debut in the Bigs a few seasons ago.
There is little to complain about after starting the season 2-1 by winning a series against a division rival.
But the bullpen has worried me ever since the Cardinals decided to non-tender John Axford and virtually go with a group that outside of Choate, is largely untested over the course of a 162-game season.
Luckily, general manager John Mozeliak has time to identify the potential issues and has proven capable of solving the problems.
In the meantime, the Cardinals will have to get by with a bullpen that is loaded with talent in the back-end, but short on quality depth overall.
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