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St. Louis Cardinals: Evaluating All the Starting Pitchers in This Year’s Camp

By Patrick Karraker

Mar 12, 2016; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Lance Lynn (31) during the game against the Houston Astros at Roger Dean Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the Astros 4-3. Lynn will miss the 2016 season after having Tommy John surgery. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 12, 2016; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Lance Lynn (31) during the game against the Houston Astros at Roger Dean Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the Astros 4-3. Lynn will miss the 2016 season after having Tommy John surgery. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports /
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Alex Reyes St. Louis Cardinals
Sep 29, 2016; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Alex Reyes (61) celebrates after getting the final out of the sixth inning against the Cincinnati Reds during the sixth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /

On the Bubble

Alex Reyes, Michael Wacha

It’s a mystery as to why this is a legitimate competition. After joining the Cardinals’ rotation in August of last year, Reyes pitched like an ace and was pretty clearly the team’s second-best starter behind Martinez. Meanwhile, Michael Wacha had an ERA above 5.00 and once again showed that his chronic shoulder condition prevents him from being able to pitch at a high level for extended periods.

For whatever reason, though–whether it’s that the Cardinals don’t want to guarantee spots to young players, that he’s less than a year removed from a 50-game drug suspension, or that he could miss nearly all of spring training while playing for the Dominican Republic World Baseball Classic team–he’s apparently going to have to beat out Wacha to earn a rotation spot (and maybe a spot on the big-league roster). GM John Mozeliak recently said on SiriusXM radio that he’s confused about why some media have Reyes penciled into a rotation spot, seeming to indicate that there will be serious competition between the 22-year-old and Wacha.

While it’s been talked about much more as a possibility for Reyes than it has for Wacha, it’s indeed possible that the pitcher who loses the starter competition may start the season at Triple-A Memphis. For Reyes, who accumulated just 65 1/3 innings in Triple-A before making his major-league debut, it’d be a chance to refine his command and get stretched out after pitching in the bullpen for the DR WBC squad.

But the 25-year-old Wacha still has two minor-league options remaining, and sending him down may make more sense for the Cardinals than stashing him in the bullpen. He didn’t really show the ability to succeed out of the bullpen last September, allowing 10 runs as opponents hit .519 against him in 5 2/3 innings of relief. He may need to rebuild his confidence after a season-and-a-half of poor performance on the mound, and Memphis would present him with a low-pressure environment to do so.

The only issue would be his salary, but we won’t know what that number’s going to be until he goes to arbitration later this month.

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