Adam Wainwright: Rotation or Bullpen?

As I sit perched in the press box at Autozone Park, I could easily write about Adam Wainwright and his difficult and brief rehab outing for the Memphis Redbirds.? But it doesn't matter.? Adam Wainwright will be fine.? The guy is a stud and my time would be better spent discussing just how Wainwright will fit into the mix when he does return to St. Louis. If you are a Cardinals fan, I am sure you have realized just how terrible our bullpen is.? We lead baseball in blown saves, and if my stats are correct, this year's bullpen is the 4th worst in the history of baseball in blown saves.? We have 30 blown saves and it is only August 8th.? If we won just half of those games, we would be in the driver's seat in the National League.? Instead, we find ourselves as the underdogs in the NL Central, trying to claw our way back into the thick of things. Izzy has lost the ability to close out games.? Ryan Franklin is even worse.? Franklin is simply not a closer, and why La Russa insists on handing him the ball in pressure situations is beyond me.? Franklin misses his spots, is rattled easily, and is not intimidating. ? Why haven't we used Springer in the closer's role?? Our bullpen going into spring training was the one area where I was not worried.? And now, it is our Achilles's heel. Help is on the way in the form of Chris Perez.? But after a short stint with St. Louis, was optioned back to Memphis to work on a third pitch, his slider.? He has since returned and was actually used in a save situation, picking up his first career save against the Dodgers this week.? But he is still very green, and may or may not be able to step up and take over the closing roll just yet. Which brings me back to the title of this post...? Is Adam Wainwright better served re-joining the rotation or would it be better for the Cards to stick him into the closer role that he filled when the Cards won the World Series in '06 and Izzy was injured?? Before we decide, let's look at the rotation. With Carpenter back, we have our ace back.? In his absence,? Wainwright stepped up as the ace of the staff.? But then he went down with a finger injury.? Kyle Lohse, statistically, has been the "ace" of the staff for most of the year.? So now you have Carpenter and Lohse atop the rotation.? Then you have Todd Wellemeyer and Braden Looper, two workhorses who eat a lot of innings.? Wellemeyer was a border line All-Star until he missed some time with an injury.? Then you have Joel Pineiro shoring up the rotation.? For the most part, our starting rotation has surpassed all expectations.? So the rotation is not our problem.? True, Adam would only improve the rotation, and I can even make the argument that you want your best arms pitching the most innings.? But why upgrade something that is already pretty good, when you have a bullpen that is TERRIBLE? The bullpen has been overused, inconsistent, and underperforming.? Kyle McCllelen has pitched well for the most part, but Franklin and Izzy have been terrible.? Villone has been good at times and bad at times.? Jamie Garcia offers us a fresh lefty who I think will one day be a member of our rotation.? Springer has been decent.? Brad Thompson has been pretty good too in the long relief role.? But overall, we just can't seem to close out games that we should win. So, for that reason, I believe Wainwright should step in as our closer for now.? I know he is a starter, and will be a member of our rotation for years to come.? But right now, it is August 8th, and we are 7 games out of first place and need to stop the bleeding.? So stick Adam in the 'pen, continue to let Perez progress, and stop handing the ball to Izzy and Franklin.? Trade Franklin for a used fungo bat, and DO NOT pick up Izzy's option next season.? We will need the salary we save from not having Izzy next year if we stand a chane of retaining Lohse for 2009. But back to tonight.? Adam was on a low pitch count for this outing, but he didn't even make it out of the first inning.? He gave up a three run tater and was back in the dugout 15 minutes into the game.? But don't worry.? This outing was not about the score.? This was about Adam getting into game situations, so he can return to St. Louis... And Adam, please hurry up and get back to St. Louis, before it is too late.