St. Louis Cardinals’ fans need to get a grip. It’s just spring training!
For Pete’s sake, people, we’re less than half-a-week into Grapefruit League play and St. Louis Cardinals fans are losing their minds over the stat lines of several of the team’s pitchers.
On Tuesday, star-crossed hurler Alex Reyes tossed 25 mediocre pitches, facing five hitters while recording only one out. It’s not great. I’m going to admit it. But manager Mike Shildt said the perennial prospect had “filthy” stuff. Reyes just couldn’t harness his command. It’s his first game of the spring. If he can’t find it five games in, alright, it’s time to worry. But anyone who has even played baseball knows it takes a little bit to get your mechanics together and find a rhythm. That’s why the players don’t just all show up at Busch Stadium the day before the first game to have their pictures taken and shoot the breeze before taking the field the next day.
You just can’t replicate the stresses of a game in a bullpen session or by throwing batting practice. It’s not the same as when there is another professional player standing at the plate who is ready to compete with you and then pride and competition enter into the equation. So the first appearance or two of the spring are always going to be a process of feeling things out. I’m much less worried about the stat line than I am to see Reyes with my own eyes in a few days and to watch how — or if — he makes progress every time out.
Some people even had the gumption to complain that Brett Cecil wasn’t any good in his appearance Wednesday. That’s a total waste of breath, not only for the reasons mentioned above, but also because there are absolutely no expectations from this club for the left-handed reliever. The Cardinals have moved on from Cecil with their bullpen plans. The only reason he’s still here is because the team has to pay him anyway, so the front office guys might as well see if there is anything left to salvage. If there isn’t, they’ve still got Andrew Miller from the left side as well as Austin Gomber, Junior Fernandez, Genesis Cabrera and a host of others competing for a bullpen lefty role. But is that even a thing anymore? Because of the stupid rule that requires pitchers to face at least three hitters, there is going to be a whole lot less match-up shopping in the late innings of games. The last time we saw Cecil in the Major Leagues, way back in 2018, righties hit .296 off him with a .429 on-base percentage. He walked 18 right-handed batters while striking out 10 of them.
So let’s not cry over how Cecil does, especially not in an early spring training game. There are at least 50 guys in camp at Jupiter who I am more interested in than an obsolete, injury-prone reliever who is in the same position now that Luke Gregerson was in last year.
While the pitching hasn’t been great so far, at least we’ve been able to watch Cardinals’ hitters enjoy facing rusty opposing hurlers. Paul DeJong joined the spring training home run club in game number three of the spring. That’s a good thing because Cardinals fans ought to be a lot more concerned about whipping the offense into shape than about what the wealth of pitching the club has on the roster will be capable of in 2020.
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Scott Wuerz is a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. The Cheap Seats blog is written from his perspective as a fan and is designed to spark discussion among fans of the Cardinals and other MLB teams. Sources supporting his views and opinions are linked. If you’re looking for Cardinals news and features, check out the BND’s Cardinals section.
