SocraticGadfly: The #Cardinals finally give Carlos Martinez his chance

June 16, 2014

The #Cardinals finally give Carlos Martinez his chance

It's too bad that it's at the expense of Adam Wainwright skipping a rotation turn over precautions with his tender wing, but finally, Carlos Martinez is going to get his shot at a turn in the rotation.

(Make sure your Twitter account (Very NSFW!) doesn't get "hacked" again, Carlos. You don't want to do anything to cause manager Mike Matheny to once again demote you from the "Mike's guys" list. )

There's a couple of flip sides. One, because Martinez hasn't had time to "stretch out" into a starter's role, he'll be on a tight pitch count. So, GM John Mozeliak, per the story, called up Nick Greenwood from Memphis. Randal Grichuk got sent back down to create the opening.

Unfortunately, that fills out the Cards' current 40-man roster. So, Stephen Piscotty doesn't have a chance at an OF call-up right now, it seems. 

So, while I've said before I'm not a Mozeliak bandwagoner, but I think he's generally smart? Here, I disagree. A 26-year-old who's not shown serious promise yet of being MLB level shouldn't have been on the 40-man in the first place, even if he's playing better this year.

"Sugar" Shane Robinson is the only call-up option in the near future, as both Grichuk and Oscar Taveras must stay in Memphis 10 days. To be honest, as ugly as it is, I'd stay with the current OF, and either a 13-pitcher roster or bring Greg Garcia back up.

There's one way out of this mess, whether before or after July 31 .... that's a trade where the Cards get one less player back than sending out, as far as players on teams' current 40-mans, or else putting Pete Kozma on waivers.

==

And, his actual performance in that chance was "meh." The lack-of-focus, lack-of-control issues that have marked his relief work this year came up again as a starter. Hell, maybe he needs some Adderall. The team needs to do its due diligence, joking aside, to ask if he does have some version of ADD or ADHD that could stand some help. 

But, a good piece here on his potential future.

No comments: