FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Reliever Josh Kinney had an MRI exam Tuesday after notifying team personnel Monday night that his right elbow "locked up" after a second consecutive difficult outing.
"It's definitely enough that you have to be concerned about it," manager Tony La Russa said before the Cardinals played the Baltimore Orioles to a 2-2 tie. "He told the trainers he was having some discomfort, so he's going to have it checked out."
cabby7588 wrote:Oh god...Not elbow trobule. If I'm not mistaking, he has been struggling so far this Spring. At least we have a ton of depth in the pen.
Yeah, so far this spring he's pitched 2 innings, gave up 6 hits, 1 HR, 6 ER, 2 BB, 0 K. Oh, and he hit a guy too.
That depth in the bullpen dries up in a hurry if Looper goes to the rotation and Springer and Kinney are both hurt. That's three out of 7 righties with bullpen experience, leaving Izzy, Franklin, Thompson, and Hancock. Most of our spare bullpen parts seem to be lefties this year.
Bullpens are, by their nature, pretty waxing and waning creatures overall, both in terms of health and performance. Collections of fringe guys who pitch to one to four batters at a time should be expected to see their fortunes move around pretty dramatically from season to season.
I come into the spring particularly suspicious of guys like Kinney and Hancock, and if Looper and Wainwright were going to be relievers this year I'd've expected at least one of them to likely have a significantly worse year in 07 too.
Our pen has an edge, in that TLR builds it and uses it in ways that maximize the likelihood of success. But ANY time your role is to face one to four batters a couple times per week, luck and random variation will loom pretty large in the results -- good or bad.
skmsw wrote:Bullpens are, by their nature, pretty waxing and waning creatures overall, both in terms of health and performance. Collections of fringe guys who pitch to one to four batters at a time should be expected to see their fortunes move around pretty dramatically from season to season.
I come into the spring particularly suspicious of guys like Kinney and Hancock, and if Looper and Wainwright were going to be relievers this year I'd've expected at least one of them to likely have a significantly worse year in 07 too.
Our pen has an edge, in that TLR builds it and uses it in ways that maximize the likelihood of success. But ANY time your role is to face one to four batters a couple times per week, luck and random variation will loom pretty large in the results -- good or bad.
skmsw wrote:Bullpens are, by their nature, pretty waxing and waning creatures overall, both in terms of health and performance. Collections of fringe guys who pitch to one to four batters at a time should be expected to see their fortunes move around pretty dramatically from season to season.
I come into the spring particularly suspicious of guys like Kinney and Hancock, and if Looper and Wainwright were going to be relievers this year I'd've expected at least one of them to likely have a significantly worse year in 07 too.
Our pen has an edge, in that TLR builds it and uses it in ways that maximize the likelihood of success. But ANY time your role is to face one to four batters a couple times per week, luck and random variation will loom pretty large in the results -- good or bad.
I agree. Our bullpen is pretty different year to year, and year to year it's pretty good with few exceptions.
If somebody's elbow is going to be barking, I'd rather it be a Josh Kinney than an Adam Wainwright or Kip Wells.
Though Reyes' comments do have me scared about his shoulder...
Popeye_Card wrote:If somebody's elbow is going to be barking, I'd rather it be a Josh Kinney than an Adam Wainwright or Kip Wells.
Though Reyes' comments do have me scared about his shoulder...
Can a shoulder bark too or is barking usually only for elbows? I say we start our own term for a "barking" shoulder. Meow? nah... Cluck-cluck? don't think so too. How about oinking?
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