Looper Spring Insight

Post by **TheoSqua** » March 13 07, 10:16 am

Braden Looper's repertoire is a bit different now that he's starting. Looper is throwing a cut fastball for the first time, helping him to be more effective against lefthanders. Additionally, he's featuring his slider more than before. He believes that by throwing the pitch more, he will develop better command of it. Looper also throws a sinker and a pitch that can function as a changeup or a split-finger, depending on how he throws it.

greenback44 · Post by **greenback44** » March 13 07, 10:36 am

The recent faction discussion got me thinking that my attitude towards the Braden Looper-as-starter experiment would be a little different if the Cardinals hadn't just won the World Series. Yeah, there are some risks involved and I don't have any interest in minimizing them. That stuff just seems secondary since it would be fun to watch a pitcher go from being BLoop to being Sup.

rs232 · Post by **rs232** » March 13 07, 10:46 am

greenback44 wrote:That stuff just seems secondary since it would be fun to watch a pitcher go from being BLoop to being Sup.

Well put!

Cronos · Post by **Cronos** » March 13 07, 10:56 am

I have a rather morbid curiosity in seeing if Looper/Dunc can even remotely pull this off or not. It's strange; I'm almost more interested in seeing what happens with that then I am with seeing the promising talent of Wainwright and Reyes.

Not quite, but almost.

Brodie · Post by **Brodie** » March 13 07, 11:14 am

Cronos69 wrote:I have a rather morbid curiosity in seeing if Looper/Dunc can even remotely pull this off or not. It's strange; I'm almost more interested in seeing what happens with that then I am with seeing the promising talent of Wainwright and Reyes. Not quite, but almost.

I am close to that, Reyes for some reason I don't care how he does, Wainy is dead center on the radar since his spring has been fantastic, Loop is the guy I check the box score on to see if what I am reading is a big lie

-Brodie

cards2468 · Post by **cards2468** » March 14 07, 12:28 am

we could possibly end up with the ultimate Duncan rotation with Carp, Wells, and Looper having their career reclaimed by him and 2 youngsters in Wainwright and Reyes being turned from minor leaguers to major leaguers. If this works out, then it's incredible how much we can get out of so little

Joe Shlabotnik · Post by **Joe Shlabotnik** » March 14 07, 7:15 am

cards2468 wrote:we could possibly end up with the ultimate Duncan rotation with Carp, Wells, and Looper having their career reclaimed by him and 2 youngsters in Wainwright and Reyes being turned from minor leaguers to major leaguers. If this works out, then it's incredible how much we can get out of so little

Maybe what should be said is how incredibly little other teams get out of what they've got. Daddy Dunc pulls this off, and he redefines what a pitching coach is all about. They'll be copying his methods for years.

valley_card22 · Post by **valley_card22** » March 14 07, 7:58 am

If Papa Dunc can pull this group together to win 90 games, HE should get Manager of the Year. I have faith, but careful faith. Heres what I hope for:

Carp-17-20 wins
Wells- 14-17
Wainwright-14-17
Reyes-12-14
Looper-5-8
Mulder-5-8

Low end thats : 67 wins
High End: 84 Wins

And I generally expect the bullpen to win between 8-12 games, so its very good on the high end (96) but only 75 on the low end. Theres no formula because its just what i think. Also its black and white, either everyones high or low. It was more of a worst case/best case then well Carp could get 20 but Looper would win only 5. I also think if we got 8 wins from a half season of Looper and 5 or 6 from a half season of Mulder, thats good for a number 5 pitcher.

Suicide_Squeeze · Post by **Suicide_Squeeze** » March 14 07, 8:17 am

Cronos69 wrote:I have a rather morbid curiosity in seeing if Looper/Dunc can even remotely pull this off or not. It's strange; I'm almost more interested in seeing what happens with that then I am with seeing the promising talent of Wainwright and Reyes. Not quite, but almost.

That's a good way of putting it. However, even though we won the World Series, we're not getting much attention in the press (shocking, I know). Perhaps that will work to our advantage. It's nice to have a fairly sure thing in Wainy/Reyes and a possible one is Dunc/Loop.

JL21 · Post by **JL21** » March 14 07, 8:44 am

boiseCardsFan wrote:
cards2468 wrote:we could possibly end up with the ultimate Duncan rotation with Carp, Wells, and Looper having their career reclaimed by him and 2 youngsters in Wainwright and Reyes being turned from minor leaguers to major leaguers. If this works out, then it's incredible how much we can get out of so little
Maybe what should be said is how incredibly little other teams get out of what they've got. Daddy Dunc pulls this off, and he redefines what a pitching coach is all about. They'll be copying his methods for years.

Just to temper the optimism a bit, as much as we love Duncan, nobody tops Mazzone, even despite his one bad year in Baltimore.