MVN - Most Valuable Network

What will Cardinals do with Reyes?

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran a story today on the status of Cardinal’s pitcher Anthony Reyes. Reyes is currently pitching in AAA for the fourth year in a row following a recent demotion.

Reyes was sent down to Memphis because he was not working out very well as a reliever, despite some members of the organization thinking he could with his good stuff. In doing this, they used his last option up, meaning that if they call him back up again, they can’t send him down unless he clears waivers.

Therefore, it’s looking more and more like the Cardinals plan to trade him. He clearly has talent, but he clearly needs a change of scenery as well. His pitching style contrasts with pitching coach Dave Duncan’s. Plus, it’s tough to see where the Cardinals would put him.

Before the season, you could see a possible rotation spot. But, with strong starts from people like Todd Wellemeyer and Mark Mulder and Jeff Clement getting their health back, it looks like Reyes is headed to the bullpen or another team in the future.

However, it might be difficult for both to happen. Tony La Russa values the bullpen, and doesn’t seem to think that Reyes is cut out for it with his inconsistency and starting mentality. I actually think in time he could be a solid reliever, but it could be a project.

John Mozeliak, the GM, is saying that Reyes is for insurance in case a starter goes down. Well, that is really not the case, as there are many other options besides Reyes, most better.

He is looking to trade him, but is asking for a top prospect and won’t just give him away. As one could expect, no teams are willing to pay this price with Reyes’s struggles. Plus, the Cardinals aren’t exactly showing off their confidence in him to other teams by sending him down to the minors.

In the end, I think Reyes gets traded. They just don’t have any room for him, and he needs to go elsewhere to succeed. It could be difficult, though, considering the large trade demands.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 11th, 2008 at 10:38 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.