Monday, February 11, 2013
Lohse's options
By Doug Mittler
Free agent Kyle Lohse has been waiting patiently all offseason for an opportunity to surface, and the St. Louis Cardinals’ misfortune regarding Chris Carpenter seemed like the perfect opening.
After all, Lohse is coming off a 16-win season for the Cardinals and a return to St. Louis would be a nice fit now that Carpenter’s season, and likely his career, is over due to a nerve injury. But GM John Mozeliak insists he's confident in the wave of big-league ready young pitchers, according to Joe Strauss of the Post-Dispatch. The Cards have every reason to let top young arms like Trevor Rosenthal, Shelby Miller and Joe Kelly compete for a rotation spot. If Mozeliak does see the need for an established starter, a move would seem more likely at the end of spring training rather than at the beginning.
So where does that leave Lohse? The Milwaukee Brewers have been linked to the right-hander, and the Baltimore Orioles could use a veteran arm, but those destinations likely would only come into play if agent Scott Boras lowers the asking price for Lohse. Boras told Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com there is a “very viable market” for his client, and if that's true, then there could still be a multi-year deal out there to be had.
One place Lohse doesn't appear likely to land is Boston, a sourcetells WEEI.com's Rob Bradford, as the club possesses a full rotation and is likely to see the draft-pick compensation tied to Lohse as prohibitive.
Two possible clubs who might not worry as much about the financial aspect of bringing in Lohse are the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels, both of whom could use Lohse to add depth and quality innings to their rotations. And over the weekend, there was some speculation that the Cleveland Indians could pursue Lohse to polish off what has been a solid offseason of wheelings, dealings and signings.
