Kyle Lohse's one-year contract with St. Louis is well below his early-offseason demands, but
Lohse has posted league-average ERAs in two hitters' parks since coming over to the NL in the middle of 2006. He's always been a guy with better stuff than his results would indicate, but moving to a neutral park and to a team with several plus up-the-middle defenders (Cesar Izturis, Yadier Molina and perhaps Colby Rasmus) should all help him perform better than that. One year and $4.25 million for 180-200 innings of league-average or better pitching is an unbelievable bargain, and another feather in the cap of new Cardinals GM John Mozeliak, who's done a nice job in a difficult situation and avoided long-term commitments in a bad pitching market this winter.
Lohse's signing would appear to push
Anthony Reyes out of the St. Louis rotation, and while the Cardinals might have given him one more shot, it's hard to argue with their decision, given Reyes' track record. He may be a change-of-scenery guy who can find some success in another organization. The Cards' rotation definitely includes
Adam Wainwright,
Braden Looper, Lohse and
Joel Pineiro, and it's possible that
Matt Clement will be ready to assume the fifth starter's spot some time in April.
On to some prospects ...
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Keith Law
