Tagged: Brian Tallet
“Elbow tightness” for Tallet, sore ankle for Molina – UPDATED
Two Cardinals were removed from Friday night’s win over the Rockies due to injury concerns, but both men played down their conditions after the game.
Brian Tallet came down with some tightness in his left elbow, but said afterward that he didn’t even want to come out of the game. Manager Tony La Russa and assistant athletic trainer Barry Weinberg prevailed upon him to leave as a precaution. Tallet and La Russa both left open the possibility that Tallet could pitch again before the weekend is out.
Catcher Yadier Molina, meanwhile, suffered what he called tightness in his left ankle prior to the game. He started, though, and played eight innings before La Russa removed him for a pinch-runner. Molina likewise downplayed his situation, indicating that he expects to play on Saturday.
Tallet was removed from the game after only six pitches. He was replaced by Eduardo Sanchez, who hit a batter but got through the eighth otherwise without incident. Tallet has had a series of maladies this year. He missed time in Spring Training due to a strained left groin, then suffered a broken bone in his right hand in April, sidelining him for nearly six weeks.
-M.
Tallet to be activated; Hamilton out
Brian Tallet is coming back sooner than expected. The Cardinals will activate the left-handed reliever from the disabled list on Friday, optioning first baseman/outfielder Mark Hamilton to Memphis to make room on the roster for him. A club official confirmed the move shortly before the Cardinals left for Kansas City on Thursday afternoon.
Tallet has been out since April 13 due to a broken bone in his right hand. He made one Minor League rehabilitation start, on Tuesday at Class A Quad Cities, and was expected to make another on Friday night. Instead, the Cardinals went ahead and activated him. Tallet struck out five of the six batters he faced in the game against Peoria on Tuesday.
With the move, the Cardinals go to 13 pitchers for the first time this year. Sending out Hamilton avoids what would have been a very difficult decision in the Cardinals bullpen. The two pitchers most recently called up, Fernando Salas and Eduardo Sanchez, have been two of the club’s best relievers ,and in fact Salas is the <i>de facto</i> closer for the time being.
Sending out Hamilton would also seem to be some sort of vote of confidence in both Matt Holliday, and to a lesser extent Lance Berkman. The two outfielders both missed Thursday’s game due to injuries. Holliday said afterward, though, that he expects to play Friday. Berkman is likely out for a few days. If the Cardinals believed they would be doing without both veterans for any extended period of time, they likely would not have moved to 12 position players.
Tuesday tidbits: The road to return
It’s a little bit quieter around here today that it was yesterday afternoon, but we’ve still got plenty going on. The forecast appears to have been a bit inaccurate, since it’s overcast, but we still should be free of rain.
* Skip Schumaker is set to go out on a rehab assignment tomorrow. He’ll report to extended spring training and take several at-bats a day down there. He hopes to need only a few days in Florida before being added to the roster again. TLR sounded less sure of that, but either way Schumaker’s return is getting closer.
* Colby Rasmus is out again today, but for the most part the news on Rasmus is good. He said he’s dealing with a simple abdominal strain. That’s encouraging, because he underwent tests yesterday to rule out other possibilities. I’d guess that he returns tomorrow, but wouldn’t be shocked if it were another day or two.
* Brian Tallet is set to pitch tonight for Class A Quad Cities as he begins his rehab assignment.
* Allen Craig is at second base again, with the lefty pitching for the Cardinals. That’s because Nick Punto is dealing with some right elbow discomfort and is unavailable to start. TLR said that he won’t flip-flop Craig and Daniel Descalso in double-play situations, as Joe Pettini hinted was a possibility last week in Chicago.
* TLR didn’t have a lot to say about Marty Brennaman’s comments regarding the Cardinals. “I think the safest thing to say is he’s a Hall of Famer, and he should get the respect that inclusion in that place deserves,” he said. “And then he ought to earn it every day from his Hall of Fame induction forward. He ought to earn it and not abuse it.”
* Albert Pujols isn’t going to play 3B much at all, the manager said. It’s an option, but not one that will be very common.
And, finally, the playlist, which is a remnant from Sunday night. I drove back from CIN, of course, and spent the last three hours listening to the great “Darkwave” program on Sirius/XM First Wave. So, five favorites from the show.
New Order, “Sub-Culture”
Sisters of Mercy, “Ribbons”
Front 242, “Headhunter”
Jesus and Mary Chain, “Just Like Honey”
Joy Division, “Atmosphere”
-M.
Friday tidbits: Tallet, Berkman, the infield and more
Greetings from what may be the most perfect night for ball that we have this year. The signs in the bullpens read 70 degrees and there’s scarcely a cloud in the sky. I’m back in the saddle after a few days off, and I’ll be on for quite a while now.
* Brian Tallet told us today that he’s still one week away from being permitted to catch a ball. Once that time comes, he’ll still likely have to go on a rehab assignment. So a reasonable guess is that he’s two weeks from returning to active duty.
* Lance Berkman got a night off tonight, with Allen Craig getting the start in right. Berkman is 3-for-27 against Randy Wolf.
* I asked TLR about his infield alignment, with Tyler Greene at second and Nick Punto at third, and he explained that one of the primary factors that went into that setup is the left-handed groundballer Jaime Garcia on the mound. He wanted to get the best possible defender at third behind Garcia, and that’s Punto.
* Colby Rasmus gets yet another start against a LHP. He’s actually the only lefty in the lineup, with Wolf mowing down left-handed hitters (SMALL SAMPLE SIZE ALERT) so far this year.
* In honor of Bellerive Country Club receiving the 2018 PGA Championship and the 2013 Senior PGA, the Cardinals held a brief pregame ceremony. The president of the PGA of America threw out the first pitch, and the Wanamaker Trophy (given to the PGA champion each year) was displayed on the field.
And, finally, the playlist:
Pearl Jam, “Love Boat Captain”
Living Colour, “Behind the Sun”
Cracker, “Get Off This”
Everclear, “I Will Buy You a New Life”
The Cure, “10:15 Saturday Night”
Yeah, I dunno. Works for me.
-M.
Cardinals confirm Augenstein and Tallet both to DL
PHOENIX — The Cardinals confirmed Wednesday that both Bryan Augenstein and Brian Tallet are being placed on the 15-day disabled list due to injuries they suffered in Tuesday night’s game against the Diamondbacks.
Fernando Salas and Eduardo Sanchez have been recalled from Triple-A Memphis to take their places on the roster. Both Salas and Sanchez are available for Wednesday night’s game.
Augenstein suffered a strained right groin during Tuesday’s game, while Tallet has a fracture in his right hand. Tallet was injured when he and Stephen Drew became entangled on a play at first base.
Salas, 25, pitched effectively in limited duty for the Cardinals in 2010, posting a 3.52 ERA in 27 appearances. He made three scoreless appearances for Memphis in 2011 prior to his recall. Sanchez, 22, will be on a big league roster for the first time. He has pitched three shutout innings over two games for Memphis this year. In 2010, split between Double-A Springfield and Memphis, Sanchez recorded a 2.38 ERA, 58 strikeouts and 20 walks in 53 innings.
-M.
Note of the night and Stat of the Day, April 4
Note of the night: It was a rough, rough night at the plate for David Freese. The Cardinals third baseman went 0-for-4 with a double play and two strikeouts, despite coming to the plate with at least one runner on base in every one of his at-bats.
He actually hit the ball that brought in the first Cardinals run, grounding into a double play with men on first and third and no out in the second inning. That followed a sweet hit-and-run that had gotten Lance Berkman over to third. But Freese grounded out with men on first and second in the fourth, struck out with a man on first in the sixth, and struck out with a man on second in the eighth.
He’s a better hitter than that, and he’ll do better than that in the future. Moreover, he wasn’t alone — Yadier Molina had a rough one, going 0-for-4 and three times stranding a runner on base at the end of an inning. Those two spots in the order really were the difference on Monday. If the 6-7 hitters had been able to keep rallies alive, things might have looked a lot different.
“I was putting myself in bad counts, and when you do that at the big league level, you’re not going to do too well,” Freese said. “It was a rough night. I had a few opportunities to drive guys in and I couldn’t make it happen. … [Charlie Morton] made a good pitch when he needed to. That’s how you get Ws. They did a good job over there of getting timely hits, playing good defense and obviously pitching well.”
The point of this is not to pick on Freese, but rather to note the fine line. One hit from him (or Molina) in one of those situations, it might be a much different game.
I’ll preach this a lot not only in the first few days but even the first couple of months of the season: it’s four games. If the Cardinals were 4-0 and had scored 30 runs, I’d be cautioning people not to buy World Series tickets. Because they’re 1-3 and have scored 11 runs, the requisite perspective is to know that there are some hitters in this lineup and they shouldn’t hit like this all year.
But for now, yeah, it’s not looking real good on the offensive side of things.
* Stat of the day: Brian Tallet has faced seven batters and none of them has reached base. He’s struck out three without issuing a walk, and 18 of his 29 pitches have gone for strikes.
I tweeted this earlier, and I think it’s true: there haven’t been many pleasant surprises in the early going, but Tallet has to count as one. And his usage pattern has been interesting. He hasn’t been a one batter guy. Two games, seven outs. There’s a role the Cardinals really haven’t had succesffully filled in a while, and it’s the left-hander who’s not strictly a one-batter guy.
If Tallet could be that one-inning lefty, a guy you bring in for an inning with mostly but not all left-handed hitters, he could be quite valuable. Think Steve Kline at his best for an idea of the role (though not necessarily of the type of pitcher). Now, to live by my own guidelines, I’m not turning Tallet into that guy after two games. But I think it bears watching.
G’night…
-M.
Wednesday workout tidbits, and Opening Day lineup
First, the lineup for tomorrow:
1. Theriot SS
2. Rasmus CF
3. Pujols 1B
4. Holliday LF
5. Berkman RF
6. Freese 3B
7. Molina C
8. Schumaker 2B
9. Carpenter P
As for the tidbits…
* Brian Tallet should be fully available tomorrow.
* Same goes for Matt Holliday. TLR said he had no real concerns about Holliday’s sore right big toe, and Holliday participated fully.
* Bryan Augenstein is wearing No. 22. He wore No. 44 in Arizona, but that’s taken by Miguel Batista, and he said that 22 is also a tribute to his high school pitching coach, George Estock, who passed away last fall. Estock wore 22 for the Braves in his only big league season, 1951.
* Kyle McClellan will have some kind of throw on Friday in advance of his first game, which will be Tuesday at home against the Pirates. He does not expect to face hitters, but he’ll get some work.
* TLR wasn’t giving much away about anything going forward. He did say that Daniel Descalso will be his primary backup option at 3B, ahead of Tyler Greene or Allen Craig. But he didn’t give any indication of how he intends to use Lance Berkman — i.e. whether or not he feels Berkman will require preventative days off in the early going.
And, finally, the playlist:
Material Issue, “International Pop Overthrow”
Dead Milkmen, “Punk Rock Girl”
Everclear, “Queen Of The Air”
Rancid, “Roots Radicals”
Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Knock Me Down”
-M.
Saturday camp tidbits: Bullpen, bullpen, bullpen!
This is my second-to-last day in camp. We’ll have tidbits tomorrow, then I head back to StL on Monday and rejoin the club in Springfield on Tuesday. Then a Wednesday workout, and Opening Day, y’all. It’s coming quickly.
* TLR said they were encouraged by how Brian Tallet is doing today. Still a bit of a vague situation, but it sounds like things are better than expected. Tallet has some groin soreness.
* While it’s unlikely that the Cardinals will take 13 pitchers north to open the season, TLR sounded as though they might go to 13 soon after. The Cards have a 10-games-in-10-days road trip after their opening homestand, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see them add an eighth reliever for that trip.
* I asked this morning whether one option for dealing with some bullpen worries was to stretch Franklin out for 4-5 outs more often this year, and was told that’s not really in the picture.
* The manager also said he thinks there’s a good chance they’ll have the 25-man roster settled before they go to Springfield.
* Speaking of Springfield, it’ll pretty much be a skeleton crew playing the other game that day. The Cardinals do have a game in Jupiter on Tuesday in addition to the Springfield game, but unless the weather is really miserable up north, it will be all Minor Leaguers for the game here at Roger Dean.
* Couple of notes from the back fields yesterday: Shelby Miller pitched four innings for Palm Beach against Jupiter, allowing one run, one hit and one walk and striking out six. Zack Cox, also playing for Palm Beach, went 2-for-3 with a home run.
And, finally, the playlist:
Aimee Mann, “Red Vines”
Buffalo Tom, “Kitchen Door”
Velocity Girl, “Lose Something”
The Hold Steady, “First Night”
The Beatles, “Golden Slumbers”
-M.
Saturday camp tidbits: Bullpen, bullpen, bullpen!
Saturday camp tidbits: Bullpen, bullpen, bullpen!
This is my second-to-last day in camp. We’ll have tidbits tomorrow, then I head back to StL on Monday and rejoin the club in Springfield on Tuesday. Then a Wednesday workout, and Opening Day, y’all. It’s coming quickly.
Obviously, You're Not a Golfer 