There is "no chance" of Roy Oswalt relieving, agent Bob Garber told MLBTR this morning. "He will absolutely be a starter," according to the agent.
Other reports have indicated Oswalt is close to a deal with the Cardinals. Garber would not comment on anything team-specific, but his stance about his client avoiding the bullpen implies that if the Cardinals are indeed the favorite, they'll have to trade a current starter or move one to relief. The Cardinals' current rotation consists of Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Kyle Lohse, Jaime Garcia, and Jake Westbrook. There are no major physical issues with any of the five, tweets Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, although one has a minor, pre-existing condition. Wainwright, who had Tommy John surgery in late February, is said by Strauss to be "bueno." Lohse and Westbrook have full no-trade clauses.
statistically speaking he was. though we all know carp came through in the clutch again and again and again
He really wasn’t. He beat Carpenter and Garcia by .06 and .17 in ERA but other than that menial difference, he was worse in almost every other statistical category.
IP FIP FIP- SIERA K/9 WAR
Carpenter 237.1 3.06 82 3.50 7.24 5.0
Garcia 194.2 3.23 86 3.44 7.21 3.6
Lohse 188.1 3.67 98 4.26 5.30 2.5
Loshe also put up his numbers with a BABIP 40 points lower than either Carpenter or Garcia.
It doesn’t matter if he was worse in the other categories. He was better in what mattered. Winning.
A pitcher’s win record is a team statistic and if you honestly feel Lohse was better than Carpenter or Garcia after all of the evidence I posted, then there is no point in continuing this conversation.