And so the Anthony Reyes saga carries on. According to Joe Strauss, a source has indicated that Reyes will not be in the rotation, but will remain in the bullpen as a long reliever to start the season.
I've spoken my piece on him numerous times and my opinion remains - I think he still has the potential to be a solid Major League starter and it's a shame the Cardinals aren't patient enough to see it through.
When Todd Wellemeyer and Brad Thompson (and Braden Looper for that matter) are the alternatives on a team that will struggle to break .500, there is no reason to avoid giving a pitcher with demonstrated potential such as Reyes an opportunity to be in the starting rotation - without fear of being yanked and thrown to AAA - to see if he's made the improvements necessary.
But that will never happen with Tony LaRussa and Dave Duncan at the helm. And the crux of the issue now is shifting from their treatment of Anthony Reyes specifically, to their hypocritical attitude towards certain players - more times than not, young ones. Players who find their way into the TLR-Duncan doghouse have no shot, while those who become pet projects are given ample opportunity to prove they don't belong. With both scenarios, production on the field rarely makes a difference.
It's not a matter of speculation based strictly on playing time - the tone of LaRussa and Duncan's comments alone speak volumes.
Take Duncan's comments after Reyes threw the spring's best outing with 6IP, 3H, 0ER on Tuesday:
"For me, it was a real difficult game to evaluate the performances of the pitchers...Odalis Perez was doing pretty good for five innings, if I remember right, and he's not exactly a top of the rotation guy. I actually thought Anthony threw better in the last game he pitched, in comparison to this one."
For a guy whose confidence was rattled last season, it probably works wonders to immediately question his outing as it being a fluke simply because Odalis Perez pitched well too. More from the pitching coach...
"There are certain things he has to do with his physical abilities to consistently be a successful major-league pitcher at this level...I'm still looking for Anthony to do certain things that when you face first-division teams you can compete against them and have a legitimate chance to be successful. Certain things you need to be able to do, that I don't see Anthony doing."
You mean like the things that Todd Wellemeyer has done in his Major League career? A career that up until last year consisted of zero starts in 115 appearances, an ERA of 4.98, a WHIP of 1.57 and the honor of being released by the Kansas City Royals? Apparently, Duncan is sold on Wellemeyer's performance this spring:
"I like what I've seen so far with him. One of our concerns was (elevated) pitch counts. He's done a good job controlling those."
Apparently they are encouraged by the 17 hits and 11 walks that Wellemeyer has allowed in 20 innings (good for a 1.40 WHIP).
For Thompson, the team has convinced themselves that there is some gap between the way he pitched and the way Reyes pitched last season. Sayeth Duncan:
"We saw Brad enough last year. For that role, you aren't sitting on the edge of your chair not knowing what's going to happen every time he goes out there."
Really? Because if you look at the starts made by both pitchers in 2008 (17 by Thompson, 20 by Reyes) their average outings look very similar:
Thompson - 5.3 IP, 6H, 2.8 ER
Reyes - 5.1 IP, 5H, 3.3 ER
Certainly not a huge disparity between them, yet Reyes still can't do "certain things" to pitch at this level while Thompson is apparently a known quantity.
Again, what's becoming more frustrating than Anthony Reyes' individual case, is the continual pattern of double speak and favortism from LaRussa and Duncan. It dates all the way back to Ozzie Smith in 1996 who was chapped when LaRussa apparently told him that there would be a competition in the spring for the starting shortstop position only to ignore the results of said competition and hand the job to the person he wanted to. Same happened in '06 when Wainwright vastly outperformed Sidney Ponson during the spring competition for the fifth spot in the rotation but was passed over for the starting role in favor of the veteran.
Shades of the same are in place with Brendan Ryan and Cesar Izturis, although in Tony's defense that role was never deemed to be an open competition.
One thing is becoming clear - if Tony doesn't like you, you're going to have a hard time making this roster.
I've spoken my piece on him numerous times and my opinion remains - I think he still has the potential to be a solid Major League starter and it's a shame the Cardinals aren't patient enough to see it through. 
Really? Because if you look at the starts made by both pitchers in 2008 (17 by Thompson, 20 by Reyes) their average outings look very similar:
