Mozeliak On Reyes, Bullpen

While much of the baseball world was dazzled by St. Louis Cardinals pitching prospect Alex Reyes’ pitching performance in the Future’s game on Sunday, those expecting him to be joining the big league bullpen this weekend may want to temper their expectations.

Speaking on “The Brian Stull Show” earlier tonight, General Manager John Mozeliak stated he was confident that Trevor Rosenthal will be ready to go on Friday and was also optimistic that Kevin Siegrist will be ready.

“He’s feeling a lot better, feels like he’s getting his strength back,” shared Mozeliak, who saw the left-hander yesterday. “Most importantly for him, he’s been able to sleep. I think that’s been an important part of this…fatigue is a big part of this. For him to just getting to be able to feel strong again is important.”

The expected return of Kevin Siegrist and a healthy Rosenthal likely means that Reyes will continue his work as a starter at Memphis.

“I hope so,” stated Mozeliak. “My first reaction to that, and I think I’ve stated this, is I’m hopeful that he can continue to just be used as a starter and continue to pile up the innings. I feel like when you look at what he’s been able to do this year, a lot of positives. There’s no doubt, he’s got an exciting arm. Anybody that watched him pitch in the Futures game understands he’s an elite talent, front of the rotation type pitcher in the future but he still needs to just get his work in. And I sometimes feel like that just doesn’t play well–it doesn’t sound right. But in the end, the way to get stronger, the way to improve is by pitching.

“For me to just bring him up and put him into the bullpen and then the season ends and he ends up with 120-130 innings total for the year, next year what can you expect from him? Then all of a sudden 2017 is in jeopardy in terms of not being able to give you that full season and then if that happens, are you looking at 2018 as really sort of his first tryout going to 200?

“I want to remain open-minded about this. I certainly think he’s someone who at some point can help the club, but we don’t need to hit the panic button.”

The Cardinals logged the innings that Reyes threw in extended Spring Training during his suspension, so while officially he’s in the books with 41.1 innings at Memphis, his overall total is higher.

“You have six weeks left of the season, so you’re looking at another eight starts at a minimum,” calculated Mozeliak. “That’s probably somewhere between 45-50 innings.”

CARPENTER UPDATE

–In San Diego for the All-Star festivities, Matt Carpenter will report on Friday with the rest of the team and Mozeliak is expecting an updated on the second baseman’s oblique injury at that time.

“When you look at oblique injuries, historically, they’re anywhere from 3-4 weeks and sometimes longer so I’ll cross my fingers and hope for the best,” said Mozeliak.

In the meantime, the time with Carpenter out provides a chance to for others to re-establish themselves.

“For somebody like a Kolten Wong to get playing time at second base, it’s an opportunity for him to either take advantage of it or find out that he’s going to be used more as a utility player moving forward,” said Mozeliak. “Somebody like a Greg Garcia getting some reps–ultimately when somebody gets injured, it creates a spot so hopefully we can take advantage of it.”

photo credit: Gary A. Vasquez, Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports