Comments on: Cardinals avoid arbitration with Marc Rzepczynski

By: stlouis1baseball

stlouis1baseball — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 21:38:01 +0000

But I really dig the nickname P.C. So Scrabble it is. At least for me.

By: cintiphil

cintiphil — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 19:49:08 +0000

Pardon me here, but I just had to ask. I thought he was called zippy. But then I am in Cinti. Who knows here?

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 00:52:33 +0000

Thank you!

By: zipsports

zipsports — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 00:14:19 +0000

I just call him what Larussa used to: Razinski

By: okwhitefalcon

okwhitefalcon — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 22:33:45 +0000

Indeed.

The only other scenario would be to get an opposing manager to waste a right pinch hitter in earlier innings for matchup reasons which may only happen a couple times at most over the course of the regular season.

Post season tournament baseball is a totally different scenario, having the perceived threat of additional lefty may cause a manager to (over) react early and waste a bench player.

I suppose it comes down to flexibility, it’s great to have but it doesn’t mean squat if the LH’rs aren’t effective when called upon.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 22:18:02 +0000

The problem is that the Cardinals have a bullpen full of power arm righties that are awesome at getting out lefties and that have been just as good at it as Rzepczynski (copied and pasted from PC, thanks man)…but who are also good at getting out righties. There are very few lefties that have a huge platoon split that won’t be pinch hit for….so bringing in Rzepczynski/Choate when you think they’ll wind up facing a pinch hitter is just a horrible decision, because then they are stuck in there to face a righty. The possible decrease in effectiveness of the Cardinal RHPs versus lefties is far outweighed by their increase in effectiveness versus righties…..so the only time either of these guys should ever come into a close game is when Matheny is 100% certain that the LHH is not going to be pinch hit for.

By: apmn

apmn — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 22:16:06 +0000

Now he can afford to buy a vowel.

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 22:05:58 +0000

Unlike some St. Louis fans, my spell check has got the name Rzepczynski spelled correctly. No need to refer to him as Scrabble. Do not know what happened to him last season. He pitched much better when he was a Blue Jay.

By: stlouis1baseball

stlouis1baseball — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:54:27 +0000

Two arms will definatly give M.M. more options. As Albert pointed out…Scrabble and Rhodes were both viable options during the W.S. drive.

By: stlouis1baseball

stlouis1baseball — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:52:31 +0000

Great point Albert. Personally, I am hoping the Scrabble from two years ago re-surfaces.
Of course…we only had him or half a season upon his initial signing. Last years (full season) version might be all you get. We can certainly hope for better.

By: digbysellers

digbysellers — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:51:15 +0000

Yes, he was the only leftie last year and it will certainly help having another LOOGY in the bullpen. Rep was way less effective last year and Matheny could only use him once (obviously) which meant Rep got burned way too often when teams wasted him vs some crap leftie pinch hitter all the while a more potent left handed batter was coming up later in the inning.

By: okwhitefalcon

okwhitefalcon — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:50:26 +0000

Scrabble’s was simple, Freese % $ divide is much greater.

I suspect it’ll get done sooner than later but Scrabble’s was just easier.

By: cardsfanandi

cardsfanandi — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:46:15 +0000

Did I miss where they cleared things up with David Freese? I’d like to think he would be a bigger priority than scrabble…

By: albertmn

albertmn — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:45:36 +0000

Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Rzepczynski the only lefty in the pen most of the season? Having two lefties should lessen the workload on either and might make both more effective. The previous season, they also had Rhodes from the left side down the stretch.

By: stlouis1baseball

stlouis1baseball — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:30:56 +0000

Not sure what to make of this. I mean…as Aaron stated…Randy Choate is the LH Specialist.
Qualification: Don’t confuse this post with me liking the Randy Choate signing.
I do NOT like the Randy Choate signing.