Spring Training Day 17

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*** Cardinals beat the Dominican Republic team today 4-1.  Todd Wellemeyer and the rest of the pitching staff had a very good day.  Here's some notes from the day in Jupiter:

     -- Todd Wellemeyer went 4 innings, giving up just one run on 4 hits.  He struck out one and did not walk anybody.  He was very happy with his performance...saying it was good to go up against someone different.  Wellemeyer's stuff was pretty good with decent location.  He said a few offspeed pitches missed their mark but overall had a good game.  Tony agreed that he pitched well...but quickly pointed out that with the wind blowing in it was a much easier day to pitch.  Nonetheless, fans should be pleased with the way Wellemeyer threw against such great hitters.  Jose Reyes, Miguel Tejada, David Ortiz and Hanley Ramirez went a combined 2-11.  Pretty good.

     -- Another really good defensive play at 3rd by Joe Mather.  People need to start grasping the idea that Mather is going to be the starting 3rd baseman to start the year.  First off, he has a major league number (#7) so he's going to be on the roster.  Second, he's got big league experience where David Freese does not.  Third, Freese is nothing but a 3rd baseman where Mather can play all over.  That means when Glaus comes back there is less complication about what to do.  And finally, Tony said today the tie goes to Mather because of all those above reasons.  Since Freese hasn't started a single game at 3rd yet, he not only has to catch Mather, but he also has to pass him up.  Add to that the fact Freese is not going to return to action til early next week at the earliest (once again he's not progressing as fast as they thought) the odds of him passing Mather are slim.  So with all of that, and Tony loves loves LOVES Mather, it's hard to see a scenario barring injury that Joe Mather does not line up at 3rd base come Opening Day.  Heck, Tony admitted when he first heard about Troy Glaus being out for a month, his first thought was Joe Mather...not David Freese.

     -- Mather keeps saying that playing 3rd this spring has been much more natural to him than he thought it would be.  He's made just about every play there is to make out there...except field a bunt or a double play.  That is exactly what Mather says he's waiting for...the double play.  Every time a runner is on first base and a right handed hitter is at the plate, he always whispers over to Skip that this could be the time they get to turn 2.  Since Schumaker has not turned a double play himself yet, that is definitely something I would love to see as well.

     -- Colby Rasmus quietly had a very good bounce back game.  After Tony said publicly that Colby is "pressing", Raz responded with a 1-2 day (and a walk) with some really nice plays in center field.  The ball that he got out on actually was his best at-bat.  It was smoked to the outfield and probably would have left the park if it were not for the wind.  Tony said he had a chat with Rasmus about not trying to hit for power.  He does not care if he does not hit a single home run the rest of spring...his best chance to make the club is to hit for a high average and be a line drive hitter.  Colby told me he watched film ealier today and saw a few kinks in his swing that needed to be corrected.  He was getting out in front a little bit which caused him to roll over a few balls.  Now that he's got that fixed, Rasmus told me he felt as good today as he has since game one of spring training. 

     -- My chat with Colby is attached...

     -- Tony told us that Brett Wallace never stood a chance of making the Cardinals roster this spring from the very beginning.  He said the guy was just drafted and signed less than a year ago, has played one professional season (not even a full one) and just is not ready for the major leagues.  He said spring training is a time to give at-bats to guys who might play a role in your team for 2009.  This is a direct contradiction from what John Mozeliak said earlier this winter.  Mo said Wallace would go as high as his bat dictates.  It did not matter if that was at 3rd base or in the outfield.  Tony has not even given Wallace a chance to show his bat belongs in the majors.  He thinks it's unfair to him to even admit there is a small chance because it puts stuff in his head that should not be there.  He was only here to give him some big league experience, which will put him way ahead of everyone else in AA (which is where Tony says he'll be).  Tony did go on to say he would not be surprised in the slightest if Brett was promoted to AAA at some point this year and then, possibly, to the majors late in the year.  He loves how Wallace approaches his at-bats. 

     -- The Cardinals made a move today in bringing in lefty Dennys Reyes on a 2 year deal.  ESPN's Buster Olney is reporting the deal is worth $3 million.  Reyes coming in has to mean the end for guys like Royce Ring, Charlie Manning and Ian Ostlund.  Reyes has been stellar at times in his career (2.33 ERA in '08 and a .89 ERA in '06).  He held lefties to a .202 average a year ago with a .235 BAA overall.  Mo said what stuck out with Reyes as opposed to some of the other guys available was that Reyes can get both lefties and righties out.  Others on the market, such as Joe Beimel and Will Ohman, are more lefty specialists.  Reyes can be a little bit of everything for this team.

     -- Interesting note on Reyes.  He is going to pitch for Mexico in the WBC before reporting to camp.  The last time the Cards signed a left-handed free agent to a 2 year deal before he pitched for Mexico in the classic?  Ricardo Rincon in 2006.  He blew out his arm and did not pitch for St. Louis again.  Just saying.

     -- Injury updates: David Freese is still a few more days away from returning.  Originally he was supposed to be back by last weekend.  Then that got pushed to today.  Now he won't be back til early next week at the earliest.  His chances of starting at 3rd on opening day are very slim it looks like.

     -- Brendan Ryan is full go.  He got in the game at 2nd base and scored a couple runs.  He's fully recovered from the tendinitis in his right wrist.

     -- Rick Ankiel was given Tuesday's game off and was limited to DH today because of a sore achilles tendon.  Tony did say that he's just being cautious with Ankiel.  If this was a regular National League game he would have started in CF.

     -- 5 Cardinal players were loaned to the Dominicans today with 4 getting game action.  Fernando Salas pitched one scoreless inning.  Allen Craig played 1st for a little and went 0-1.  Joe Thurston got in some at CF.  Tony Cruz caught some.  Justin Fiske was also given to the DR but did not pitch.  The reason for this was the Dominicans were already short on numbers and had a close connection at the airport.  They had to have some guys leave early so they had to borrow a few Cards to get through the game.  Kind of funny seeing them wear DR uniforms.

     -- Skip Schumaker continues to take "a lot" of ground balls after leaving games early.  As soon as he was taken out, he went to the back fields and took more ground balls off the pitching machine.  I asked Skip how many he took and said simply "a lot".

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