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Honestly, as good as Lynn has been, it wouldn't bother me too much if Carp didn't pitch much/at all this year. Get healthy and be ready to join the rotation next year. If everybody is healthy, a 2013 rotation of Waino/Carp/Garica/Lynn/Miller could be absolutely dominating.

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Lynn has been good, I think he'll continue to be, but you can't expect him or the rest of the rotation to be THIS good for the rest of the season. We're gonna need Carpenter.

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"They say its celestial, its all in the stars
Like Tony LaRussa on how you play your Cards" - Jay-Z "American Dreamin'

So we won 11 in '11 without starter 1b and will win 12 in '12 without starter 1a.

Then we can top it all off with the trifecta of 13 in '13 with both of them leading the way.

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There's also the matter of whether or not Lynn will be able to pitch a full starter's load of innings for all if not most all of the season without damaging something himself. We've all seen what happens when a reliever converts to a starter and has a significant increase in innings from one year to the next. Lynn has been a starter for most of his career so there's less chance of it happening, but it's still a possibility.

I'm hoping Carp is back for the second half; I think the Cards can hold out until then (Assuming when/if Lohse and Lynn come down to earth, it's a gentle crash landing and not a fiery inferno), especially with the cushion they've built in the early going here.

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That's not a consideration with Lynn. He might not be able to go 200 innings just because he's still essentially a rookie, but Lynn was a starter for over half of last year.




I know a lot of people have taken that view, but I really don't understand it. Strengthen... throw... extended spring... start. That was the plan. The strengthening part has apparently gone well, at least according to Carp... he's maybe 2 weeks behind what he hoped to be (ready at the end of May). They're going to test him soon to see if he's ready to start throwing. If he passes that test, then the June return still seems pretty likely.

There just doesn't seem to be any reason, imo, to assume that he won't be able to pitch this year. I understand that it could happen, but they seem to think that if it does, it would only happen if he experiences a series of unanticipated setbacks.

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As far as Lynn pitching great so far, well Kyle McClellan did pretty good for the Cardinals at the beginning of last season before he hit a wall around the All Star break and was never as good not even in the bullpen again. When you take a guy who's been pitching only relief in the majors and make a starter out of them they usually hit the wall around mid season.

The McClellan comparison last year to Lynn this year was addressed this in a different thread.

the gist was McClelllan was total smoke and mirrors and was not every close to as good as Lynn has been.

So we might think that his luck just caught up with McClellan; but Lynn has been really good (not this good, but very very good)

It is tough to make a generalization about relievers turned starters hitting walls.

There are not just that many that make that transition from full time relievers to starters. Even more so for guys that are full time relievers in the minors and the majors and then go to starting.

Looper? McClellan? and .... hard to find many

But that doesn't really fit here
Lynn has been a starter for quite a while with only 1/2 of last year in the pen
McClellan had not started regularly since 2004 in A ball. that was 7 years between starters
Also McClellan had arm injuries since he last started.

McClellan was a career reliever. Lynn has been a starter his entire amateur and pro career. And he started for over half the season last year. Comparing him to McClellan just doesn't work. They're completely different players and they are having success for completely different reasons.

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Right, if you want to compare him to someone who was a starter in the minors, reliever for a year in the majors (even though Lynn was only a reliever for half a year...not a full one), and then went back to the rotation, then Wano is your last Cards pitcher to do that. He pitched 75 innings in 2006, 200 in 2007 and dropped to 132 in 2008 due a sprained finger ligament (ie, not wear and tear on his arm). There's simply no reason to think Lynn can't go 180 IP+ and come back and be ready for next year.

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