Question Marks Surround Many Rosters Come October

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The New York Sun

Who’s playing in Detroit? Who’s going to start a Game Three in the A’s postseason series? Who can Tony La Russa turn to in filling out his lineup card in St. Louis? Surprisingly enough, every contender still has questions to resolve with less than two weeks to go in the season. Beyond the Yankees’ and Mets’ different questions about who will play in the outfield (it isn’t likely that the Bombers will lend Omar Minaya one of their spares), let’s touch on the unresolved issues among the other likely playoff teams.

In St. Louis, questions abound. After staff ace Chris Carpenter, it’s an open issue about who else belongs in their playoff rotation. Mark Mulder’s out, and among the others, only Jeff Suppan has pitched well down the stretch by throwing four quality starts in his last five. Even then, none of those outings were against playoff teams. Jason Marquis’s unreliability has become a fact of life; Jeff Weaver hasn’t been an asset since being picked up, and promising rookie Anthony Reyes seems to have run out of steam. The bullpen is similarly a mess now that Jason Isringhausen’s been ruled out for the remainder of the season (and perhaps his career). Will save opportunities go to former Met Braden Looper, or to rookie Adam Wainwright?

The situation in the Cardinals’ lineup is no better, because after you get past Albert Pujols and Scott Rolen, La Russa has problems. The outfield is a question mark after you pencil in Juan Encarnacion in right. Jim Edmonds doesn’t look like he’ll be recovered from his concussion in time to even fly with the team, let alone play. Preston Wilson looks like he was dumped by the Astros for good cause, and to make matters worse, after a stupendous August from rookie Chris Duncan (.361/.438/.747), the league seems to have caught up to him in September (.191/.283/.426).

The infield has questions of its own. Mighty mite David Eckstein isn’t fully back from his strained oblique, but Ronnie Belliard hasn’t done much to keep his spot in the lineup during the intervening month since the starting shortstop broke down.

In L.A., not all problems are bad, and while not all of GM Ned Colletti’s deals have worked out, they have provided manager Grady Little with exceptional depth. There’s the happy question about who to start in their infield any given day — Julio Lugo is on the bench because Nomar Garciaparra, Jeff Kent, Rafael Furcal, and Wilson Betemit are all too good to sit. However, both Garciaparra and Kent are nursing injuries, so Lugo’s getting his playing time filling in for both of them on a day-to-day basis.

The rotation is a little more up in the air after you get past Derek Lowe, Brad Penny, and Greg Maddux. Rookie Chad Billingsley has been out most of the month after going down with a strained oblique, while veteran Mark Hendrickson has pitched his way into the pen, joining fellow former starters Brett Tomko and Aaron Sele. In the gap, hard-throwing Chinese import Hong-Chih Kuo has been given a shot, and he shut out the Mets in six frames and then posted a good start against the Cubs.Will similar good work in his next two outings get Kuo postseason starts, will Billingsley be ready to go, or will Little turn back to any one of the three vets who have lost their jobs?

In San Diego, there are major questions surrounding their bullpen and who starts on the left side of the infield. The Dodgers’ miraculous four consecutive homer comeback on Monday night probably wouldn’t have been possible if Trevor Hoffman’s shoulder wasn’t a problem, or if top setup man Scott Linebrink hadn’t become a lot more hittable in the second half. While sidearmer Cla Meredith has provided Pads manager Bruce Bochy with a third relief weapon, if Hoffman and Linebrink aren’t right for October, it won’t matter whether the Padres win the NL West or the wild card.

The questions about short and third provide no happy answers. Shortstop Khalil Greene’s injured hand will keep him from coming back to the starting lineup, forcing Bochy to use utility man Geoff Blum every day. That’s on top of his daily choice about who to play at the hot corner — legendary strikeout machine Russell Branyan, an out-ofplace Todd Walker, or a mostly-done Mark Bellhorn? None of them will conjure up memories of Graig Nettles or Brooks Robinson this October.

In the American League, the Twins aren’t going to get rookie sensation Francisco Liriano back, but they seem to have patched up their rotation with rookies Matt Garza and Boof Bonser and sophomore Scott Baker. Still, they’re reasonably reluctant about relying on all three in October, preferring to see if veteran Brad Radke can pitch through a potentially career-ending shoulder injury this coming weekend.

The Tigers have similar concerns about whether or not they’ll get second baseman Placido Polanco back from his shoulder injury this season, and they’re also concerned about the workloads of wunderkind hurlers Justin Verlander and Jeremy Bonderman. They may also have a controversy at first base. Veteran Sean Casey has been awful since joining the Tigers from the Pirates in a deadline deal, hitting only .254/.293/.366, poor enough that not even fielding like Keith Hernandez would keep him in the lineup — and Casey is no Keith Hernandez. This creates an opportunity for wilted April phenom Chris Shelton (.783 slugging through April, .363 since), but he will have to show something in the few games remaining.

Rotation issues also afflict Oakland, where there’s the question about whether or not Rich Harden can be counted on. His start on Thursday will give the club some idea of how ready he is to pitch in October, and how deep into a ballgames he’s going to be able to go. There’s already the question about pecking order after top starters Barry Zito and Dan Haren: a faltering Joe Blanton (6.85 ERA since September 1, and no quality starts in four), or the hot hand of Esteban Loaiza (2.57 ERA since August 1, and seven quality starts in his last nine). Harden was expected to vie with Zito for the title of staff ace before the season, but back and elbow injuries have limited him to six starts so far. The A’s are already without starting shortstop Bobby Crosby, but there, they have no choice but to stick with backup Marco Scutaro.

Ms. Kahrl is a writer for Baseball Prospectus. For more state-of the-art analysis, visit baseballprospectus.com.


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