Marco Estrada

[crewfan13]

To drum up a little discussion in here, what do you guys think about Estrada?

To me, he's always sort of been an enigma to me. I've never really thought he's really had elite stuff or anything, and he really doesn't blow you away when you watch him, but he seems to be really effective. Is he really under-appreciated, or is our staff over-valuing him by basically making him the number 2?

[kingofdaburbs19]

Never been much of a fan of his. I've been waiting for him to just completely fall apart, but he's played well for us. In any other rotation he is a number 4 or 5 starter at best though.

[behnke2017]

I wanted him to stay as a reliever but he did pretty well transitioning to a starter. He's nothing special and very replaceable but I don't mind him starting now.

[Dcup]

I'm not sold on Estrada as #2 starter, but honestly unless we sign Lohse we don't really have a choice. Once the season gets rolling along a little further it doesn't really matter what # in the rotation he is.

I don't think he has commanding stuff, but he is in fact a "stuff" pitcher. I don't think any of his pitches are above average, which makes him average at best. It'll be interesting to see how long he can stay consistent.

Maybe I'm sleeping a bit on him.

[crewfan13]

I might sleep on him a little too, but if you take out Kyle Lohse's last two seasons, Marco's ERA last year is better than anything Lohse put up, and his ERA from the year before (Marco's only two seasons with legit innings) would be Lohse's second best season.

Then if you even include Lohse's two best seasons, Marco strikes more guys out per 9, walks about the same, maybe a little less per 9. His WHIP is right in line with Lohse's good years. The only real knocks on Marco when comparing them is that he gets injured sometimes and gives up too many homers. If he can cut down on the homers, I think he's probably every bit as good as Lohse, who I'm not high on to begin with.

[Dcup]

I might sleep on him a little too, but if you take out Kyle Lohse's last two seasons, Marco's ERA last year is better than anything Lohse put up, and his ERA from the year before (Marco's only two seasons with legit innings) would be Lohse's second best season.

Then if you even include Lohse's two best seasons, Marco strikes more guys out per 9, walks about the same, maybe a little less per 9. His WHIP is right in line with Lohse's good years. The only real knocks on Marco when comparing them is that he gets injured sometimes and gives up too many homers. If he can cut down on the homers, I think he's probably every bit as good as Lohse, who I'm not high on to begin with.

I'm not sold on Lohse at all either and quite frankly if we signed him I would be pissed at giving up that first round pick. I would rather muddle along with the guys we have and lean on our offense to bail out bad outings.

From the things I have been reading during spring training a lot of guys that we are giving shots to are pitching well thus far. Burgos and Olmstead specifically.

[behnke2017]

I don't think Lohse is going to do well on a team besides the Cardinals. Duncan had such a good thing going there getting the most out of pitchers and it continued last year without him. It's so hard to judge Cardinals pitchers because of this.

[crewfan13]

That's what I've always thought too. I've always hated the argument that guys that come from certain teams or programs won't succeed because of players before them. (You hear that crap all the time like don't draft a DL from Florida State in football). And usually, I think that's a bunch of malarkey, but in this case, I really think it might be true. I mean, there have been so many average type pitchers who have had great years with St. Louis then never done anything else.

Plus Lohse really doesn't have the tools that translate well regardless of pitching coach. He's basically a finesse pitcher without dominate stuff. He's really only had 2 good years, and I wouldn't bank on that continuing.