He can throw several different versions of his curve, and he could just gear up and blow a fastball by hitters while they’re still trying to figure out just which slop they should be looking for.

McClellan, to me, looks like he could be a reliever or starter equally well. I think his repertoire would play just fine either way.

Reyes, 23-10, 3.26 ERA, 9.72 k/9, 1.89 BB/9, 1.05 Whip

vs.

Haren, 32-17, 3.15 ERA, 8.77 k/9, 1.63 BB/9, 1.13 Whip

Reyes has a better winning percentage, more k’s per nine innings, and a lower whip. Plus they are very close in the other categories. You may have been able to predict it, but not based on the numbers.

Either way, they’re going to have a lot of pitching options next year. With Worrell, Motte, and Perez all ready for spots and McClellan and Garcia ready for starting roles, they’ll have quite a bit of money freed up to spend on impact bats.

A rotation of Carpenter, Wainwright, McClellan, Garcia, Pineiro/Free Agent Starter/Boggs, etc will look pretty nice going into 2009. I do think they need to acquire a #2/#3 starter just to be on the safe side for next year. Like I said, they’ll have quite a bit of money coming off of the books at the end of the year, so they’ll have plenty of options.

Some just have pictures, but some have video. Ethan Martin has hit 96 on the gun as a HS. I wouldn’t mind seeing the Cards look his way at 13. He’s got a big body and reportedly has three above average pitches that could all end up being plus (I guess the fastball already is).

I’ve read some places that Aaron Hicks has some of the best tools, but it’s been more projection than performance. It’s going to be really interesting. I wish we had more than one early pick.

The A’s pick at 12 so the analysis is pretty applicable to us. Not a lot of new stuff there, but good stuff nonetheless. He notably leaves out Shooter Hunt out of the starters discussed. He also leaves out some of the relievers that get discussed as first rounders, but I doubt the A’s or Cards will be taking a reliever in the 1st round (I hope the Cards don’t).

Plus, Piniero is under contract for 09, so we would have to figure something out to do with him. One of those guys could take over the long reliever/spot starter role if Piniero is back. Plus, the above rotation is two rookies, a first year starter, and a pitcher a year removed from TJ…I’m not sure the Cards would be comfortable with so many Qs, and Dave Duncan usually seems to like reclamation projects with track records a little better with brand new guys.

On another note - I really hope Anthony Reyes doesn’t become the next Dan Haren. If we do trade him, I wish him success but I will also be pissed at him. I feel like he’s gotten much more of an opportunity to try to stick than Haren did, though, so the situation is already very different in terms of how the team handled it. Evidently Duncan did not want to trade Haren, which might also be different.