This is an interesting match-up to me. As our season's gotten off to a disastrous start, you've probably noticed the increased commentary that the Rockies should have spent money in the off-season on a higher quality pitcher than Wells/Towers/Redman. Lohse -him of the 66-75 career record and 4.79 ERA- and Carlos Silva were thought by many baseball observers to be the best widely available domestic option out of a severely flawed lot. Apparently that wasn't the case, as teams shied away from him and agent Scott Boras. Lohse didn't sign his one year, $4.25 million contract with the Cardinals until March 13, just two weeks before the Rockies decided to not eat the contracts of either Wells or Redman -who combined make just $150,000 less than Lohse this season- instead trading reliever Ramon Ramirez to the Royals for what turned out to be de la Rosa.
Now, I'm fine with signing players like Redman and Wells, I said as much in the offseason, and I'll say it again next winter that pitching depth never hurts and is usually needed, but there's a catch. I'm only okay with it if the team is willing and able to bail out quickly and decisively when necessary. It's clear now that Wells' contract is for far too much money to make this possible at all with him. Apparently Redman's contract is a bit easier to swallow, so we're starting a revolving AAA door in his place. Of course, the team wasn't really expecting Redman to be starting at this point heading into camp. Instead that distinction goes to the better paid and injured Wells, who flamed out with the Cards last season, and who the Rockies probably could have waited for a better deal with and in fairness, his pitching with the Rox thus far has been very solid and it's only the injury that hurts. Lohse, meanwhile, despite not signing until March 13, has gone 3-1 with the Cards thus far this season.
You know what would be great this afternoon? If somehow the table got reversed a bit. If all of the sudden that it was Cardinals fans who wished they had a guy like Ramirez to trade away in March for a stud young pitcher who just needed a change of scenery and that they hadn't waited to the last minute to fill out their rotation. Anyway, Lohse has four career starts against the Rockies, including one against Wells in our official opening game on April Fool's Day, and in not one of those starts has he given up more than three runs. Let's change that this afternoon.
Go Rockies!