The Cards had a chance to take over first place today but they instead lost 7-1 to the Phillies. Scoring a single run didn’t serve their chances well, but having their starter, Justin Masterson, only last three innings wasn’t a good table setter. Masterson allowed 5 earned runs and looked horrible. In 5 starts for the team, Masterson owns a pair of wins but has only pitched capably once, against the Marlins last week. He hasn’t been impressive since the team acquired him for James Ramsey in a trade with the Cleveland Indians on July 30th. With a division race starting to tighten and candidates like Carlos Martinez and Tim Cooney ready to roll at any time, the need to leverage more games on the arm of Masterson is nearing the end. How much longer does Mike Matheny stick with a guy whose success depends on the craftiness of a sinker ball. Sure, Masterson has other pitches he throws, but the sinker gets the outs.
When the Cards acquired Mast, I liked the deal and wrote about it. In my eyes, John Mozeliak traded for a guy who was coming off the disabled list but had provided stability to a rotation as recently as 2013. He had a rough 2014 season but I was willing to tie that to the right knee injury or faulty mechanics. I stand here today and still think the trade was worth it. The John Lackey deal wasn’t around yet and Mo needed starters with the lack of innings produced. The deal simply hasn’t worked out.
Looking at hard data on Fangraphs, Masterson is simply having a bad season by his usual standards. His career WHIP(walks and hits allowed in an inning) is 1.38 but this year it’s 1.67. His batting average against is .276 and his fielding independent ERA is a very bad 4.29. People don’t put the ball in play and it’s bad. They put it in play and it’s worse. BABIP is .343, which is very high for his career average. His highest amount of walks came in 2012 with 88, but that was in 206.1 innings. This season, he has walked 64 in 118 innings. Masterson is wild and allowing a ton of hits(128), has hit 14 batters and thrown 11 wild pitches. Everything is up and that includes the sinker. This isn’t the guy from 2011 or 2013 and an even worse version of the 2012 pitcher. Masterson isn’t good enough right now to clamp down a 5th spot in this rotation.
Michael Wacha can’t get back soon enough. Martinez is ready to get another shot at the rotation but Matheny seems compelled to dwindle his value away in meaningless relief stints. The Cardinals can’t afford to give Masterson another start but you know what, it will happen. Saturday at home against the Cubs(in the first game of a doubleheader), Masterson is set to face the Cubs, a team that is hitting well and playing good baseball. Do you run with Justin one more time or hand the ball to someone else? Wacha won’t be ready until mid September at the earliest so the Cards have to look elsewhere.
Shelby Miller may be inconsistent but he pulled together a good start on Saturday and allowed the Cardinals to come back and win that game. Masterson never gave the bats a chance on Sunday. He simply isn’t getting the job done. Sometimes, great GM’s misfire. Mo may have saw something different.
Look, I like Mast. He seems like a slap happy go lucky smiling fellow. If I saw him in a bar, I would order a pint and shoot the breeze with him. Maybe, in some world, we could be pals. However, baseball is a business and one that gets quite serious this time of the year. If you aren’t pitching well and showing any signs of improvement, something must change. You either do your job well or someone else does it for you. That time to go to another starter Saturday is the right move.
Just don’t expect it to happen.
