Cardinals sign Kyle Lohse

Earlier today, St. Louis signed Kyle Lohse to a one year deal for $4.25 million. I have some mixed feelings on this one. On one hand, I guess if he puts up his 2007 NL numbers (split between Cincinnati and Philadelphia) he’s a reliable number four starter who gives you 200 IP, an ERA around 4.50 with a 2/1 K/BB ratio. That’s not horrible and at $4.25 million, that’s a lot more palatable than the now seemingly over-the-top deal that Seattle gave to Carlos Silva.

On the other hand I wonder what the Cardinals are thinking bringing this guy in for a year in which they really don’t have a good team. What are they going to be in 2008? They don’t have any top notch starting pitchers, their offense is very questionable after Albert Pujols (whose arm could fall off any day now) and Troy Glaus (who’s had a myriad of injuries over the past several years) and their bullpen is decent although you never know what you’re going to get from Jason Isringhausen these days. Here’s the best case scenario for St. Louis this year: Lohse, Adam Wainwright, and Braden Looper hold the rotation together until Mark Mulder, Matt Clement and Chris Carpenter all get healthy and return to their peak performance levels. That would give them a rotation of Carpenter, Mulder, Clement, Lohse and Wainwright. If all are performing at the top of their game, that’s pretty good and it allows them to move Looper, Anthony Reyes and Joel Pineiro to the bullpen. Realistically, I don’t see that happening. Carpenter is recovering from the second major arm injury of his career; Mulder hasn’t pitched effectively since 2005; and Clement is viewed as damaged goods after his horrific 3-year run in Boston.

Meanwhile, from Lohse’s perspective, this could work out for him as he’ll make a good salary and not have very high expectations from the team. If he turns in a strong season he could yet find that multiyear deal at the $12+ million per year that he was seeking this off-season.

In the end, I predict that all these things will average out and the Lohse signing will have made some sense for the Cardinals, but what will he have added to their season? Two wins? Three at the most? We’ll have to wait and see how their season plays out, but they still don’t have the look of a contender and will most likely have to pay for their tickets like the rest of us in order to be at a playoff game come October.