Last year, I spent the time immediately after the season examining each player that had made an appearance in St. Louis during the season. This series was well received and so I’m bringing this idea back for the 2013 offseason. More summaries than anything, I imagine the player coming into Mike Matheny‘s office and having a short conference before heading home for the winter. Stats are just the ones accumulated for the Cardinals during the regular season.
This year’s Exit Interview series is brought to you by Bonfyre. A large number of the United Cardinal Bloggers used Bonfyre all season long and found it a great way to interact and discuss things in a limited audience. No need to worry about some pseudo-fan crashing your Facebook conversation or trying to explain fine points in 140 characters on Twitter. Invite who you want to the group and get to talking. Share pictures as well–Bonfyre is a great way to document parties or other events, especially for folks that can’t be there. Sign up today and give it a try.
Name: Marc Rzepczynski
Season stats: 0-0, 7.84 ERA, 11 games, 10.1 IP, 16 H, 4 BB, 9 K, 1.94 WHIP
Hero/Goat: None
Overall grade: C-
Positives: There weren’t just a whole lot, in part because Scrabble spent a good portion of his time in Memphis. Six of his 11 outings in the bigs were scoreless, though, and his time at AAA showed that he still could get hitters out, though perhaps not as regularly has he had in the past. He was also still very effective against left-handed hitters, though the splits at Baseball-Reference include his time with the Indians in the totals.
Negatives: Rzepczynski never quite got on track, whether it was in part due to Yadier Molina‘s pitch calling (as he obliquely suggested after the trade, though he took that back soon after) or just a quick hook. Interestingly enough, seven of the nine runs he allowed as a Cardinal came against the Pirates in four outings against them. Of course, that’s the wrong team to have your number in 2013.
Outlook: Rzep seemed to bounce back in Cleveland, putting up a sub-1.00 ERA for the Tribe in the last two months of the year. It didn’t look overly fluky either, though perhaps a lack of familiarity by the hitters did help. There’s doesn’t seem to be any reason why Scrabble won’t be helping out another pennant run for the Indians next season. At least the prospect the Cards got back, Juan Herrera, looked pretty good after the deal as well.
