Out with Isringhausen, in with Perez

The Cardinals, in a move that I think is about two weeks too late, have called up AAA closer Chris Perez and put struggling major league closer Jason Isringhausen on the disabled list.

Izzy insisted in front of the TV cameras yesterday that absolutely nothing was physically wrong with him, which makes the DL assignment a bit curious. But now the Cardinals claim that he punched a television in the manager's office last weekend which caused the injury -- a cut on his pitching hand -- that put him out of action.

Perez, 22, is 1-1 with eight saves and a 2.04 ERA in 18 games with 22 strikeouts and nine walks in 17 2-3 innings. Izzy had six blown saves and his ERA balooned to 8.00 after he was thrashed by the Pirates Thursday.

Perez is a lot like Izzy when he was younger. He throws very hard -- and he doesn't always know where it's going. Hopefully he can burst onto the scene like Todd Worrell did in '85. But even if he can't make a big positive impact right off the bat, Perez could benefit from the experience.

The Cardinals still need to do something to add to their bullpen depth. Kyle McClellan has to be wearing down. Ron Villone is supposed to be a situational lefty who gets one guy out and then departs, but he's being forced to pitch to multiple batters at a time. And Russ Springer and Ryan Franklin are still hit and miss at best.

I know the Cardinals want a mint for Anthony Reyes. But I would trade him for a solid and reliable middle reliever at this point.

Comments

[k Wimpe]

That hand injury is definitely suspicious. If the cut is so bad, why was he allowed to pitch earlier this week? Coaches watch these guys' every move and something like that could have easily been spotted. I think it's all in his head, so the DL stint will let him focus on getting things together upstairs before pitching again.

[Fred McTaggart]

I think it was either fake an injury and put Izzy on the DL or put him on waivers and release him. He would go in a flash, and we would soon be sorry for doing that. He's one of the top closers in the game, and he will get back to his old form soon.

I know a lot of Cardinal fans don't like Izzy, even when he's at his best, because he often makes it look hard for himself. Lee Smith was the same way. But the bottom line is whether the closer gets the job done, not whether he loads the bases while doing it.

Everybody looks back with romanticized memories of Todd Worrell but he was far from perfect. The job is the most difficult one on the team because the closer has to have a short memory while the fans have a much longer one. It's hard to maintain self confidence when you have 43,000 fans looking at you and thinking you're going to fail.

[View From the Cheap Seats]

I absolutely ADORED Izzy when he was healthy. When he first got to St. Louis, he threw that hard cutter and then when the batter was desperately preparing for the high heat, he broke off a late breaking curve and the batter had no chance.

But he hasn't been the same since 2004. Last season he got by on guts. But he just doesn't have the margin for error anymore because of his diminished stuff.

It stinks, but it's true. He's 35 years old and has a history of severe health issues dating back to his time with the Mets. It's pretty easy to believe it could be curtains.