Jake Westbrook: A Good Re-Signing By The St. Louis Cardinals

I know I am about week late with this, but with a busy work schedule and all the other things that went on in baseball last week, I couldn’t get to it.  I just wanted to comment on the St. Louis Cardinals re-signing RHP Jake Westbrook.

Kudos on both sides on getting this done.

Westbrook is a perfect fit in St. Louis

Kudos to Westbrook and his camp on knowing where his bread is buttered. As we have seen in the past with this retread pitchers in St. Louis, they don’t realize where their bread is buttered. Jeff Suppan, Jeff Weaver, and Joel Pineiro I am talking to you.

After coming over from the Cleveland Indians in July, Westbrook had a 3.48 ERA, a 1.25 WHIP, and a 62 percent Groundball Percentage in 75 innings. The last stat is why Westbrook is a perfect fit St. Louis.

A groundball pitcher plus a legendary pitching coach who emphasizes pounding the strike zone and throwing groundballs plus facing weaker National League lineups equals success. At the age of 33, Westbrook has the chance to be very successful in a Cardinals’ uniform in 2011 and 2012.

Kudos to the Cardinals and their staff for bringing back Westbrook at a reasonable cost. A two-year, $16.5 million contract for a pitcher like Westbrook is a pretty fair deal.

With Westbrook sliding into the No. 3 or 4 spot in the rotation on a regular basis, the Cardinals have one of the deepest starting rotations in the National League. Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Jaime Garcia, and Westbrook is a very formidable rotation.

It’s a rotation that should help the Cardinals compete with the Cincinnati Reds for supremacy in the NL Central. I do think the Cardinals need to figure out a way to make their lineup more balanced in order to reclaim the top spot from the Reds. Right now, their lineup is very top heavy.

Westbrook has a 4.29 ERA, a 1.37 WHIP, and a 59 percent Groundball Percentage in 10 seasons with the New York Yankees, Indians, and Cardinals.

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