Kinney's back in bullpen shake-up

Three in, including team's former closer, and three out, with Mears being released.

Kary Booher
News-Leader
 

For a lot of guys in baseball, the toughest thing to see is the death of a dream.

By mid-afternoon Sunday, Anthony Rawson's name card had been removed from above the locker he had called home all season. His old chair, folded up, sat inside. As if Rawson had never been here.

Not too far away sat Josh Kinney, tying his shoes before a light workout and saying all the right things now that he is back in Double-A after a disappointing two-month stint at Triple-A Memphis.

"I figured I would see you sooner or later," he said upon spotting a notepad and pen.

Even so, there wasn't much to smile about on Sunday afternoon in the Springfield Cardinals clubhouse, where the career of reliever Chris Mears died and those of Rawson and Oscar Alvarez took brutal hits when the two relievers were demoted to High-A Palm Beach, Fla.

So, they're out, and in come the reinforcements for a leaky bullpen: Kinney, the former Springfield closer down from Memphis; Andy Cavazos, a reliever last seen here in April; and an intriguing left-hander by the name of Kevin Ool, one piece of the trade that sent Mike Myers back to the Boston Red Sox in spring training.

All this a night after a bullpen meltdown in a five-run eighth inning that cost the Cardinals a win. And with St. Louis farm director Bruce Manno in town, along with all four of his lieutenants.

There they had met behind closed doors before the game Saturday and then immediately afterward.

"We just want to make a change," Springfield manager Chris Maloney said, "and see if we can get better down in the bullpen."

So, back is Kinney, the fiery closer who recorded 10 saves and posted an impressive 1.32 earned run average in the season's first two months, then got a long and rude welcome to Triple-A, where he never could whittle his ERA below 5.00.

His stat line this month showed an ERA of 10.80.

"Right when I first left here, I got into a little funk mechanically," Kinney said. "The last couple of outings here I got the job done, but it wasn't exactly picturesque. And it just kind of continued up there."

But he's not angry. He knows he needs to establish his fastball again, and he understands the Springfield bullpen has been battered and bruised. At least, that's what he gathered in the phone call from Manno only 15 minutes before midnight Saturday.

"I just want to come here and help this team out," Kinney. "You never want to get sent down, no matter where you are. Last year I got sent from Double-A to A-ball. It can get frustrating. At the Triple-A level, you see a lot. I've been in Double-A a couple of years, and I've seen players coming and going."

So he has seen much, even in two months.

"I think I can still get to the big leagues," Kinney said. "This is just another bump in the road."

His arrival is accompanied by the return of Cavazos and the promotion of Ool, a pair who should add some sizzle to a bullpen that has wilted of late.

Cavazos is back for a second stab at the Texas League, from which he left in early May with a 5.23 ERA.

Ool posted a 9-2 record and 2.15 ERA at Low-A Quad Cities and then a 1.37 ERA at Palm Beach.

"He throws strikes and mixes it up," Maloney said of Ool. "He knows what he's doing out there."