Tommy John surgery isn't about to change Motte's attitude on the mound
ST. LOUIS -- No shortage of questions come with the return of Jason Motte to the Cardinals' bullpen.
Such as: Can he be effective if he's throwing his fastball "only" 95 mph, as he did in his minor-league rehabs, instead of the 98-99 mph that earned him the closer's job? When will he be able to pitch on consecutive days? What will be his role?
Answers to those and most other questions lie somewhere between "who knows" and "wait and see." His role, for example, is no more defined than "right-handed pitcher," manager Mike Matheny said before Tuesday night's win over the Diamondbacks.
"We want to see him get out there and figure out how to help us out," Matheny added. "He's been in quite a few different spots before and he handled them. It's a matter of getting him comfortable on the mound, but it may be putting him right into a high-leverage situation right off the bat."
With the return of Jason Motte, Trevor Rosenthal is no longer the
longest-tenured Cardinals reliever.
Thanks to Adam Wainwright, no high-leverage relieving was needed at Busch Stadium on Tuesday night. In fact, no relieving at all was needed. Wainwright came within a fourth-inning double by Paul Goldschmidt of pitching his first no-hitter, settling instead for the first one-hitter of his career in a 5-0 shutout.
While Motte didn't get to pitch, his return to the roster assured at least one point about the St. Louis bullpen. No longer is Trevor Rosenthal the longest-tenured Cardinals reliever in it. Believe it or not, he had been the only one left in the Cardinals' bullpen who was there when Motte last pitched, in the 2012 postseason.
"That's kind of funny," Motte said. "It's been a year."
Motte also was able to answer one other question about his comeback with certainty. Tommy John surgery did not change the kind of pitcher he is.
"I still have my pitch and a half," he said, perhaps undervaluing the cutter he uses to supplement his fastball.
Motte said his limited arsenal worked just fine in his six rehab outings at Class AA and AAA, which covered 6 2/3 scoreless innings.
"I could throw where I wanted," he said. "I was able to elevate, which is nice. It wasn't the 97, 98 (mph) that I was at before, but I learned a long, long time ago, it's not how hard you throw, it's what you throw and where you throw it. I've been burned with 99 right down the middle and I've thrown a nice sinker down and in at 92 and got a beautiful ground-ball double play out of it."
No matter what role Motte assumes as a reliever, Matheny welcomed back the 31-year-old veteran's presence in a bullpen that features four youngsters in their second years. The manager isn't the only one, either.
"His leadership takes some of the heat off Randy Choate, who sometimes feels like a kinder-care teacher from what he says," Matheny said, mostly joking. "They have a lot of fun down there. There's a sense of that that Motte brings. He knows how to have fun, he knows when to turn it up. Part of the preparation and conversations that go on down there help the young guys get better. Getting Jason back in the mix is going to help in all those areas."
Braves backup catcher Gerald Laird, in town last weekend, knows what Motte can bring on the mound. Laird was with the Cardinals when Motte closed out their 2011 World Series championship.
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"Whenever you have a guy that was a closer and has pitched in big games and won a World Series, it makes your bullpen that much better," Laird said. "It shortens the game. Now your starters don't have to go as deep into games and you can give it to your big boys."
Even though Motte knew he would not be coming off the disabled list until Tuesday, he spent Sunday afternoon hanging out in the Cardinals' bullpen just "to get my feet wet." Then the phone rang and he flinched, briefly.
"What am I doing? I'm not getting up today," he said. "But it will be good to be back out there and when the phone rings, I may be one of the names called."
Then he and the Cardinals can really start to get some answers.
You can follow Stan McNeal on Twitter at @stanmcneal or email him at stanmcneal@gmail.com.
