Ryan Franklin in the Rotation?

Todd Wellemeyer and Braden Looper both made the transition from long time reliever to starting pitcher. Kyle McClellan is about to make the switch to the rotation this spring. Joel Pineiro even spent some time in the Red Sox' and Mariners' bullpen before returning to the rotation.

It seems that a lot of relievers are getting the opportunity to start for the Cardinals. Ryan Franklin, however, has not gotten that opportunity and I ask why?

In 2003, Franklin posted a 3.57 ERA and 1.23 WHIP in 210 innings with the Seattle Mariners. Now that was with the aid of steriods but in the past two years he's been doing a pretty decent to good job in the bullpen without steroids(we can only assume) after struggling for a few years. His career path is somewhat similar to Pineiro's and Franklin's numbers in the bullpen are very similar to Braden Looper's.

Here is a comparison of Looper's final season in relief in 2006 to Franklin's 2008 season:

Looper: 3.56 ERA, 69 G, 73.1 INN, 76 H, 20 BB, 41 K, 1.31 WHIP, 125 ERA+

Franklin: 3.55 ERA, 74 G, 78.2 INN, 86 H, 30 BB, 51 K, 1.47 WHIP, 120 ERA+

As you can see, the numbers are close in a lot of areas. And really they are pretty identical pitchers. They don't overpower anyone, they'll make you put the ball in play, they will throw a lot of strikes- although Franklin issued 19 more BBs in 2008 than he did in 2007- and as a reliever they will eat innings if needed. They aren't ROOGYs.

One important factor that works in Franklin's favor in making a possible move back to the rotation, besides good size, a history of starting and the ability to throw a lot of strikes, is that he employs the use of about 6-8 different pitches. One thing that you hear often is that starting pitchers need deep repertoires in order to keep hitters off balance three times through the lineup. Franklin may have the deepest repertoire of any Cardinal pitcher. And as I mentioned earlier, he throws a lot of those pitches for strikes.

Looking back to the 2006-2007 offseason and this offseason, I'm surprised Duncan and LaRussa didn't give Ryan Franklin an opportunity to start in spring training. We needed starters going into 2007 and they did try Looper in the rotation. In 2008, I can understand wanting to keep him in the pen because he was so good in the 8th inning the year before. So you didn't want to mess with a really good thing. Now, though, he's coming off an average season and the Cardinals are moving another reliever, McClellan, to the rotation. I just wonder what the final reasoning was behind not ever giving a former solid starter another shot at the rotation.

It appears the last time Franklin got a shot at the rotation was in 2006 spring training with Philadelphia and he did well: 3.37 ERA, 18.2 INN, 17 H, 6 BB, 14 K. He wound up in the Phillies bullpen, though.

I'll leave you with a question: Would you like to see Ryan Franklin compete with Joel Pineiro and Kyle McClellan for the 5th spot in the rotation? Personally speaking, I wouldn't mind it. Especially after watching Braden Looper do well as a back end starter.