LaRussa values a closer over a #1 starter?

Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa and his pitching coach, Dave Duncan have differing theories on the value of the starting pitchers and relievers on their staff.

"There's probably a slight emphasis in importance between Dave and Tony,"* said LaRussa. "But the essence is that we both value both sides of our pitching staff because you're not going to be good unless both sides are good. So we're going to look at who complements that rotation and we're going to look at the makeup of our bullpen."

"If we feel the bullpen needs more help, then the better guy may go to the bullpen. The bullpen is really important. We're not going to back off the bullpen at all. It's too critical. Dave agrees with that, but I give it a little more emphasis than he does. I've always said I would rather have a closer than a No. 1 starter and he goes the other way."

LaRussa would rather have a closer who pitches 60-70 innings, many not of the "particularly important" variety (pitching one inning with the team up two or three runs) than a #1 starter who can give you 200-250 quality innings and perhaps 20 wins?

??????

Take this for what it is worth but at the company I work at, when someone says or does something quite ridiculous, you sometimes hear whispering about the need for "retraining" for this person.

Just sayin.

* I love third person talkers!