Josh Kinney’s Long Road Traveled

Listening to a Cardinal Bloggers Radio Hour earlier this year made me realize that it appears Josh Kinney is the forgotten man in the Cardinals bullpen.  I don’t think many realize how good he was at the end of 2006 regular season and during the Cardinals World Series run.  I think 2006 showed that if you have the last few innings locked down then success is likely.  With Tyler Johnson really handling left handed hitters and Josh Kinney’s slider being unhittable, followed by a solid set up man, Braden Looper, and a lock down closer, Adam Wainwright, the Cardinals won a World Series with starting pitchers Chris Carpenter, Jeff Suppan, Jeff Weaver, and Anthony Reyes.  Carpenter is of course a stud and the others looked good at the time, but when you think of a World Series winning staff, this isn’t top notch in my opinion.

So this leads us to Josh Kinney and his role on that team.  His NLCS line was: 3 games, an ERA of 0.00, 1-0, 3.3 innings, 3 hits, 1 walk and 4 K’s. His World Series line was: 2 games, an ERA of 0.00, 0-0, 1 inning, no hits, 2 walks and a K.

His Regular Season line was:

Player                  W-L   IP  ERA  WHIP  SO SV
Josh Kinney         0-0   25  3.24   1.00   22   0

All numbers impressive for a reliever who was little known.  Kinney attended a small Division II school, Quincy University.  I’ve seen Quincy University play Webster University at GCS Ballpark in front of about 15 people, when I was working for the Gateway Grizzlies.  Not a very big school, and not rich with Major League talent.

Kinney was undrafted out of college and signed with the River City Rascals of the independent Frontier League as a free agent in 2001. I don’t know how much people know about the live of an independent league baseball player, but here is a quick rundown. You get paid between $500 and $900 per month in the Frontier League, depending on your experience. This is only during the months you are playing. Affording housing on this salary, is almost impossible, so players are taken in by local members of the community where the team plays, and given a room or the basement. Players are given about $15 meal money per day they are on the road, but nothing when at home. Road trips are all by bus, and the trip between O’Fallon, MO and Washington, PA is about 600 mile over 9 hour drive. The teams usually take the left over hot dogs and pretzels and anything that can’t be re-served out to the clubhouse after a home game, which is usually the players dinner. I know Kinney wasn’t in this lifestyle for very long, but any amount of time couldn’t be that great of a lifestyle.

The Cardinals signed Kinney and he floated around in their farm system until mid summer 2006. That is when Kinney came in and pitched well and earned the spot on the post season roster, where he really shined.

Kinney injured his elbow in the spring of 2007 and had to have Tommy John surgery. A fractured elbow during his Tommy John rehab set him back even further and Kinney did not return to the Cards bullpen until September 2008. Kinney made only 7 appearances in 2008, but did not allow a run, struck out 8, walked one, and only gave up 3 hits. This small sampling does have me optimistic of Kinney returning to his 2006 success.

So far this spring, Kinney’s pitched a scoreless inning against the Mets, while walking 3 and striking out 2. Not great, with the three walks, but effective, not allowing any runs.

If things work out and the Cardinals can have a solid 7th inning combination of Kinney from the right side and Miller from the left side, followed by Franklin or Motte setting up Chris Perez, this bullpen reminds me of the 2006 World Series bullpen, that was one of the key components for winning the championship.

Josh Kinney photo – Yahoo Sports Player Page

Matt Wilson

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