The St. Louis Cardinals have gotten tremendous production from youngsters Carlos Martinez and Trevor Rosenthal out of the bullpen this postseason.

"Well, really it normally comes down to a need we have, where we've had somebody going down, and see who is the next guy throwing the ball well," Mike Matheny said of getting good pitching from unproven players.

"It's often times one of the guys in the Minor League system. And we give them a shot, and usually try to put them in situations where they can have some success, and fortunately we've had quite a few that have been able to answer the bell."

Matheny left the door open for guys like Martinez and Rosenthal to move into the starting rotation next season, hinting that the duo would prefer to do so.

"As far as long-term plan, we plan on giving these guys a lot of opportunities," Matheny said. "Some of them really want to start. They've proven that they can start. We'll spend time this winter evaluating where we are as a club, where we think they can be individually, and how they can help us moving forward. We're not afraid to stretch them out, like we did with Rosenthal this past spring. We told him to be ready to start. We'll make adjustments as we need what's best for our team."