Wainwright Returns to St. Louis

[Flea]

Per Joe Strauss. Wainwright has returned to St. Louis for an elbow injury. Club anticipates an extended absence. Might need Tommy John Surgery.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseb...27992bc8b.html

[SeeinRed]

I never like seeing a player have injuries like this, even if it is for the Cardinals. Hopefully he gets some good news. This does significantly hurt the Cards if he is gone for an extended period. It will be interesting to see how they fill the hole in the rotation. I've heard a lot of talk about Carpenter being a candidate for injury this year also. That would be an absolute disaster for the Cards. Their rotation does not look near as good right now as it did before this injury.

[Tadasimha]

My family and I were talking about this the other day - we see the Cards as just an injury or two from a season that will totally collapse around them. If this is true, St Louis could be in for a very long season.

[davereds24]

Wow that sucks. The Reds survived without EV last year though, so don't count out the Cards yet.

[R_Webb18]

not out but this def hurts a lot for them

[CySeymour]

Never like to see something like this. If the Reds win or lose the division, I want to see it done on the field, not the trainers room.

[Spazzrico]

Definitely puts St. Louis' pitching depth issues into sharp relief. That's a huge blow.

[HalMorrisRules]

I didnt know Dusty Baker was his manager. How else could a pitcher get injured, right?

[JKam]

Wow that sucks. The Reds survived without EV last year though, so don't count out the Cards yet.

True, but Cincy had depth in the pitching rotation which St. Louis doesn't have. Cincy with Lecure and Maloney has 8 guys that could fill in the starting rotation. St Louis is trying to cobble a staff of 4 to 5 guys with no depth in the minor leagues. Big difference.

[davereds24]

Originally Posted by JKam

True, but Cincy had depth in the pitching rotation which St. Louis doesn't have. Cincy with Lecure and Maloney has 8 guys that could fill in the starting rotation. St Louis is trying to cobble a staff of 4 to 5 guys with no depth in the minor leagues. Big difference.

Not really. Maloney and LeCure were 4-7 last year. It was Wood and Leake that made the difference. Nobody expected either one to contribute at the big league level last year going into spring training. The Cardinals have Seth Blair who came from ASU just like Leake and might get a shot out of camp.

[Stray]

Hate to hear this. Hope he has as speedy of a recovery as possible.

[Pony Boy]

There is a lot of talk coming out of Cards country that Kyle McClellan could move into the rotation to replace Wainwright.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseb...27992bc8b.html

This would be a very risky move. McClellan is their best reliever, but he was pretty much a failure as a starter in the minors. His move into the minor league bullpen resurrected his status as a prospect. Although he was still very young when this all went down.

Worst case scenario for the Cards is that McClellan isnt effective as a starter and the bullpen gets taxed by the loss of their best arm. Best case scenario is McClellan makes a smooth transition to starting and the bullpen still gets taxed.

Tough situation for the Cards.

[UPRedsFan]

Here's where the talking heads make the mistake of undervaluing the Reds depth when they rank starting rotations.

The Reds survived just fine without Volquez and Harang last year. The Cards just don't have the depth to replace Wainwright. The Brewers don't have depth to replace Greinke if something god forbid happened to his elbow.

Meanwhile the Reds don't have a superstar Ace but they have 6 very solid major league starters, plus a couple minor leaguers with big league innings under the belt in Maloney and LeCure. That's a competitive advantage not often talked about in the media.

[UCBrownsfan]

I wonder if this increases the chance of Cris Carpenter getting hurt as well.

He's only followed up 1 200+ inning year in his career with a healthy season once. Now his workload will go up even just a little. With Wainright/ Carpenter back to back, you can count on one of them giving bullpen relief. As well Garcia was treated with kid gloves, for a starter with a sub 3 ERA to average less than 6 inn a start shows they were quick to go to the bullpen for him, he was following 2 days of bullpen rest often last year, as Wainwright and Carpenter avg 7 Inn / start, and were 2 - 3 in the NL in IP.

[RedLakerFan24]

That sucks, wainwright is actually the one of the Cardinals i like, the other cardinal i like is Albert Pujols, it should've been Carpernter instead of Wainwright