THURSDAY, 10:01am: GM John Mozeliak confirmed that Wainwright will undergo Tommy John surgery according to the team's official Twitter feed. The injury will keep him on the shelf for all of 2011.
WEDNESDAY, 8:59am: Adam Wainwright is heading back to St. Louis to have his right elbow examined, and right now the team expects the worst. "I can say just based on the initial evaluation from our training staff, things do not look encouraging," said GM John Mozeliak according to Derrick Goold of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. ESPN's Buster Olney says (on Twitter) that it appears the team is expecting their ace to have Tommy John surgery, which would keep him out for all of 2011.
Wainwright, 29, has been one of the game's best pitchers in recent years, pitching to a 2.53 ERA with 8.3 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 463 1/3 innings over the last two seasons. He finished second in the NL Cy Young voting last season and third in 2009. Rival executives are speculating that the Cards will pursue Kevin Millwood in the wake of the injury, according to Olney (on Twitter). Over the weekend we heard that Millwood was "waiting for the right widespread panic."
If Wainwright finishes the 2011 season on the disabled list, his $9MM option for 2012 and $12MM option for 2013 will not vest.
BravesRed
As I told SPAN on twitter, bad news for fantasy players who have him.
bucs_lose_again
That’s game-breaking insight, folks.
Dave_Gershman
The fact that he told me on twitter?
Or that Fantasy teams get screwed?
pastlives
the latter, it sounds like
East Coast Bias
This is why you shouldn’t draft so far from opening day.
The_Silver_Stacker
Mid to end of March is when one should be drafting for their respective leagues.
Ender
I’d think most people who already have him are in keeper leagues, not really early draft leagues.
Matt Coleman
This would be devastating for St. Louis.
Chuck345
“Would” be? What do you think, the author and Adam Wainwright himself is just jerking everyone around?
MeowMeow
Wow, this came out of nowhere. I’ve loved watching him pitch for the past couple seasons.
I might go so far as to say that this takes the Cardinals out of the discussion in the NL Central.
JohnOrpheus
especially if they plan on replacing him with kevin millwood.
Chuck345
Sure…kick the Cardinal fans when they are down.
User 4245925809
Don’t think that is kicking the Card’s, but cold hearted reality. Now St. Louis will have to start looking for somebody to give them innings at least and rubbish pile Millwood is about all that there is via FA. you just know Boras is salvitating for the worst news..That vulture.
Maybe the Phillies would unload Blanton, or better..Orioles and Guthrie if the news is the worst. Guthrie have always felt would be a beast in the NL.
costumedanceguy
I’ve got the perfect solution: Make Pujols a starter!
Slopeboy
Not to worry, Duncan can turn this pumpkin into Cinderella
notsureifsrs
maybe, but the stroke of midnight will usually come in about the fourth or fifth inning
daveineg
If you look at Wainwright’s season in 2010, I’m not sure it quite came out of nowhere. He was odds on favorite for Cy Young in early August, but had a string of 4-5 starts there where he wasn’t all that sharp. Remember too, he logged 260 innings the last two seasons after posting just 132 the year before. I thought before this happened Cards would falter as Garcia would backslide a bit, and they were weak in the #5 slot with Lohse. I see them going after Millwood, because he can eat innings and it’s hard to make up for a guy that threw 230 innings.
MeowMeow
Now that you mention it, I do recall some problems last fall, as well as some injury scares (he was my fantasy ace, so I was watching him closely. Now I’m thankful it wasn’t a keeper league).
Dwan
tough break, hopefully he has good recovery if he’s heading for TJ surgery.
riotmute
Absolutely devastating. As a Cards fan, hard not to believe season is already over
jasonk
All is not yet lost. Cards still have Carpenter, Garcia, Westbrook and (gulp) Lohse. There is plenty of time for St. Louis to find another SP, though their best chance might be a trade. Blanton would make a nice No. 3/4 for the Redbirds.
ubercubsfan
Unfortunately, for a team that seems to want to penny pinch against the best player in the game right now, I doubt they will want to take on another 8.5MM for Blanton this year.
Bino9
They’re not trying to penny pinch Pujols. They don’t have that big of a market as they would probably like. Pujols wants 30M a year for a sustantial amount of time. Not that many clubs can give him that plus fill out the rest of their roster. Pujols and the rotation would’ve been close to 70-80M range alone. Rays and Marlins dont even spend that much for their entire club
ubercubsfan
For a team that comes in ranking top 4 in butts in the seats behind Yanks/Phillies/Dodgers they should be able to afford Pujols. Not to mention merchandise sales and whatnot. They just don’t to up their payroll up another 10-15MM because they are penny pinching.
Stud
Well using your premise, I could easily say the Cubs overspend, which is why they are a pile of dung right now.
-Alfonso Soriano
Guest 7250
The Cubs aren’t crap. That’s the Pirates–owners of the worst losing streak in sports history. Get it straight, man.
MB923
Worst franchise in professional sports. Well worst ownership I should say.
Guest 7249
Are you referring to the Cubs, the Pirates, or how about the Knicks? Forget about the Carmello Anthony trade, the Knicks have the worst ownership in sports. They’ve got the CUBS beat by a mile. Especially when you consider the Ricketts just bought the team!
MB923
Was referring to the Pirates. I’ll agree and say the Knicks have the worst basketball ownership though.
And what makes you think I was talking about the Cubs? How could the Cubs be worse than the Pirates. The Cubs have had at least won divisions in recent years and have had winning seasons.
Jimmy Hoffman
Although the Knicks are synonymous with being terrible in New York, the team makes more money than any other in the NBA and it is still considered a business.
sam_lammert
the pirates have won the world series in the last century
Guest 7239
So? What does that have to do with HOW INCOMPETENT the organization is now and for the past 18 seasons?
bmoneyy20
right on point, they havent won 81 games in a season since bonds,bonilla and doug drabek were their studs
Brett
Merchandise sales won’t go up because they resign him, at best, it would stay consistent. Now, you could say that merchandising would go down if they lost Pujols.
it’s funny that players want to win, but their contract demands effectively make it less likely that the team can spend money on others, thus costing them the chance to compete.
I also think it’s funny that fans support the idea that he’s worth it, since they are the ones paying the piper in the end (that being said, if anyone is worth it, it’s Pujols),
Sean
its about media sharing, TV bs, and market. St. Louis is dwarfed in comparison to Chicago, New York, and all California teams. The loyal fans that travel from all throughout the midwest have nothing to do with that
JamesOrLurch
The Cardinals actually have the best TV ratings of any MLB team.
W
It seems that I read somewhere that the St. Louis Television market is (7th) lowest in all of MLB.
Ferrariman
that isn’t about ratings.
NL_East_Rivalry
Although I haven’t done studies into it, I’ve had a Cards fan explain that they topped out their market. They can’t raises prices any higher of beer or seats based upon where they are at right now and the pay-roll of the fans that go there. It’s almost extortion, yet they still come out. They can only pay him what they can make.
Bino9
Is Pujols worth 30M? Right now, yes. BUT, he more then likely wants it for 10 years similar to that of the ARod signing. He won’t be worth that after 5 years. He himself is going to be hurting his team (Cardinals) the opportunity to win championships with him limiting the team by spending for more and more players that they would be needing in the future. Basically you can blame Yankees for Pujols wanting that much, which is why Baseball needs to have a salary cap soon. Not every team can have over 150M budget every single year. IF Pujols gets the 30M+ year from Cards then he will be pushing the Cards budget way too high from what the owners can probably deal with. Yea the Merchandise sales and sales in seats, but that’s only because they have a winning team for the most part and Pujols, if he gets what he wants then they will start losing because other players won’t get the money that they want and some of them deserve due to the budget.
Dave_Gershman
Disastrous news. The last thing you ever want to see happen in baseball, period.
Best of luck Adam and come back healthy.
John McFadin
This seems to have come out of nowhere. Is there any reports at all about when this happened?
Guest 7251
Sure does. Why couldn’t the team have detected this sooner? The division’s the Brewer’s to loose.
alashieve
Hate to be cold hearted but glad I don’t own him on any of my fantasy teams.
Keith Lawyer
KARMA, eh Cardinals?
Jason S
How is that karma? What did they do horribly wrong for something like this? Not throw ridiculous money at Pujols? So that if something like this happens they’re not completely screwed? I think Kenny Williams said it best. Can’t put all your money in one baasket.
Keith Lawyer
No its Karma by offering Pujols such a low an embarrassing offer 19-21 million a year? What a slap in the face.
PhnxCrew
it’s more of a law of averages than karma. They haven’t had a big injury in a LONG time. That said, he could “magically” recover like pujols did a couple years back in the spring/ early season
Ferrariman
no big injury? Carpenter missed basically all of 2007, almost all of 2008, and like 30 percent of 2009.
W
Everything that has been reported thus far is baseless speculation. AP’s camp and the Cardinals camp have been total professionals about the whole thing. There have been no leaks whatsoever. As a result, your 19 – 21 a year is baseless. Further, you feed the fire by perpetuating this useless drivel.
Tony
remember last year Joe Nathan was announced to undergo TJS and Joe Mauer got an extension to make the twins fans happy?
pattern?
W
Karma? Karma for what? Your tip-toeing. Don’t tip-toe Keith. What are you referring to specifically. Cause’ if your insinuating they deserve this because of negotiations with Players you need to do your homework.
baseball52
I like Wainwright, so this kinda sucks.
Ian_Smell
Same, I hate the Cardinals, but I really like Wainwright. I feel really bad for him now.
Andy
I wonder if this will affect any Pujols decisions. Clearly the injury hurts the “win now” mentality.
notsureifsrs
aaaand that is just some stupidly brutal news
Paul
Wow, I didnt even know he was having elbow problems! Thats really too bad, hopefully he recovers and continues to have a successful career.
Redbirds16
He had some soreness at the end of the year and gave it a rest over the offseason. Funny thing he was saying at the beginning of ST that it felt fine and the soreness had subsided. Just really odd…
Too bad the Cards didn’t act sooner on this, meaning October. I’m kind of frustrated with the Cards’ medical staff and have been for quite some time. So many players go down with injuries (granted not quite as bad as some other teams, but still a bad record) that you just wonder what’s going on…
Jason S
I think Kevin Millwood’s phone is ringing about right now.
monkeyspanked
Oh snap! Looks like Kevin Millwood has a new suitor. Good thing he turned down that crappy Yank offer.
Chuck345
Yankee fans agree.
jwredsox
Does anyone see this as a plus for Wainwright since his options likely won’t vest? I could see him, at worst, making around 10mil on a 1 yr deal after this season and if he has a good year in 2012 he could top that 12mil on a longer term deal.
astrostl
TJ or not, I think the team would be insane to not exercise a 1/9MM on him in 2012. After that, they get an informed look at a 1/12MM for 2013.
jwredsox
Both options have to be picked up at the same time according to Cots. So the Cards are going to have to be sure he is healthy.
astrostl
I think it’s still a slam-dunk at 2/21MM unless they have to amputate. TJ surgery has a full recovery rate of 85-92% with elite pitchers.
bjsguess
It may have a high success rate but those pitchers don’t generally return to form immediately after rehab. It often takes a few years for them to come back. $21m is a big bet to make.
jwredsox
It normally takes a year to regain full velocity though
astrostl
This can’t be had both ways; if he would be a hot FA he’s worth 2/21MM, and if he’s not worth 2/21MM he wouldn’t be a hot FA. The Cardinals have the option, and so it is still them – not Wainwright, not the FA market – that has the advantage. Even if his minimum performance estimate is reduced to that of a 10.5MM pitcher, the upside remains huge.
The_Silver_Stacker
He will probably want something similar or maybe even more than Ben Sheets got from Oakland and he was coming back from injury as well.
Jiujitsu411420
I figured carp would get injured before waino. Cards better hope Garcia doesn’t hit a sophomore slump or they might be fighting for the bottom of the division. Hopefully he can rehab or strengthen instead of surgery. Not a good way to start Pujols possible last season as a cardinal.
Sean
the most prototypical cubs comment that could ever be written on this topic
burtonbball88
All of the arguments are prototypical and really dumb. Lets look at the current team, and not the past. The Cubs have a totally different team this year, and so do the Cardinals. Although being a Cubs fan, this is awesome news.
notsureifsrs
forget the poor man, kevin millwood is like the homeless paraplegic man’s adam wainright
crap day in STL
Ian W.
Good one my friend, the cards made it without kile and will
alashieve
I just checked my fantasy leagues my main rival owns him in 2 leagues. 🙂
Chuck345
Please tell me more…
rockfordone
Time for Miller and Blair to step up. Don’t go for Millwood
notsureifsrs
so if the cards aren’t contenders by the end of june, can pujols be talked out of his veto?
he won’t sign an extension, but some contender would be willing to give up more than 2 draft picks worth of talent for pujols’ second half
Smurf
I don’t get all the Millwood hate. IF he does go to STL, he will have a good season under Duncan. I mean the guy can make chicken salad out of chicken poop. He certainly won’t be Wainwright, but I could see him winning 10+ games for the Cards.
Pete 12
Its because he is literally half as talented as Wainwright. Gotta think this drops STL down a peg or three, the Reds and Brewers look awesome this year. Terrible news for STL.
Smurf
No, I get that. You’re not going to replace Wainwright with anyone, BUT Millwood will come cheaply and probably thrive under Duncan.
Brv Rocks
I hate to hear this news. Get well soon Wainwright!!
MikeY
Kids, this is why you don’t draft fantasy leagues in february.
MeowMeow
If his options don’t vest, he could be an exciting surprise FA during an offseason that promises a very shallow pitching market.
astrostl
It’s a club option, not a player option.
Nick Novak
which means he’s more likely to become a FA, especially if he has setbacks in rehab
astrostl
If the Cards don’t think he’s worth 2/21MM, I don’t think he’s going to be an exciting FA. One or the other.
hoagiebuchanan
The 2012 option is picked up with a top 5 finish in Cy Young voting in 2010.
astrostl
“club must exercise 2012 and 2013 options at same time, but may void if Wainwright is on disabled list with arm injury at end of 2011 season”
Tom
As a Mets fan I’m supposed to hate this guy, but I’ve never been as excited to watch a pitcher like Wainwright, he’s devastating it’s always been one of my joys to watch Cardinals games just for him. I literally gasped upon reading this news. My favorite pitcher may now be gone for the next 1 and 1/2 to 2 years.
myname_989
Damn, this stinks. After the last couple of seasons, you got the feeling that Wainwright was in a position to completely blast through the National League. Hopefully, it’s not a severe as the Cards’ first thought. Missing him for an entire season hurts the sport of baseball as a whole. Very entertaining to watch throw.
gunsnascar
how does this hurt the game of baseball as a whole?
It should have hurt much more when their batting coach mark mcguire cheated by using steroids and then lieing about just how much he used them.
heck it probably hurt baseball even more when the cardinals star reliever got drunk and stoned and wrecked his suv killing him on rt 70.
Death is worse than tommy john surgery after all this is only a game.
Sean
Very very very inappropriate
and shallow
gunsnascar
just stating 2 facts that were bad for baseball more than wain’s TJ injury as players in stl are concerned.
How was that inappropriate?
James G
It certainly hurts the Phillies hopes of having home field advantage in the World Series.
myname_989
Way to take something and blow it completely out of context. I was simply saying that not being able to watch Wainwright pitch was bad for the game of baseball this season, like not being able to watch Stephen Strasburg pitch after his injury. It’s really ridiculous that you felt the need to make that comment.
testGDaccount
I hope the injury happened in a classy way, right Cards fans?
Brad Jackson
Eh. we’re not out of it yet. Carp is still Cy material and Garcia should have won RoY. We still have a ridiculous lineup. And the Brewers are still the Brewers. I’m sure Fielder will get all pissed at Greinke or something.
astrostl
I’m a Cards fan. Garcia over Heyward or Posey, really? And Carp had a great (delayed start!) 2009, but the age deck is stacked against him. If we don’t have Wainwright, I think both the Brewers and Reds rate to be ahead of us. But, anything (e.g. Berkman) can happen.
Brad Jackson
Sure. And yes, I still think we will fair okay against the NL central.
gunsnascar
they will probably have some competition for the nationals and pirates for landing the top draft pic in the NL now.
phoenix2042
even if berkman starts hitting again, you have to think that his defense in RF (that is where he’s playing now right?) will take away most of what his bat gives you.
gunsnascar
Brewers and Reds rate to be ahead of us.
and the cubs, astro’s, and maybe even the pirates
disgustedcubfan
Hoping that Berkman has a huge year is almost as lame as us Cub fans hoping for Soriano to have a huge year. We’re both grasping at straws.
Bo 2
Terrible news for baseball.
I doubt this changes anything on the Pujols front, since they can’t really trade him now anyway. They’re not suddenly going to throw buckets of money at him just to make Cards fans feel better, nor should they.
bmoneyy20
no cardinals spin on how this wont hurt your teams chances this year and moving forward? the curse of pujols has started, karma is a b
rayking
This makes no sense. Karma? What did they do to invoke bad karma? Not give Pujols the biggest contract in history to exceed other contracts which were terrible, like A-Rod’s and Ryan Howard’s? “Another team overpaid their guy by a lot, so now we have to as well.” Please.
phoenix2042
he’s making a poorly constructed reference to the curse of the bambino.
gunsnascar
pay pujols for what he has done and what he will do is the deal
karma …….. I see this being the second step to the cards decline
1st step is not working out a deal with pujols b4 spring training.
Now look at this wainwright is possibly out 1.5-2 years and the cubs will overpay for pujols this comming off season so thats the best pitcher and position player from the cards gone after 2011.
Sean
with the cubs karma Albert’s elbow would finally blow up while he is trying to put on that ugly jersey during the press conference, which won’t happen anyways
gunsnascar
I kind of agree there is something to the curse, but I wouldnt call it bad cubs karma its not like garza dempster or zambrano had this injury in that “ugly cubs jersey”.
I love the fact that the cards are screwed 1 way or another.
1 they over pay for pujols and continue winning most of their games this year and are financially screwed for 8-10 years… or
2 the cubs over pay for pujols and whip the heck outta the red birds and alotta the rest of the NL. the central could be theirs in a walk.
The prospect that pujols wearing another hat is just unnatural to inagine but he just may be gone but forget about that they will be loosing their ace of the futre in wainwright. I do hope that wain recovers well from his injury but thats a very tough injury to make it all the way back from.
This news is a bombshell on the stl fans and orginization to be felt for many years to come
ColonelTom
Ruben Amaro Jr. is on the phone to St. Louis right now, peddling Joe Blanton. I suspect the Cards will go for a 1-year option like Millwood rather than a 2-year commitment to Blanton, though, since they’ll need the payroll room to re-sign Pujols. The long, expensive commitments to mediocrities like Lohse and Westbrook (both signed through 2012, $20.25M total next year) don’t help matters.
Jason S
Blanton at 8.5 mill this year and next? No way the Cards would be in on that.
ColonelTom
Obviously the Phils would need to eat a chunk of the cost. Blanton at $4-5M a year would have to be attractive to the Cards right now.
nm344
Blanton is worth his salary. If the Phillies are ‘eating’ anything, then they are getting back a good prospect.
Jason S
Cards won’t want to give up a good prospect, they’re already thin in the farm system. And they claim the budget is pretty much maxed out.
disgustedcubfan
Can the Cubs interest you in bringing back Todd Wellemeyer or Braden Looper? Both are in Cubs camp on minor league deals. They were OK under Duncan.
brygar
So…. Jair Jurjjens and Cash for Colby Rasmus?
myname_989
Lol
DepletedOrange
seriously. the only response to that is lol.
phoenix2042
um… ew. that’s almost as bad as napoli and rivera for wells and 5 million bucks.
rickjimbo
i see what you did there
Paul
Jurrjens for renteria. SEEMS LIKE A GOOD DEAL!
Any tigers fan knows what I am talking about.
Andy_B
Cards medical staff strikes again. Waino was clearly not right at the end of the year, they should have evaluated him then and had the surgery in the beginning of October. Had they done it then it would have been possible for him to be back by August.
Either way this is just horrible news. I think there are only about 20 people in this world whose death would come as worse news to me.
AngelHater
“I think there are only about 20 people in this world whose death would come as worse news to me.”
Dude, grow up. Baseball is just a business that a few hundred people on earth are talented enough to participate in. You really need to get out of your mom’s basement a little more.
Andy_B
Sounds like someone has no sense of humor
JC Abbott
Wren should be on the phone talking up Kawakami. Or on the phone with Boras trying to sign Millwood so the Cards are forced to trade for him. Or Kawakami. Or him + Kawakami.
For Rasmus.
nm344
I think you’d need to throw in Tejeran to get Rasmus.
Nick Novak
the cards would rather keep rasmus and use pujol’s mom as the 5th starter
daveineg
LaRussa was able to protect Garcia a lot last year because he had two guys combine for 465 innings that kept his bullpen fresh. It remains to be seen how effective Garcia can be if he’s asked to go beyond the 6th inning more often. Losing 230 innings is huge.
They may go after both Millwood and Blanton for simple reason either of those two is an upgrade over Lohse and they have to upgrade somewhere to make up for this loss.
rayking
Exactly right. And that’s why Millwood would be a nice addition. All the people mocking the idea of adding Millwood don’t realize that the whole rotation suffers when an inning-eater goes down. Millwood just needs to come out and pitch a “quality start” every game (the standard for which is actually less than what a team considers an actually solid start, in my opinion) to ease the load for Garcia and the others.
daveineg
Yeah Millwood is still probably able to give you 200 innings, maybe 205 and and ERA in the low 4’s. But that’s a far cry from 230 and 2.70.
That’s why if I’m them why I’d go after Blanton too. Cards could live with Lohse and his bad contract in the #5 spot when they had Carpenter and Wainwright fronting the rotation. Now, not so much.
FrankTheFunkasaurusRex
I can’t believe 33 people liked this news.
Chuck345
Fantasy baseball nerds.
Paul
Yea, to like an injury to someone is just terrible.
I am a tigers fan so I obviously do not like the twins, however I didnt want morneau to be injured the second half of last year. I mean I of course would want him to go 0 for whatever against us, but you never wish injury on a player even as a fan of the opposite team.
If your team is really that good then they dont need other teams injuries to beat them.
jb226 2
The “Like” button hasn’t meant somebody actually LIKES something since… well, ever.
Sean
Absolutely sick to my stomach
gocrazy
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
astrostl
Note to other teams’ fans: we’re still not trading Rasmus.
Rawlsian
The Curse of Albert Pujols
TartanElk
Is this like Montezuma’s Revenge? If so, will there be numerous trips to the bathroom? If, indeed this is the case, then I want nothing to do with this curse.
TartanElk
If this is true and Wainright goes for surgery, then Millwood looks like a genius for holding out.
astrostl
The Cards are budget-strapped, and the replacement is expected to be internal. Even if they were to sign Millwood, decisions are best evaluated using the information available at the time – not hindsight!
TartanElk
That’s exactly why he’d look like a genius though. People always look back and say, “Well he didn’t know that would happen, he just got lucky.” But I guarantee you, if the Cards sign him, the media would be all over how smart Millwood was to holdout on teams and not accept a lesser minor league deal. They’d call it shrewd negotiating or something dumb like that.
It’s the same way politicians and other public figures get glorified for their success when they lucked their way into something.
Also, so far, I’ve only seen La Russa say they’re looking internally at their options. After having lived in St. Louis for 8 years, I’ve learned never to listen to him because management often goes in the exact opposite direction he talks about. It seems to me as if, and I have no evidence to support this idea, that Cardinals management overreacts to bad news all the time and go and curl up in a corner or do something stupid.
smfiv
Baseball Heaven isn’t looking so heavenly this year.
syphercx
Wow, I am way less excited for this season all of a sudden. Hope Adam has as little pain as possible though.
The_Silver_Stacker
What a shame, Wainwright is a fun pitcher to watch works quickly and dominates. I feel for any Cards fans, this probably will shatter their hopes of contending.
chetkincaid
You guys can have Mark Buehrle from the Sox.
optionn
They should decline his option after this. No way any pitcher coming off surgery is worth 9 million. Arizona got shafted by being a nice guy and picking up Webb for 9 million and getting nothing back.
Jabo
Shoulder injuries are a much different beast then TJ surgery. At this point everyone pretty much knows how players will come back from TJ. Shoulder injuries are a crap shoot.
syphercx
Is it too early to call up Miller??? hehe
Patricio
This really sucks. Feel bad for Wainwright, I’m a Phillies fan but I’ve always enjoyed watching him pitch. Hopefully he can get an alternative to TJ’s surgery and pitch this season.
Andy Mc
Cecil for Rasmus, straight up.
STLfan
Kyle McClellan will be our 5th starter now and i dont care if he only pitches 100 innings he is better than Millwood. We have Snell and Bautista to eat innings out of the bullpen or Snell can be our 5th starter and Mclellan and Bautista go to the pen. The St. Louis Post has said that McClellan is the most likely to take over for Wainwright, but if its Snell it is still better than Millwood.
STLfan
Not trading Rasmus for anyone right now and Miller wont be up until the end of 2012. Lance Lynn could start if Snell and McClellan dont work out but right now i would go with K-Mac
rashomon
And just when we Twins fans thought all hope was lost…Kevin Slowey for Little Nicky! Gardy’s calling the front office as we speak.
studio179
Too bad on Wainwright. Good news for the rest of the NL Central. I don’t like to see a guy hurt though. Obviuosly, the Cards will not get a front end pitcher to replace him. But I’m sure they will get someone who will be somewhat consistant/competitive and pitch some innings with the goal to not detroy the rest of the pen.
Cards_Fanboy
Dang, Wainwright is my favorite pitcher. Hopefully he’ll be able to come back from this next year. I’d like to see Ian Snell, Lance Lynn, and Kyle McClellan compete to for the open rotation spot instead of jumping to fill it with an outside replacement.
wholenewworld
Never know what will happen with surgery. But, alotta times pitchers comeback even better after the surgery. Hope that’s the way it works for Wainwright in ’12.
rickjimbo
such a great pitcher, just terrible for him
Guest 7252
If his option doesnt vest cause he’s on the DL, I’d love to see the Yanks pick him up on the rebound
The_Silver_Stacker
By the time that happens they will be giving an oppurtunity to some of the killer B’s
Boogey_Down_Bronx
If his options dont vest cause he ends the season on the DL, I’d love to see the Yanks pick him up while he recovers
astrostl
It is a club option. He does not become a FA if the options don’t auto-vest.
TrueYankeeFanNYC
Sad news. I feel for the cards and fans. Hopefully he rebounds from the TJ surgery.
YankeePhan1234
Well if Wainwright goes down and the Cards are out of it in July, would they consider trading Carpenter at the deadline?
TrueYankeeFanNYC
And you can pretty much book Millwood to the cards.
BlueCatuli
According to LaRussa, “The answer is here.” It doesn’t sound like they are going to be signing an free agent pitchers as a replacement.
dc21892
This is terrible, terrible news.
alexchicago14
Terrible…just Terrible, It’s gonna be a tough year for that cards…..BUT if all is true, and his options don’t vest….do you think this changes where they stand with Pujols?
jb226 2
Sorry to hear it, even as a Cubs fan.
Do we have any news as to what happened? Did something happen while he was throwing in Spring Training, or something else?
genius.gm.on.mlb.the.show
ouch, hes always on the cusp of a cy young too
Craig Cutler
Words can’t describe the amount of suck right now. Not only is he my favorite pitcher, he’s our best one. There goes our division championship.
Guest 7238
So now Jhonny Gomes of the Reds is singing and praising the fact that Wainwright’s injured….ah…the ugliness Reds-Cardinals rivalry renewed. I seem to recall that Dusty hated La Russa when he was Cubs manager too.
AlKelz
I hate to see any player hurt. Even a Yankee player. That said this is a huge blow to the Cardinals. Sure they can still win the NL Central but the Brewers are now the favorites. The Reds are a good team but I am disapointed that some of them are celebrating the injury to Wainwright . That is a total lack of class.
As far as pitchers , as an O’s fan , I can say , Millwood was not as bad as his numbers suggest. More often then not he gave the team a chance to win. He typically had one bad inning per start. Usually the first. He lost a lot of games in the early part of the season due to a lack of run support . ( 1 or 0 ) He also pitched good under Showalter. On last years Cardinals team he might have won 10 games , so you could do worse then Millwood.
Blanton is too expensive for the Cardinals. If the Phillies ate salary , that would negate the point of trading him. He had a better second half and if anything happens to one of the big four , he provides some depth.
This may hurt the Cardinals this year but it’s possible it helps them long term. It takes up to two years to come back from TJ surgery. So maybe the Cardinals cut Wainwright loose and us the money to resign Pujols ?
Wainwright is due 21 Million over the next two years. After that Lohse’s bad contract comes of the books. I know Cardinals fans would hate to loose either. But paying a guy 21 Million to be on the DL while their best player is a free agent might be too much for them.
Hopefully for Cardinals fans , Dewitt will raise the payroll to the 110-120 Million they will need to remain competetive ? Here’s hoping 😉
gunsnascar
maybe michael young can pitch
lol
Giorgi Almonte
Damn, im a met fan, but this is just awful, hes one of my faves pitchers…
The_Silver_Stacker
What a surprise Colby Rasmus has made it on this thread
RiverKKiller999
This sucks big time, now I gotta change my NL Cy Young prediction.
PhnxCrew
Is it really so “terrible” when he’s sitting at home making tens of millions of dollars? This isn’t football, he’s not lying on the ground with the question of if he’s going to live or die. This is Sports, this is entertainment. It’s not real life. It makes a three team race a two team race and any of the players on the reds/ brewers has every right to be excited about this because it increases their playoff chances dramatically. When you base your team off four superstar players and don’t fill out the rest of the roster this was bound to happen sooner or later. GO BREW CREW
Karan
Get well soon Waino ! Here’s hoping you have a speedy recover ahead. Hope to see you soon in the mix.
Since I am praying about something I might as well hope that people mature and and don’t be ecstatic about the fact that he is not on your fantasy team. (He’s not on mine but hey its just a game).
CarterSemple
This is a total bummer man.