Cardinals manager Oli Marmol provided on update on veteran right-hander Adam Wainwright to reporters (including MLB.com’s John Denton) today. The 41-year old Wainwright opened the season on the injured list after suffering a groin injury during Team USA’s run to the World Baseball Classic finals, but threw a 33-pitch bullpen session on Saturday with another planned for Tuesday. Should that go well, the plan is for Wainwright to advance to either a simulated game or a rehab start in the minors.
That’s good news for the Cardinals, who have struggled in the early going this season thanks in part to the rotation posting a combined 5.93 ERA in 41 innings across the season’s first eight games. Wainwright’s career 3.38 ERA would surely be a breath of fresh air for St. Louis’s beleaguered rotation, and even a repeat of his roughly league average 2022 season would make Wainwright a reliable starter in a rotation with plenty of question marks. Wainwright’s rotation spot is currently occupied by Jake Woodford, who allowed six earned runs on seven hits (three homers) and three walks in four 1/3 innings in his first start of the season.
More injury updates from around the NL Central…
- The Reds sent right-handers Luke Weaver and Lucas Sims to Triple-A Louisville for a rehab assignment today. Weaver was set to begin the year in the Cincinnati rotation before being sidelined with a strained right flexor tendon, while Sims figured to being one of the top options in the Reds’ bullpen before being sidelined with back spasms. The rehab assignment indicates that both could impact the big league club soon. Weaver’s return would likely push right-hander Luis Cessa from the rotation into the bullpen. Cessa still figures to take at least one more turn through the rotation, however, as he projects to start again on Tuesday against the Braves. Sims has posted a 4.20 ERA (3.37 FIP) in 79 1/3 innings since moving to the bullpen full-time for the 2020 season, while Weaver signed a one-year deal with the club this offseason following a brutal 2022 season where he posted a 6.56 ERA in 35 2/3 innings of work.
- The Cubs provided a handful of injury updates of their own, as Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic notes. Right fielder Seiya Suzuki and left-hander Brandon Hughes are continuing to progress well in their rehab process in Triple-A, with Suzuki in the lineup at DH for Iowa today while Hughes threw an inning yesterday. Sharma also relayed an update on starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks, who has been out since the middle of last season with a capsular tear in his right shoulder. Hendricks is scheduled to throw a bullpen tomorrow as the Cubs have opted to take his recovery process slowly thanks to the number of depth options they have for the rotation. Adrian Sampson and Javier Assad are among the top depth options behind the current starting five of Marcus Stroman, Jameson Taillon, Justin Steele, Drew Smyly, and Hayden Wesneski.
The Cardinals always played better with Molina behind the plate.
He half-assed it down to first though. And Marmol did nothing.
OFC. If he benched him he’d probably be fired. Gotta protect that egomaniac Yadi at all costs.
Rare Darkside W
He didn’t want his tongue ripped out
I say It again the St Louis Cardinals went cheap and the GM wanted this puppet In as a manager.
If the red birds had hire Joe Madden they would be In better shape to compete for the NLCS
As a Cardinals fan, I agree 100%.
Do you want your closer to be on the mound for 40+ pitches? A starter that doesn’t have it that day left out to give up eight runs in a 8-7 loss? Your third baseman in right field and catcher in left? Then you want Joe Maddon. This is why he does not have a job.
@logistics
as a cards fan if schlidt was the manger they also be in the nlcs, but i agree even with madden they would be in a better spot than with oli. with that being said in spite of what i think of oli i’m still pulling for my birds
Schildt??? Who put Reyes in the game with the game on the line after waino beat out scherzer. Even Reyes seems surprised he was going in. Everyone but Schildt knew how that game was going to end when he out Reyes in. Reyes had a killer first half but the cracks were obvious at that point. He deserved to be fired.
I’d like to see Stubby get his chance. Marmol is awful.
@del griffith
to be faaair, i will agree that putting reyes wasn’t the best move, but who else did he have in the pen. your not bringing jack out mid inning he was going to start an inning. schildt did what he could with a gassed out team tbh i put more blame on mo than anyone because he built the team and should be on it to improve the team for the stretch. my biggest complaint about oli is if the game starts going off script he looks lost and confused or is to afraid to make a move to far from the script.
I’m not saying that Oli is perfect, but how is it his fault that the Cards have no starting pitching? That’s with Mo and DeWitt.
This is true. Everyone but Mo saw this coming.
True but the way he has handled (or not) the players including this yr with O’Neil is horrific. Everyone with common knowledge of baseball knows it was Pop’s ineptitude at send him. Then to go public against TON, is absolutely wrong.
As long as Mo is in charge, puppets will be the only hire. If they would have hired Francona over Matheny, he would still be the manager.
Organization hasn’t been the same since TLR. They missed out on Francona back then and haven’t found a good manager since.
Weaver back could just as likely lead to a Connor Overton option
If Weaver is terrible in AAA, he might not be back.
Cessa is a better rotation option than Overton. But they should gave had better rotation options when they were available.
Connor had a brief bit of success but its obvious the league has now figured him out and he is unable or unwilling to make an adjustment.
I agree with Cessa being the better option over Overton.
I disagree the league figured him out. His stuff hasn’t been as sharp as it was last season. He’s a pitcher that has to rely on feel, than stuff. Guys like that can’t get away with a bad day.
All 3 options are not good long term solutions, and not very good in the short term either.
I sincerely hope I am wrong, but I expect Waino to get knocked around too.
I hope we’re both wrong, but I wish Waino would have retired with his friends, Yadi and Albert, instead of costing another $17.5mil for a pitcher who barely has anything left.
I love Wainwright, but I don’t expect Wainwright to make a difference. He’ll have games were he goes out and holds teams down for 7 innings and he’ll have as many games were he give up 5 runs in five innning. He’ll help as many wins as he will contribute to as many losses. And he’ll suffer from fatigue by the end of the year. I believe the CArdinals are a .500 team and don’t have a shot at the playoffs, so i hope Adam can just have some fun and enjoy his fairwell tour. Will look forward to his days in the broadcast booth for the major networks.
I agree with everything you said about Waino, but I think the only reason the Cards could possibly be a .500 team is because of a weak starting pitching staff, which should have been addressed prior to the season starting, to prevent that from happening. The offensive and defensive pieces are there, in my opinion, but the rotation is not good enough and will never be with the guys currently in place. It’s a frustrating situation, but also a familiar one for us Cards fans.
That’s the difference, I don’t believe the offense is all that great. There is a couple pieces, and then a bunch of meh.
If the offense has only a couple pieces, the rest is meh, then our starting staff must be garbage.
I also want to say, I kinda agree with you about the offense not being “all that great”.. we have quite a few players who have the ability to have great seasons, but none of them are “PTPers” (as Dickie V would say). I definitely agree with that.
However, it does seem like Walker may have “PTPer” ability.. of course, it’s still too early to tell, but my eye test tells me he has a different level of concentration, and he’s able to keep his ego in check, for now.
I hate saying I’m wrong but here goes. I got the MLB package and it comes with the Minor Leagues of whatever team you pick and I had to pick the Cubs over the Sox as their teams are better. Maybe not the prospects themselves but the teams. Anyway I digress, I’ve watched Amaya through the first few games and he not only looks good Catching but hitting as well. If he stays healthy, And it’s a big if, He might actually be the C of the future with Aliendo. Ballesteros is eating his way out of baseball. He must weigh 300 pounds. the game I saw him play he was at 1B. I doubt if he could even squat and get back up. Right now Amaya and Aliendo make a nice combo at AA.
Love Waino and always will but the fact that we’re hoping he comes in and changes the look of the rotation is a huge warning sign that something needs to be done to bolster it.
He needs to retire and pursue his career as a country singer.
Suzuki needs to be back as soon as possible because the Cubs right field situation right now is a disaster (except when Wisdom plays). Mancini is a butcher and Mastraboni isn’t any better (at least Trey can hit some). Wisdom is the only guy who can play passable defense in right. Ross needs to man up and start playing Rios at third and P-Wiz in right until Suzuki can make it back.
Reds need to send Benson down set Myers vosler back to earth now Barrero still can’t hit
Are O’Neill and Oli buds again?
That Jordan Hicks kid. Sure throws hard, doesn’t he?