The Cardinals officially exercised Adam Wainwright's options for 2012 and 2013 during this year's playoff run, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Wainwright, who is working his way back from Tommy John surgery, will earn $21MM over the course of the next two seasons.
Wainwright has embraced his role as motivator and cheerleader during his team's extended playoff run and he has offered — apparently in jest — to pitch if necessary. He has resumed throwing and is nearing maximum effort again. The Cardinals expect Wainwright to have a normal offseason and be ready for Spring Training 2012.
Wainwright, 30, posted a 2.42 ERA with 8.3 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in 230 1/3 innings in 2010, finishing second in NL Cy Young voting. He placed third the previous year, when he posted a 2.63 ERA with 8.2 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in 233 innings. Cardinals GM John Mozeliak said in August that he doesn't expect to explore the possibility of a long-term extension with the right-hander.
Major injuries are hard to recover from, no matter how good or even dominant they were before. Just ask Brandon Webb, Jake Peavy, and Ben Sheets.
peavy is gonna be fine