The latest injury news from the National League:
- The Cardinals have placed right-hander Adam Wainwright on the 10-day disabled list with elbow inflammation, Joe Trezza of MLB.com tweets. The move is retroactive to April 20, and it’s already the second DL placement of the season for the 36-year-old Wainwright, who missed the start of 2018 with a hamstring injury. The arm issue is certainly more alarming in this case, especially considering Wainwright missed significant time last year with elbow problems and then underwent arthroscopic surgery early in the offseason. Wainwright has tossed 15 2/3 innings over three starts this year and managed a 3.45 ERA, despite subpar strikeout and walk rates (6.89 K/9, 4.6 BB/9). His roster spot will go to reliever John Brebbia, whom the Cardinals recalled from Triple-A, though the Redbirds figure to bring righty Jack Flaherty back from the minors next time they need a starter.
- The Rockies have sent outfielder Carlos Gonzalez to the 10-day DL (retroactive to April 19), per Jenny Cavnar of AT&T Sportsnet (Twitter link). Gonzalez suffered a hamstring injury on Wednesday and hasn’t played since. Before that, he got off to a slow start with a .235/.264/.426 line in 72 plate appearances. His injury could open up playing time for outfielder David Dahl, whom the team recalled Sunday. Dahl’s a former highly regarded prospect who impressed as a rookie in 2016, but he hasn’t taken the field in the majors since after missing last season with a rib cage injury.
- Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon hasn’t played since April 13 because of an injury to his left big toe, which remains “pretty sore,” manager Davey Martinez told Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com and other reporters Saturday. As a result, the Nationals will “re-evaluate” Rendon, according to Martinez, who was unsure whether the star could be headed to the DL. The Nationals would only be able to backdate a DL stint to Thursday, Zuckerman notes, so Rendon wouldn’t be eligible to return until April 29.
Jack Flaherty has pitched 3 very good games in a row and is ready to make jump to the big leagues. The door is opening for this to happen.
He was going to pitch in the big leagues anyway. The shuttle he will have between the MLB club and Memphis is going to be continuous and is intended to limit his innings.
Limit his innings or do you mean service time? Because he is just as likely to be injured in the minors pitching.
I wished the Cardinals would’ve signed a free agent starter. I bet Wainwright retires after the season.
Who could we have signed that would be better than Flaherty and soon Reyes?
Exactly!!!
The Cardinals have plenty of good young pitchers that are almost major league ready !
As a cardinal fan I think Wainwright should be moved or transition into a bullpen role. He’d probably get less innings but we’d have an effective starter in flaherty to take over his rotation spot.
The only move we can make is to bullpen or release, no other team sees value in him. This will soon play itself out.
I’m sure nobody in the STL organization wants to even let the thought of TJ surgery cross their mind in Wainwright’s case especially himself since he’s in a walk year. In any case it seems that the time has come for him to transition into a bullpen role going forward.
Some positive things about Carlos Gonzalez, who’s 32:
CarGo has posted positive defense, so far 2018:
2018: +1 DRS, +2.1 UZR +1.3 Def in 145.0 OF Inn
2017: -3 DRS, -0.7 UZR, -6.5 Def in 1064.0 OF Inn
He already has more WAR, than his -0.1 all last season.
fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=7287&posit…
It kills me to see Adam Wainwright hit brick walls. He was so good, dependable, and the glue that’s held everything together since his last 2 years with Chris Carpenter as the mainstay pitchers. Mentally he is the same competitive Waino and the same Cardinal leader!!! However, I’m embarrassed for Him not being able to find the strike zone of which he’s always been able to command. Walks and control was never a problem for him in his glory days. Now it is a big problem. In the near future, I hope to see Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright as the Cardinals pitching coaches!!! How great would that be!?!?