Cardinals right-hander Michael Wacha exited what may have been his final appearance in a Cardinals uniform during the second inning last night due to what the team initially termed a “mild strain” of his right shoulder. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Wacha had difficulty getting loose in warmups yesterday and is now slated for an MRI to gather more information on the injury.
The results of the imaging will be consequential on multiple levels, as they could not only determine Wacha’s status for the Cardinals’ postseason roster but could have a considerable impact on the right-hander’s looming free agency. Wacha would presumably only be a consideration to make the postseason roster as a reliever — Jack Flaherty, Adam Wainwright, Miles Mikolas and Dakota Hudson would handle starting duties — but a balky shoulder could leave him on the outside looking in.
Wacha’s free-agent stock has tumbled considerably in 2019. Entering the year, he was coming off a 3.20 ERA through 15 starts in 2018 and a solid 30-start campaign in 2017. Wacha did miss half the 2018 campaign, but that was due to a pair of oblique strains on his left side — not an arm-related injury. As a former first-round pick and top prospect who was slated to hit free agency in advance of his age-28 season, Wacha would’ve benefited immensely from a continuation of the 3.82 ERA, 8.2 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 he’d posted over his prior 250 big league innings.
Instead, he missed a week early in the season due to tendinitis in his knee and has struggled repeatedly when working as a starter. The St. Louis organization has twice demoted him to the bullpen, only to return him to the rotation out of necessity, but the results haven’t been favorable in either role. Overall, he’s pitched to a 4.76 ERA with 7.4 K/9, 3.9 BB/9, a whopping 1.85 HR/9 and a 48 percent ground-ball rate.
Of all the red flags surrounding Wacha, though, this latest bout of shoulder trouble could be the most concerning. It’s been years since the shoulder caused him to miss time, but Wacha does have a history of shoulder troubles. A stress reaction in that same shoulder caused him to miss more than two months of his second big league season back in 2014, and he missed more than a month with shoulder inflammation in 2016. Even if the MRI reveals no major damage, Wacha may not have much of a chance to prove that he can continue pitching unencumbered by the shoulder discomfort, and a second-inning departure due to shoulder pain isn’t exactly a high point on which to set out into the open market.
Wacha is a fairly accomplished big league pitcher — he’s a former All-Star and NLCS MVP with a sub-4.00 ERA in 867 2/3 career innings — but despite having age firmly on his side, he’ll enter the offseason as more of a rebound candidate than a marquee free agent.
Tigers? Cant be any worse than Tyson Ross…
If he has a heart beat, he will get a shot somewhere in the majors in 2020.
Isn’t this the same Baseball pitcher that jeff todd in his 3 needs article, just suggested the Royals sign?
no thanks!
though, if you’re calling him a rebound Candidate…….That’s exactly the type of person that dayton moore likes to sign, SMH.
you dont need to say “Baseball pitcher” on a baseball site
Yes I realize that but I often use the audio instead of typing out and the audio often types picture Instead of PITCHER. So in order to get to understand when I was saying I had to say baseball.
Alex Wood would be the best “injury comeback deal” IMO but honestly, I’d like to see KC sign Jordan Lyles to a multi year pact & when the 2018 starting pitching draft crop starts coming into the fold, Lyles could be slotted back into the pen which he’s seen extensive time out of as well…
I have a feeling that the Brewers might end up signing Jordan Lyles for At least another year….He’s been really good for them.
I think it all depends on Dayton and the roster changes (Heaven help the Fans in KC if he’s sign someone like Wily Peralta again)
Good takes on the previous comments & this will be an interesting winter no doubt with the new ownership coming in & seeing what the initial schematic will be whether it’s a total tear down (Whit, Soler, Dozier, Kennedy) of the current squad, a “rethinking of the current roster” with maybe Soler & Doz being dealt for multiple assets after the career years they had & signing some other low hanging fruit to supplement, or keep what you have and maybe make a “moderate” splash in free agency with possibly a starter on either a pillow deal or a swingman type. Also maybe a right fielder for that the pantry as far outfielders in the system is thin at best. I wouldn’t mind KC signing Avi Garcia to a multi year pact because quite frankly, only Lee, Isbel, & Hicklin are the only future MLB’ers I see & even then, they’re not breaking down any walls to jump into the top 100 list.
he would be a great fit for Marlins.
Good pitching park.
Wacha came into the league with his exaggerated over the top mechanics and you could just see a future of shoulder problems ahead. He was unique in that he really only had the 2 pitches, fastball and changeup, that were hard to pick up for batters early on. The angle was out of the norm, but since his first shoulder problems, he/they changed his rm angle to be closer to what is more 3/4er. Problem is, he still really only has those same 2 pitches. His off curve has little break to it and he tips it off fairly easily. Add in his constant need for shoulder monitoring, his decreased velocity and lack of a true 3rd pitch, makes him much easier to hit the more a batter sees him.
I would guess/bet, he will get a pillow contract somewhere to try and up his value. Probably with a fringe contender or a team that believes they are close to wrapping up their rebuild. The Padres or ChiSox, perhaps.
everything about this take is right on. This is exactly how his career played out. Damaged goods at this point
I doubt if the Cards can offer deal that would gain them a draft pick, probably can with Ozuna, but not Wacha.
There’s no way he gets a QO. He made $6.35MM this season, which is roughly one-third what the QO would be.
He was very tough on the Pirates in the 2013 playoffs.I would be curious to see if they would take a flyer on him on a balloon contract.
NH needs to figure out that he needs twice as many pitchers as he thought so he will not need to give his manager AAA pitchers when the inevitable injuries start piling up.
Remember Damian Moss? Don’t take anything for granted.
The late Chris Duncan (RIP) said as early as 4 years ago that MW should be relegated to the bullpen due to his durability concerns & though many dismissed that notion at the time, he was 100% correct.