In the wake of the Cardinals being swept out of the National League Championship Series, it isn’t surprising that Adam Wainwright was more focused on the end of his club’s season than he was on his future plans. The 38-year-old righty told MLB.com’s Adam Berry and other reporters after Game Four of the NLCS that “I haven’t even thought about” what he might do for the 2020 season, though “we’ll talk about it over the next couple weeks.”
If the veteran does decide to hang up his glove after 14 seasons, Wainwright will have gone out on a very high note. He posted a 4.19 ERA, 8.02 K/9, 48.8% grounder rate, and 2.39 K/BB rate over 171 2/3 frames for St. Louis this season, and then delivered a 1.62 ERA over 16 2/3 innings during the Cards’ playoff run.
While not at the level of Wainwright’s ace-like prime in 2009-14 (a stretch that saw him earn four top-three finishes in NL Cy Young Award voting), it was still the right-hander’s best season of the last half-decade. Wainwright has been hampered by injuries in recent years, so it’s no wonder that his performance began to improve once his nagging elbow problems finally began to subside. Aside from a 10-day minimum stint on the injured list due to a balky hamstring in June, 2019 was a very healthy campaign for Wainwright, as he passed the 170-inning plateau for the eighth time in his career.
Signed to a one-year deal for just $2MM in guaranteed money, Wainwright ended up earning $10MM by maxing out his incentives. Wainwright re-signed with St. Louis last offseason before October was even over, so another quick deal isn’t out of the question if Wainwright and the Cardinals have a mutual interest in continuing their partnership with as little drama as possible, though it’s fair to wonder whether other teams might also be keen on talking to Wainwright on the open market.
Jack Flaherty, Miles Mikolas, and Dakota Hudson project as the Cards’ top three starters for 2020, and with Michael Wacha unlikely to return, there would certainly seem to be room for Wainwright to once again suit up as the veteran leader of the St. Louis rotation. Wainwright’s presence would help stabilize an otherwise uncertain back of the rotation, as the Cardinals would then have their younger options (Daniel Ponce de Leon, Austin Gomber, Genesis Cabrera or possibly Alex Reyes if healthy) battling over one rotation job, rather than two. Of course, the Cardinals could also augment this mix with another veteran arm via free agency or trade, even if Wainwright does return.
nothing about carlos. but then again, he’s no closer or a starter. unless he gets his head on straight
i would have to agree with you on cmart especially after what i saw in the nlds
Watching him in any series in the past season has felt like watching your 9 year old grab your car keys and travel out to a busy interstate while you’re locked in a plexiglass box with too few air holes. You know the child could have the potential to get lucky and arrive at their destination unscathed, but chances are he’ll hit every car and pedestrian on the way there.
I’d say Carlos Martinez is going somewhere in a package deal. If John Mozeliak is still with the Cardinals, he’ll trade him for washed up Low Handing Fruit and a 42nd round draft pick. Ugh!
Carlos Martinez= Carlos Zambrano 2.0
CZ could hit.
Zambrano was much better for much longer.
Zambrano was much crazier for much longer too.
Wuuuut
His head had nothing to do with why he was a reliever this past season. He’s probably rejoining the rotation next year as a very good #2 starter behind Flaherty once he’s back in his more comfortable role.
we need to trade Carlos if we can we should have traded him when his vaule was worth somy
Why would you trade him now? His value is at an all time low because no one knows if he can start again. You bring him back next year as a starter if you want a chance of getting any more value out of him, whether that be on the mound or in a trade
The Cards need starting pitching! An ace! Otherwise they’ll be going backwards. At the moment it’s Flaherty then daylight. Bring back Wainwright in a long relief role. Really need to go hard after Cole or similar.
Keep dreaming if you think STL is going to fork out $30M per for Cole.
You aren’t getting him for 30 million. Maybe 35.
Whatever it is, it proves my point even further. Cards aren’t signing him.
Cards have their future ace in Flaherty. If Wainwright wants to come back, after the season he just had the Cards should welcome him back with open arms. Push Wacha out of the rotation if they’re signing someone….
1 ace ain’t gonna cut it in this league baby.
Wacha is walking in free agency, anyway. Meanwhile, the Cards potentially have 2 or even 3 aces depending on what they get from Flaherty, Martinez, and Mikolas next season. Wainwright is still worth resigning as a veteran presence who can provide some decent depth innings from the back of the rotation.
I get it. I’d love to see Cole as a Cardinal too but it’s not happening. The money will spent (if it is to be spent, not a guarantee with this front office) on the offense. Rendon or JD Martinez (if he opts out) or absorbing the salary of a certain Rockies third baseman. In fact third base and left field are only potential upgrade spots there are really. So when you see that and then see that Cole is more likely to make close to 40 million a year on average…Cole isn’t coming my friend.
You seem to be forgetting that Martinez and Mikolas are past All-Stars and will still provide good #2-3 options even if they pitch more like last season that their All-Star years.
When you labeled a head case your value and future earnings go in the toilet.
How often do the Cardinals really want to go to that well relying on water being there when Wainwright pitches?
If you give him an incentive-laden contract, who cares? If he gets hurt or struggles in the spring, then you are out almost nothing. He dominated at home this year and that is well worth shooting for again next year.
After such a “dominating” season at home, and nobody of health to pick up the slack, why should he take an incentive laden deal?
Are you really going to let your bias stop you from admitting how good Wainwright was at home this year? In 16 starts, he had a 2.5 ERA and gave up 2 runs or less in 11 of those starts. Everyone saw him shutdown both the Braves and the Nationals in the playoffs. He did it all year long, it stopped being a small sample size three months ago.
As for why the deal, he’s already said earlier in the year that if he comes back, it’s going to be on a similar contract. He’s not going to pitch for someone else, he’s a St. Louis guy through and through and has made enough money to last three lifetimes. He’s 38 and knows it’s a risk for the team, he’s not dumb. Unless he decides it’s time to retire, I don’t see how it would be any different than this years contract
Then make sure his contract is for home games only, because when I checked last, they play 81 road games. And in his 15 road starts, he got shelled to the tune of a 6.22 ERA.
I saw an interview with Waino and his wife a few years ago and their motivation wasn’t to earn money for them or their family to be wealthy. It was to earn money for charitable reasons. He claimed, ideally, he wouldn’t have a penny to his name when he dies.
Just an off subject comment for fun.
I would hope he leaves something for his children and grandchildren.
What a shame baseball is played at home and on the road. Pretty sure any player can be made to look great when you remove half of their performances.
Cam, thank you. Finally someone on here gets it. Wainwright had an incentive laden contract that paid him PER START. 15 of those were on the road, where he was abysmal. Also, look at his peripheral numbers. WHIP was over 1.4. That is mediocre. His walk rate was high and his K rate not all that good.
He is your 5th starter! What do you expect out there? He keeps you in most games, he pitches a respectable amount of innings and he is elite at home. Pitched amazing in the playoffs. How can you say his K rate wasn’t good? 8.02 per 9? That was the 40th best in all of baseball this year. He was 9 and 4 at home and 5 and 6 on the road. The team was 19-12 in his starts this year. So I will gladly give him the same contract again.
Wins and losses? Nice. Now tell me what his run support per game was since you omitted that. And what part of “ACE” do people not understand? In no way, shape or form is anyone, other than Flaherty, on this team in the category of Verlander, Cole, Scherzer, Strasburg etc. Flaherty still has to get consistent for an entire year to really be elevated into ACE category. Mikolas and C. Martinez are light years away. Martinez has been hurt, both mentally and physically for 2 years, so you never know what he brings on a daily basis.
You brought up the salary per start, so yes Wins and losses are relevant. If he put the team in position to win than it is a good contract. He gets hurt, no loss. I never said he was an ace, but you are acting like he should be ace for the cardinals to keep him. If you want to know his run support fine: he was 1-5 in 8 starts when the cards scored 0-2 runs; 7-4 in 12 starts when the cards scored 3-5 runs and 6-1 in 11 starts when the cards scored 6 or more. Numerous pitchers got better run support than he did so what is your point? He is a #5 starter. IF he sucks, then he won’t start and get paid. So again, won’t be a big loss. If a younger guy out performs him, he won’t get paid. But if he continues and pitches this way again, you have a solid #5, A guy you are paying to keep you in games, which he did well….
My point is wins and losses are meaningless for starting pitchers. All you have to do is look at this team. Hudson 16 wins, Wainwright 14 and Flaherty 11. Flaherty is by far the best pitcher of the 3. And where and when did I ever say Wainwright should be the ace of this team? Quit putting words in my comments to make your point.
I never said you said Waino should be the ace. I said you are acting like it. But you are changing the point. All I have ever said is for a number 5 starter the contract is worth it. The first half of the season flaherty was not the best pitcher on this team. Wins and losses are not meaningless they are a small
Reflection of your starters results. So if my number 5 starter has 14 wins, I am stoked. I don’t care what his run support is or whip. You need W’s to get to the playoffs.
Cole will get a lot more than 30m annually.. try 40
Fg, thanks for making my point even stronger.
Will not come close to 40 per year. Highest pitching contract ever is 7 years at 217 Million. Trout didn’t even get 40 per year and he is the best in the game. I can see 35 million per year. But I see more realistically 7 years at 215-225 million.
Fg-3-Is that you Scott?
The Cardinals have an ace in Flaherty…maybe. You need to see another year at that level to make that determination. They really need to unload Carp and Fowler. That will cost money. Ozuna is iffy depending on price. But, they need offense.
One year is all it took for MoEgo to give Mikolas $68M. Hell, Flaherty might get $100M from the bowtie boy.
You QO Ozuna, trade O’Neil, JMart and try and unload Fowler in the one of the packages (eating salary). Carp needs to start shagging balls in the Outfield see if he can play one of the corner spots if his bat comes back you unload him at deadline to an AL team.
I doubt they’ll be able to trade J-Mart, or they would’ve done it last offseason. Trading Fowler is a possibility, but they have to resign Ozuna or sign another good offensive outfielder too, or what is already a questionable offense is going to be weakened even further.
Carpenter is *NOT* an outfielder. He’s barely an adequate defensive infielder. He’ll have a chance to win his job back (like Fowler did this past season after his terrible 2018). If he does, then maybe Edman becomes a starting outfielder. If not, then he becomes an expensive bench piece and may find himself traded at some point during the season.
CMart is not the closer. Doesnt have the mindset. He needs to get his head together and start. I would like cole too but I dont see that happening.
I think you try Gallegos as the closer myself
Of course he’s not the closer, since he’s going back into the starting rotation next year. Gallegos is the obvious choice to replace him.
CMart isn’t worth anything so you might as well keep him for the last year of Yadi and hope he can make a man out of him.Wainwright is back either on the field or coaching or in the office.
If the Cards can get Waino for a similar deal to this past season’s, I would definitely bring him back one more time.
Multi year or $5M+ guaranteed and I say let him walk.
Multi year deal for Wainwright? WHAT!?
I think Waino and Yadi go out together next year.
Hey, Carlos Martinez will likely be back in the rotation next year. There’s still room for Wainwright, though, with questions marks surrounding each one of those potential youngsters.
I doubt Waino would get a multi year deal. . If he comes back would it still be a starter even? Maybe he comes back in the bullpen? Flarethy is the ACE of the staff despite only having like 11 wins. He had probably the least run support of all the starters.
STL resigns him for one more year. $2M-$3M range.
He pitched his way back in the bullpen or rotation. See how he looks like in 2020 and what role makes sense him for the Cardinals. Don’t see him elsewhere