Cardinals righty Miles Mikolas is due to receive a platelet-rich plasma injection, skipper Mike Shildt tells reporters including Mark Saxon of The Athletic (via Twitter). That doesn’t come as a surprise, but does come with clear consequences for the defending NL Central champs.
Mikolas has been diagnosed with a flexor tendon strain. He previously underwent PRP treatment but evidently hasn’t responded quite as hoped.
In terms of a timeline, it’s still foggy. Mikolas is slated to be checked by doctors after three to four weeks of rest. Where things go from there remains to be seen. But even in the most optimistic scenario, that’d put him at least a month behind his teammates. It seems exceedingly likely he’ll miss at least that portion of the regular season.
Mikolas made a valiant return to the majors in 2018 and was rewarded with a big extension. He wasn’t as good last year but still contributed 184 solid frames, working to a 4.16 ERA. There’s little doubt that Mikolas is a key part of the Cards’ rotation in 2020 and beyond.
It’s not yet clear just how the Cards will sort things to account for the loss of Mikolas. The hope surely remains that he’ll recover as quickly as possible, but the team will obviously not be able to assume anything — particularly since the issue wasn’t resolved with the initial treatment. The return of Carlos Martinez to the rotation now seems all the more important. It’s also possible we’ll see incoming Korean hurler Kwang-hyun Kim get a look in camp. The only other healthy 40-man options with prior MLB experience are Austin Gomber and Genesis Cabrera.
One and done
He’s already had two productive years in the majors since coming back from abroad…
Stellar year in 2018, meh in 2019, now arm problems
https://www.bnd.com/sports/mlb/st-louis-cardinals/cheap-seats-blog/article240363461.html
The extension was questionable, similar to the Kyle Lohse extension from years ago which worked out…OK for STL. For a team that seems to spew out youngsters and retreads for the rotation at an alarming rate, why bother clinging to good-not-great types like Mikolas?
To be fair, his 2019 was better than the numbers look. He suffered from higher-than-average bad luck on balls in play and was dinged (pun intended) by the juiced ball more than most. The chances of him having a better year in 2020 were fairly high, especially if the ball “mysteriously changes back even though Manfred has no idea about any of it!”
As a follow up, holy moly Manfred is bad at his job.
He regressed to the norm in 2019 with more to come. He never should have been given that contract. I said this before he was hurt too,
If 2019 was his norm, than he wouldn’t have had well below average luck on balls in play lol. Numbers don’t support your hatred man, this same old schtick gets old.
Your name is an interesting idea.
But yeah he has a cool story and I’m personally rooting for him, but it’s never a good sign to see things like this. I hope that deal doesn’t end up being a waste. NL Central teams will need all hands on deck this year.
Mikolas will be fine. If not and he looses time due to injury the Cards will find some one in the minors to take his place and be successful. The Cards always do…That’s the Cardinal Way.
Exactly. The longer he waits, the better chance he doesn’t pitch for most of 2 seasons. I’m expecting TJ surgery this year, which means he misses some of next year too.
There is zero indications that this well result in TJS. He has an issue with his tendon (which are capable of healing). The tests have shown that his ligament is completely sound structurally.
Those platelet rich injections never work. Sales, the Bosox pitcher, is also getting injections and will blow out his arm in 2020.
But they do work.
The problem might not be treatable with a PRP injection, and also the torque and strain pitchers put on their shoulders and elbows aren’t like any other sports.
For a high performance athlete it may not be the best treatment, but for Joe Q public PRP is like magic.
Exactly. They work. Some bodies respond better than others, but they work.
Look know further than Bartolo Colon…it completely revived his career!
IF this doesn’t work and he is somehow done for the year, how do you see the rotation? I guess Flaherty, Hudson, Wainwright, Carlos and Ponce? Does Gomber even have a chance? Is KK better served as a reliever?
I would bet Gant gets a shot at the 5th spot before anyone else. Kim definitely goes into the rotation. Carlos gets in if he’s healthy enough.
They shouldn’t have let Wacha leave in free agency.
KK is projected for 2.5 WAR over 150 IP. I think he was likely to be in the rotation if he showed well in the spring. Pitchers get injured in the same likelihood department as water being wet. Mikolas a control based pitcher that just happens to be able to throw 97 mph when he feels like it, but he has a good shot of being viable this year and even post TJS if he’s forced to go under the knife ultimately. Cards have tons of depth, but it’s just the quality of that depth that will ultimately be tested. They can also make a midseason trade if they need another starter.
Those projections mean pretty much nothing for an unknown like Kim though, so take with a heavy grain of salt.
A Pederson/Stripling trade is looking mighty intriguing right about now…
He got paid
Cards will likely pull from the scrap heap to bring an arm or two into camp in case of depth issues.
Martinez should be closing. Doesn’t have the durability to start anymore.
Wainright is another year older, not another year better.
Poncedeleon, Gomber, and Kim would be the likeliest in-house options.
They should’ve resigned Wacha but they let him go.
Why resign Wacha? He was hurt last season too and not very effective until after the all star break. The Cards have plenty of inhouse options to cover themselves
Lol, doesn’t have the durability to start. He’s 28, not 38.
The reason he’s run into issues the last couple of years was originally a confidence issue, then a case of doing the complete wrong conditioning/strengthening offseason program. The Cardinals have addressed both issues over the last four months, so it’s a little early to write him off as a starter without having any clue.
HE has been a SP longer then a closer… Learn what your talking about…. Nvm your a Suax fan…
It was a great 2018, but a dumb extension by the cards when they had another year of control. Ryu signed for slightly higher AAV this year.
Clay Bucholtz Danny Salazar Gabriel Ynoa, of the group id try Salazar and make it a pen day where he gives you 2-3 innings, hopefully.
Or contact a team that has excess pitching like the Braves or Padres.
Or go with in house options like Gomber Gant Ponce De Leon or call up an arm early like Warner Rondon Woodford
Cards have options in the event of mikolas missing significant time. They always seem to find next man up.
Cards are pitching rich. Just gives someone else an opportunity. Better now than mid season. No problem.
That’s what we keep hearing… but if it was quality pitching, why resign Wainwright? They must not have much confidence in these prospects if they take their chances with a clear number 5.
Probably because he wanted to pitch another year and the Cardinals are very loyal organization and didn’t want one of the most prolific hurlers in recent history pitching elsewhere.
That and he had a strong second half and was dominant in the postseason.
Because he signed another incentive laden team friendly deal after a solid season and postseason in the rotation.
Horrible take. Wainwright has spent his entire phenomenal career with the Cardinals and loyalty/leadership is such an obvious reason why they resigned him. It has nothing to do with their other pitching options, the dude is highly, highly valued by the fans and the organization for reasons well beyond his performance.
As an additional aside, Wainwright would have been at least a 3 in more than half of the starting rotations in the majors with his numbers, so this “clear number 5” thing is not really based in reality at this point.
That treatment doesn’t work. And if it does, it’s not well documented. Idk, I get avoiding surgery at all cost, but we all know the likely end result
How do you know? Are you a doctor?
What is the scientific reasoning behind a platelet injection, and does anyone recall someone for whom it actually worked? Sale doesn’t count in that his arm is “better” because he didn’t pick up a baseball for 4 to 6 months
It worked for Bartolo Colon quite well
Thank you. I was asking out of curiosity if it had worked for anyone, I appreciate the concrete evidence.
Now who was the ding dong that decided he was worth $68 million? One good year and a creepy mustache does not make someone worth $17 million/year.
A single case can’t establish causation. We might know Colon received PRP and then got better, but that doesn’t show that he got better because he took PRP. That requires a double-blind study with random assignment of numerous injured pitchers to PRP and no-PRP conditions, with an improved outcome for the PRP receivers that is greater than what could be reasonably identified as random improvement absent PRP.
Why not give PRP injections to healthy pitchers, too, and see if they perform better than other similar healthy pitchers.
There is so much variation from pitcher to pitcher, it would require a large number of players to draw any substantial conclusions.
It worked for Tanaka. People have been expecting his elbow to give out for years now.
won’t matter……Cubs got this division !
Cubs have so much drama and losing its clubhouse chemistry. I doubt they win the division but might knock on the door for a Wild Card game. Reds did a overhaul and could finish between Cards and Cubs. I want to think Brewers will be in it, but they lost quite a bit this offseason and might have a down year. Not down enough to be cellar team like the Pirates.
With the Cubs and Cards doing nothing. The brewers breaking even and the reds improving, I’d say this division will be a toss up
Hey Johnny that’s what you said last year!
Lol that Cubs rotation is held together with duct tape and not that great to begin with. There’s also 0 depth behind then in the minors. Window is closing fast.
Call up Pirates for Archer lol. Maybe international money and one of the teams 28-35 prospect gets the deal done. Pirates may have to eat some salary. But if Archer can revive his career in St Louis, that would really tick us fans off. It’d be oh most bittersweet for Archer though.
And Tommy John in 3,2,1…..
I really hope we don’t wait around until
mid May to have it done and waste next year as well.
Mikolas has a tendon issue, there has been zero indication that his ligament is affected by this.
Wow between his and Carpenter’s extension last spring, strikeouts for Mo
The Marp extension was unnecessary, no argument there, but it really didn’t change the team payroll by much of anything, so it’s not really that big of a deal. Mikolas deal as fine given the market and his MRIs are clean. Pitchers get injured and he’s a pretty projectable case when it was signed. Even if he has to have TJS it’s not like they can’t get good value out of the deal, since he’s a control based pitcher anyway.
There’s also Ponce de Leon as a 40 man option with prior MLB experience
Daniel Ponce Deleon is also a good option
just delaying the inevitable.
Mikolas gone two years, comes back and the league doesn’t know him so he does well. Why didn’t the Cardinals know this? They sign him like he was a top of rotation guy. No you dumb idiots! Mikolas is not that good of a pitcher, the league knows him now and that was foolish to sign him four years. Money down the toilet!!