Before the coronavirus pandemic struck, the Cardinals were set to begin the regular season without some notable pitchers dealing with injuries. But if a season gets underway around midsummer, the Cardinals’ pitching staff could be at or near full strength, as Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch explains.
Right-hander Miles Mikolas, who underwent a platelet-rich plasma injection in his ailing forearm in February, is making progress in his recovery. The Cardinals expect him to be ready for the start of the season, according to Goold. That’s a relief for both the short and long term, as forearm issues are often a precursor to Tommy John surgery. That outcome would have been disastrous for the Cardinals, who signed Mikolas to. a four-year, $68MM extension before last season and have seen him turn in back-to-back fine campaigns after he returned to the majors following a dominant stint in Japan.
Turning to the Cardinals’ bullpen, closer Jordan Hicks and lefties Andrew Miller and Brett Cecil are also coming along. The fireballing Hicks had TJS last June, and under normal circumstances, he’d have missed a sizable chunk of this season. However, he’s now throwing at “moderate intensity,” president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told Goold, and seems to be on track for a July return. That could mean the Cardinals will get Hicks for some or all of a potential season.
Miller, who battled a mysterious arm problem before spring training stopped, now looks as if he’ll be good to go from the outset. Cecil’s status isn’t as clear. He suffered a major hamstring injury in mid-March, and while he should resume throwing within the next two weeks, it’s unknown if he’ll be shelved at the beginning of a possible season.
If they’re healthy, the Cardinals will need more from Miller and Cecil, recent free-agent signings who haven’t panned out to this point. The formerly dominant Miller struggled to a 4.45 ERA/5.19 FIP over 54 2/3 innings last season – the first of a two-year, $25MM contract. And Cecil, the recipient of a four-year, $30.5MM pact prior to the 2017 campaign, endured an abysmal 2018 and then didn’t pitch at all last season after he had surgery on carpal tunnel syndrome in his left hand. Of course, with Miller and Cecil eligible to return to free agency next winter, it’s possible neither will pitch for the Cardinals again if a season doesn’t take place.
The jays and cardinals are not only both teams with birds in their names but also thousands of fans laughed out loud when their former players signed ridicules contracts with the aforementioned teams. As a jays fan and major hater of both Brett Cecil and Randal Grichuk their contracts are very similar to one another and both were and are still completely asinine. It was always nerve racking when Brett came into the game especially with runners on cause he couldn’t get a hold to save his life the guy was always mediocre.. Just like when Grich steps up to bat the runners on base its an automatic strike out. Man the parallels to these 2 is bananalands. Also love the year that Cecil wasnt bad they always asked him what he did to become so good., his answer was always oh i stopped eating after 7pm.
Cecil was an All-Star, Grichuk isn’t and hasn’t. Cecil once had a prime, Grichuk hasn’t. Cecil was never a highly touted prospect, Grichuk was. Cecil was forced to become a reliever after being smashed as a starter, Grichuk makes star money as a fringe starter. No parallels here.
The parallel is that they both suck. Doesn’t matter if once upon a time they didn’t or one didn’t. The fact is their contracts are horrid and they both aren’t good.
kinda what i was getting at. both overpaid and terrible
Yeah, I understood what you were saying. Made sense to me lol.
Kiah – bad contracts don’t equate to parallels. That was my point, and yours is just a pat on the back for a bad take. By your logic we can add another 15-20 players with bad contracts and claim they are parallel to Grichuk and Cecil. That would downplay the comparison further. But, if it made sense to you then I’ll leave you tools in the shed and return when necessary.
you hate the guys? harsh.
How did that happened? LMAO Cards brass! What were they thinking, Mikolas 68 million? 4 years….. being cheap asses worked in the past for Cards but it’s like going to Vegas and winning big but you put it back later if you don’t realize the law of averages. Let’s go out and get a top pitcher and pay 25 mil/yr instead of hoping you get a sleeper and pay them 17 mil so you can save 8 mil/yr. Gambling lately had been awful for Cards….Fowler nightmare contract! But Cheap worked big time with Pujols. If you hate the Cards you want Mikolas to recover from the IL so his spotty pitching can lose game’s. but Cardinals are very lucky they’re going to be in the Central division with 10 teams which are not very strong. 100 games played and games played with in their own division. If you are a Reds fan you’re looking good because the Reds look like they’ll win about 65 to 70 games this year and the same division of the Cardinals. As it looks cards and reds will be playing within the division of tigers, royals, White Sox, Brewers, Cubs, twins, Indians, and probably the best team the braves. So I would say the Reds will get about 65 wins braves 68 Cardinals 60 and the rest of the division will be poor
I’d think about changing your username after such asinine post.
Don’t forget the Carpenter and Molina “thank you for your services” contract.
Molina arguably, but Carpenter was coming off a career year. Some decline was expected due to his age, but to follow it up with his career worst season wasn’t something anyone saw coming.
Carpenter was not coming off a career season unless you only love the long ball. He was terrible all year defensively and terrible for the entire season except for a month and a half when he hit like Babe Ruth. Then, when it counted he hit under .200 again the last month plus.
…he was a legitimate mvp candidate going into the last month of the season. How is that not a breakout year?
lot of vitrol on this thread
Tough to rank them but any cubs/chisox or [amazingly] STL post on here are all close to being equal in their toxicity levels.
Well when the Cards are no longer feard as a power team and other teams just simply got better and speak such a thing then you got St Louis fans getting excited like you just told them that their mother ain’t pretty. I don’t know if it is arrogance or lack of humble hahahaha.
Oh look, another intellectual giant suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect. How sad.
Ohhhhh a passive aggressive cat huh? Rather pink around the ears boy?
Miller still has something to offer… we hope.. he is definitely not his old self but the season stats are not as awful as they appear.. they are not necessarily good either but he gave up 7 ER in 2 thirds innings over 2 games in Sept. That is a huge hit to an ERA for a reliever. He struck out 70 batters which is great but his issue was his command. Waay too many walks and HR balls. He still seems to have some arm talent but other issues have zapped him of his overall game. I could see him as a bounce back candidate but would not be surprised if he continues on a decline curve
They always say 12-16 (or is it 18?) months for a pitcher to return from Tommy John Surgery, but I usually see pitchers return close to the 12 month mark. The general estimate seems kinda off, in my opinion.
How this article was written without a single mention of Alex Reyes is beyond me.
He was a guy that Card fans bragged about 24/7 but now I hear crickets……. Typical Card fans
Typical troll…
Ya shame on you fans for supporting a prospect that got hurt. Boo these people!!!