Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas left his start on May 22 with forearm tightness, leading to concerns that he would need Tommy John surgery. That won’t be the case, Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat was among those to report, but the Cardinals will have to go without Mikolas for the foreseeable future. Mikolas received a stem cell injection to address calcification in his flexor tendon, and he’ll be re-evaluated in four to six weeks.
The Cards expect Mikolas to pitch again this season, per Jones, but the recovery timeline suggests he’s a long way from taking the mound again. Even if he’s ready to go four to six weeks from now, Mikolas will still need time to build his arm strength back up, meaning St. Louis might not see him until sometime in July or August. The team has already gone almost the whole season without Mikolas, who made just the one start and lasted four innings. He missed all of 2020 after undergoing flexor tendon surgery and began this season behind schedule because of shoulder problems.
The Cardinals signed Mikolas, now 32, to a four-year, $68MM extension in 2019 after what looked like a breakout campaign in the previous season. Mikolas was effective again that year, but the deal didn’t kick in until last season. So, because of the injuries that have hampered Mikolas, the gamble hasn’t gone in the Cardinals’ favor at all thus far. He’s under their control through 2023 at annual salaries of $15.75MM.
Even without Mikolas, the Cardinals made the playoffs in 2020, and the National League Central leaders are on pace to do so again this year. The Cardinals’ starters rank a respectable 11th in the majors in ERA (3.63), though the group – largely Jack Flaherty, Kwang-hyun Kim, Adam Wainwright, Carlos Martínez and John Gant – has been closer to middle of the pack with respect to peripheral numbers.
Sounds like he’s kind of in the same boat as HIcks.
Hope for the best in this guys recovery. That contract isn’t looking so good for the cards right now though.
Face it!!! Mikolas is Toast for 2021 as a starter.
Can John Gant get some love? Best ERA in the rotation. He doesn’t get a lot of credit.
I absolutely love John Gant, but if luck were a stat, he’d be leading all of baseball. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think his ERA is a total mirage and that he’s actually having a bad season, but those pesky “peripherals” show him being closer to average than phenomenal.
Not too many pitchers have extended success walking nealry as many batters as they strike out.
Remember when the braves gave him away for nothing? I still remember and it stings! :/
Hope Miles can come strong by August, Cards will need reinforcements for pitching staff.
once again delaying the inevitable
Bingo
Starters are fine however bullpen is another story. Good luck.
SATCHEL SEZ:
Don’t look back, the team everyone thinks should be sellers has caught you in the standings.
Waist of a signing for the Cardinals and I’m even a Cardinals fan!!
Yep, they should have used their brains instead
Are you saying Miles is fat?
This dude is a lost cause.
Maybe, but we’ll see. I would’ve said the same thing about Alex Reyes.
Reyes is under control, so he was worth the gamble, A smaller contract with one year of arbitration left. By the time Mikolas gets back from TJS, he will be a free agent. The Cardinals are only in hopes of salvaging something out of this schmuck. Good luck STL.
Reyes can also still throw gas and flat out dominate hitters when he can locate. Mikolas’s stuff was never overpowering to begin with.
That doesn’t have anything to do with him being a lost cause. He got hurt – nobody expected that. The contract is guaranteed, so the cost is sunk. But he could still provide some solid innings in his career.
I’m sure the cost is covered by insurance. The club is a business, they cover their assets
This is wrong. Even if he has Tommy John – which hasn’t been identified as the problem – at the end of the season, he can recover by 2023 and pitch a full season.
The Cardinals gave Mikolas the contract that they should have given Lance Lynn. I’m still perplexed at how they decided to let Lynn go but were willing to throw all this money at back-end starters like Mike Leake and Mikolas. But then again, pretty much nothing the Cardinals have done in the past five years has made much sense to me. So, so many awful moves. They could be such a good team right now if they had made the right ones.
They have a good team now,Lance Lynn basically ran his mouth out of St Louis.
He really hated the press in StL
Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt?? I’m confused by “nothing they’ve done makes sense”. I’m glad they have that set cornerstone players over Lance Lynn.
That Goldschmidt extension makes sense to you?
If you prescribe to the reactionary, “we have to do ‘something'” style of asset management.
Goldschmidt’s production is not worthy of his extended contract. He is having the worse years of his career, but being paid like he was having his Arizona stats, Yes, these contracts do not make sense. Arenado is already way under his Colorado production both hitting and fielding. Better judgement can be made at season’s end for him.
No no no. The Cardinals gave Mike Leake the contract they should have given Lance Lynn. Mikolas is hurt. Injuries happen and you can’t predict injuries. If you could you wouldn’t have guessed Mikolas would have them he looked very healthy. Now the Leake deal that was dumb. Lynn gets hurt we panic and throw 80 million at an average starter. That was stupid. Because Leake didn’t get hurt and he was traded twice since the signing with the team who traded him eating salary each time. That was Lynn’s money.
Can we just get a 1 month break from Miles Mikolas articles?
Probably not, he is a perfect example of why free agency fails for the franchise while the player has a lifetime of security without producing, regardless of the reason. He stinks and so does free agency. If a team has to make guarantees, so should the player. Refunds required.
Not sure what stats youre referring to with Orenado! But his production this year is inline with his career averages. In fact, I believe he leads the league on extra base hits
I see a noticeable drop in the almighty category of home runs and especially fielding. The season is young which is why I say wait until the end of the season for him. If he maintains his current status, I’ll B & Moan about it then. Good ball player, I am sure he will earn his money. Arenado.
It could be delaying the inevitable but at this point you hope you can get 5 strong when he does come back and wish for the best. I mean he would be better than Oviedo.