The Cardinals have been hit hard by injuries in the early days of the 2024 season, but they have recently received some good news about several players.
Major offseason acquisition Sonny Gray suffered a right hamstring strain in spring training, robbing him of the necessary game action he needed to be ready for the regular season. The right-hander threw 36 pitches over three simulated innings today (per Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat), and he will pitch for the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds on Wednesday (per Lynn Worthy of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Jones adds that a return as soon as April 9 or 10 is a possibility.
Keynan Middleton, another significant free agent signing this winter, is not quite as close to returning, but Worthy notes that he will begin to work off a mound on Wednesday. He was shut down with a forearm strain in mid-March.
As for the position players, Jones mentions that Lars Nootbaar took eight live at-bats today and will take another four tomorrow. Manager Oliver Marmol will meet with the outfielder to decide if he needs a rehab stint at Triple-A before coming off the IL. Nootbaar is recovering from two nondisplaced fractures in his ribs.
Tommy Edman is dealing with wrist pain following offseason surgery. Worthy reports that he is set to undergo an MRI on Wednesday. The scan will show whether or not he is ready to start ramping up his swing. Finally, Worthy notes that Dylan Carlson received an injection to help combat pain in his left shoulder. The pain is a result of a sprained AC joint that he suffered during an outfield collision in one of the final games of spring training. Barring a setback, he should be ready to get back into game action before too long.
More news from around the NL and AL Central…
- Brewers catching prospect Jeferson Quero is being evaluated for a right shoulder injury, GM Matt Arnold told reporters, including Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The severity of the injury is currently unclear, although it’s certainly worrisome when a catcher known for his strong arm injures his throwing shoulder. Quero is only 21 years old and has yet to make his MLB debut. However, the highly-regarded catching prospect is one of three backstops on Milwaukee’s 40-man roster, along with William Contreras and Gary Sánchez. If his injury proves to be serious, the team’s catching depth will be tested early in the season.
- Joey Cantillo, a left-handed pitcher in the Guardians organization, will miss eight to 10 weeks with a hamstring strain he suffered at the end of spring training, per Mandy Bell of MLB.com. Cantillo was unlikely to make the Guardians Opening Day roster, even if he had stayed healthy this spring. That said, he is already on the 40-man roster, and after 18 starts at Triple-A last season, he seemed like a good candidate to make his MLB debut at some point this year. That could still happen, but he’ll have to wait at least a couple of months to get that chance.
Why are Mozeliak and Marmol trying to rush their injured players back too soon? Ribs, wrists and shoulders all take TIME to heal. It’s a long season and realists know this team is not going to be much better than last year. Mozeliak and his Muppet need to understand that players are PEOPLE, not algorithms on a spreadsheet.
What leads you to believe anyone is being rushed? You clearly have never fractured ribs(consider yourself lucky). Nootbar would not be swinging a bat let alone taking live ABs if weren’t healed. The ribs are I’m complete control of the healing process. In the beginning they even control breathing and how you cough, it sucks bad.
That’s the Cardinals Way!!! Rush Rush Rush
Cardinal way , rysh them back , so they can re injure themselves , and be out longer, you have to question the medical staffs abilities, seems like their qualifications are about as good as the coaching staff that has no major league Experience or credibility other than McGee and Descalso.
Sometimes the medical staff’s opinion is overturned by either he President of Baseball operations or the Owners.
As far as John Mozeliak and Bill DeWitt are apparently concerned—- their players are just a piece of meat they own for a period of time. Injured players don’t make those guys money.
Obviously—- money in their pockets is all the DeWitt family is concerned about. If it wasn’t—— you’d see a lot better Quality of a Pitching Staff on the team than Cardinals Fans are seeing now.
I agree with jeffknightstl. We’re just 2 games into the season!!! By opening with the Dodgers—— Cardinals Fans figured they’d come out of the series 0-4 or at the best 1-3. Yes—- these are Key players who are injured.
However, this early in the season, why not be super patient?? Make sure they are completely healthy and healed before they’re brought back. Otherwise—— their types of injuries could last—- off and on— all season long.
Leg hamstring injuries take a Long time to heal as in Sonny Grays case. Any leg injury, minor or major needs to completely heeled before they begin pitching in games. If not—- the pitcher begins trying to throw out of an awkward position that in turn leads to Arm injuries. Remember Dizzy Deans story?
It does sound like they’re working gently with Noots broken ribs. 6-8 easy swing at bats to test the pain level.
Unfortunately Tommy Edman’s situation sounds bad. With proper surgery and Physical Therapy—- he should have already been back on the field. He could be out for a significantly long time.
Bottom line. The Cardinals are opening up against some of the best teams currently in baseball. While The Cardinals aren’t even considered one of the top teams in the NL Central yet —- because of their injuries.
Let’s be patient with these early injuries so it won’t come back to haunt them in their goal of winning the NL Central.
The first thing that needs to happen is putting a new manager in the dugout!!!! Marmol is horrible!!! Mo to follow!!! The pitching is pitiful!!! Now that I got that out of my system it sounds like everyone is progressing except Edman.
I totally agree Muppet Marmol needs to go, extending his contract made no sense, Mo sucks , he needs to go, Cards spend 20+ million fro two washed up starters, when they could have gone after Montgomery.
3rd oldest team in mlb is having injury issues. Might want to buy a helmet stl fans.
Nootbar is 26
Edman is 28
Carlson is 25
Middleton is 30
Gray is 34
Not exactly dinosaurs with only two being in their 30’s
LOL….Keynan Middleton, another “significant” free agent signing this winter