It was revealed today that Adam Wainwright’s elbow injury will require season ending Tommy John surgery. This is huge. I wager that no pitcher, CC Sabathia and Tim Lincecum included, means more to his team’s playoff aspirations than Waiwright does to the Cardinals. Wainwright was second in the NL-Cy Young voting last year with a 20-11 record and a 2.42 ERA and he leads the majors in innings pitched over the last 2 seasons. There is no pitcher in the Cards’ rotation without an arm surgery on his record. Now St. Louis has to find a fifth starter to replace their number 1. Though still a capable team, I think this knocks them out of what would have already been a difficult divisional race in the NL central and likely playoff contention all together. Not to mention what it could do to the whole Albert Pujols situation.
-Max Frankel
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