Chris Carpenter, who is the only pitcher on the Cardinals staff worthwhile, won’t be toeing the rubber for another three months. The Cardinals announced yesterday that Carpenter, who was expected to come back within a few days, will need arthroscopic surgery to repair his right arm and will be out until potentially August.
In terms of momentum, this is a huge blow to the Cardinals. Just days after Josh Hancock lost his life, news that Carpenter won’t see the field for a while is demoralizing. Here’s a team still trying to put together both on and off the field what happened with Hancock, and now they’ll have to do it without the services of their best pitcher.
Injury problems is something that Carpenter is all too familiar with. Despite his 15-8 record last season, Carpenter was nagged year long with arm problems. Now he faces surgery and a rehabilitation that will render him useless basically until the post season begins.
What does this mean for St Louis? Well, they’re in a heap of trouble right now. The World Champs are 11-17, they are without Carpenter, and Albert Pujols has yet to show up for the 2007 season. Jim Edmonds isn’t getting any younger and Scott Rolen is proving us right about suspected steroid use with nagging injuries and under achievement. It’s the beginning of May, I know, but this team needs to put together a streak of wins soon, or a run at a division title could be far out of their reach.
