I must say objectively that the Cardinals front office is good at many things. They don't have the highest payroll, yet they compete and win year after year. I like their choices in mixing veteran, winning-type players with good young talent, their sound free agent decisions (for the most part), and the handling of their coaching staff. I do think however there is one glaring, re-occurring problem, and it is the handling of injuries. They repeatedly screw up on two points, one being the injuries themselves and the second being how the injuries are relayed to the media and the fans. This didn't just begin to happen this year, it has been a chronic problem since the early 2000's. The list is long of players that were rushed back from the DL or not even put on the DL at all. Mark Mulder's situation was a train-wreck, as was J.D. Drew's, and Chris Carpenter's past and present injuries were extremely miss-handled.
Just last week Lance Berkman tore a small piece of his calf on a triple, and stayed in the game after you could blatantly see that he pulled up between 2nd and 3rd base. He reached on a single in his next AB, and was pulled from the game. Instead of placing him on the DL, they rested him for about 6 days and in his first start back he re-aggravated the calf and is now on the DL. I just don't understand. Not only are the Cards blazing in the NL Central, but Matt Carpenter was raking in place of Berkman, another reason not to rush him back. Skip Schumacher took is place on the roster after a DL stint to heal a strained oblique, and he even said in a pregame interview that he still "felt" it. In the very first ball hit to him he miss-judged it and crashed into the wall, forcing Matheny to pull him from the game in the first (The result was an in the park home run, Lance Lynn's only run allowed in the game). Skip was shuffled back into the lineup to take the place of Jon Jay, who hit the wall a day earlier. I haven't heard if Skip re injured himself, but I did hear he only played one nine inning game in AAA before he met the big club in Pittsburgh. The entire situation could cause major complications in the Cardinals outfield for weeks to come. That is evidence of a club handling injuries poorly.
At the beginning of Spring Training we got word that SP Chris Carpenter was going on a strict innings and start limit during the spring schedule. For any Cardinal fan or analyst that pays attention to how the Cardinals handle injuries, that was an easy red flag. The cool-aid drinkers got a glass full, as the front office made such comments as "We'll he is going on 37 years old" and "He threw over 270 innings last year including the playoffs, we are just being cautious." Cautious.....? Of what, numbness in his shoulder that is caused by neck and back problems? That is exactly what it was. He was hurt coming in. You won't hear that anywhere, I didn't have that quoted to me by anyone with the organization or anyone that would know. It is not hard to figure out if you watch the pattern that has developed over the last 10 seasons or so. Then after he announced he was hurt, they rested him, he tried throwing again, and was still hurt. Now he is back in St. Louis waiting on developing a throwing program. My honest opinion is that Carpenter (who I appreciate and respect as an honest, extremely hard working player and fierce competitor) will never pitch again. I wouldn't be surprised if he rehabs and does pitch, but to what level of capacity? I also think the Wainwright situation was rushed to a degree, considering it is obvious he is still not right, Do the radar guns not work in Jupiter? His velocity is way down, and he needs more time to build up his arm strength. Now that he has started the season in the big leagues, there isn't a move the Cards came make other than to let him keep going. Again, poorly handled. I cannot figure out if the disconnect is in the training staff, the front office, or management. I also understand to a degree that the organization can't just be straight to the fans and media about everything. They are running a business. I have to believe that these habitual injury miss-handling's can be avoided with a little patience, and a little bit of blunt honesty. Remember Mo', we are the best fans in baseball, we deserve it! Thanks for reading-Joe
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