The St. Louis Cardinals‘ plan to bring back their ace Jack Flaherty from a shoulder injury early and build him up at the major league level has backfired.
On Sunday against the Chicago Cubs, Flaherty was forced to exit the game with what manager Oliver Marmol described as a “dead arm.”
Yesterday, St. Louis put the young right-hander on the 15-day Injured List and purchased the contract of reliever James Naile.
Both Flaherty and Cards’ president of baseball operations John Mozeliak commented on the injury, with Mozeliak acknowledging that the plan failed and Flaherty stressing that there was nobody to blame for his setback.
Bally Sports Midwest tweeted a video of their interviews.
John Mozeliak on the decision to bring Jack Flaherty back early from his rehab assignment: "A lot of it's based on the feedback you're getting from the athlete. … Ultimately it's not our decision. We laid out a plan, the plan was deviated, and here we are."#STLCards pic.twitter.com/lrTgFdAcOZ
— Bally Sports Midwest (@BallySportsMW) June 27, 2022
Flaherty Not Casting Blame
It’s good to see Flaherty not blaming anybody for what happened.
After all, it was his idea to build up at the major league level and both he and Mozeliak agreed to it.
But now, the Cardinals may be looking at another extended period of time without their young ace.
At the very least, Flaherty isn’t casting blame anywhere and both he and Mozeliak seem hopeful that he will pitch again in 2022.
Most likely however, Flaherty is going to miss significant time, as he continues to deal with ailments in his right shoulder, which began plaguing him last season.
Even if he doesn’t miss too much time, he has to build up again and the Cardinals would be wise to search the starting pitcher market at the trade deadline.
Names such as Chad Kuhl, Zach Davies, and Tyler Mahle stand out as potential options to fill the hole.
In the meantime, the Cardinals will wait and see what happens and what the prognosis is on his latest injury.
Leave a Reply