Good News for the Cardinals

Finally there is some good news for Cardinals fans that are worried about the redbird's starting rotation. Starting pitcher Chris Carpenter's come back from a shoulder injury is going as planned. I was certainly relieved to here this news because during the 08 season the Cardinals definitely had some issues with their starting rotation. They were plagued by many injuries and struggled to put together a competitive pitching rotation. Because of these injuries, the Cardinals were expected to finish at the bottom of their division. But surprisingly they managed to stay competitive the whole season, narrowly missing making it to the playoffs. They had an alright season using what they had but imagine how good they might have been if they had a healthy pitching rotation. Chris Carpenter's return is only a start to solving St. Louis' pitching problems as they are still trying to make some trades in the offseason. The Cardinal's general manager said that even with the return of Carpenter they will still concentrate on getting better pitching in the offseason.

Here is some more on Carpenter's recovery. He underwent a nerve conduction test on Thursday and the Cardinal's general manager John Mozeliak reviewed the results and he liked what he saw. Carpenter is scheduled to begin a throwing program to get him ready for spring training. This is what Mozeliak said, "It was a very positive report. Clearly, the nerve is healing. It's healing at the normal rate. ... It's doing exactly what they expected it to do. Most importantly, he's regained his shoulder strength to almost the level he had prior to this even happening. So that's positive news as well. Right now, he's scheduled to start his throwing program in middle to late January, and as of today he's expecting a normal spring."

The one thing I'm a little concerned about is how good will Carpenter be when he returns to 100%. Many pitchers that have had shoulder problems and try to make a return just can't get to where they were at before the injury. The one good thing is Carpenter had a similar injury in 2004 and when he returned to the rotation in 2005 he had the best season of his career. He ended up winning the National League Cy Young Award. So hopefully He will be able to make a similar return next year and help the Cardinals reach the playoffs.