There was hope that some rest and rehab on a disabled list stint would be enough to heal the shoulder of Cardinals' pitcher Jaime Garcia, getting him back in the rotation for early June, but that's not going to cut it this time:
Cardinals’ Jaime Garcia needs shoulder surgery
The Cardinals are down yet another starter, as Garcia will be out longer than initially hoped.
USA TODAY Sports
Jaime Garcia will have shoulder surgery. #STLCards details to come on @cbssports
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) May 22, 2013
Garcia was already on the disabled list, meaning the Cardinals were already in line to use their seventh different starting pitcher of the young season, but this means #7 is going to be around that much longer. Despite the many arms, the Cardinals are still fourth in the NL in ERA+, and second in strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Tyler Lyons, Chris Carpenter, & the future 2013 St. Louis Cardinals starting rotation
With Jaime Garcia landing on the disabled list, Tyler Lyons will be the seventh St. Louis Cardinals pitchers to make a start this season. How did they get to seven already? The Cardinals initially thought they had lost Chris Carpenter for the year, though, he's attempting to work his way back as a starter, and are going to use minor-league hurler Tyson Lyons in the short-term to fill the void left by Garcia. The news of shoulder surgery comes at a poor time, as Jake Westbrook, who was pitching quite well thanks to constant grounders, has been limited to six starts and is also on the DL. Because of Westbrooks' injury, John Gast has made his first two major-league starts, and is more likely to stick in the rotation now that Garcia isn't coming back anytime soon, rather than head to the minors or bullpen once Westbrook returns.
While the rotation is all of a sudden missing two arms they were going to need to rely on, they still have Adam Wainwright, Lance Lynn, Shelby Miller, and even more reserves in the wings -- should it come down to it, future starter (but current reliever) Trevor Rosenthal could make the switch back to the rotation in order to keep things going, though, before him, Joe Kelly might be called upon given he was used in similar fashion last season.
See More:
