Pujols out for 4-6 weeks

The Cardinals are dropping like flies.  This is like some sort of horror movie where you get the sense that eventually everyone will die.  Well, most of the Cardinals have “died” at least once.  It’s kind of amazing to me how little coverage our injuries are getting.

Think about this for a second: We are tied for first place and have suffered at least 10 major injuries.  Major includes at least 15 days on the DL and has to be a contributor on the team.  Every position but shortstop and centerfield has been hit with the injury bug and it would not surprise me if they were to get hit soon.

Let’s go through the list: Adam Wainwright, Kyle McCllelan, Eduardo Sanchez, Gerald Laird, Albert Pujols, Skip Schumaker, Nick Punto, David Freese, Matt Holliday, and Allen Craig.  I’m sure I missed someone, but if I did they aren’t important enough to count as a major injury (Hello Bryan Augenstein..).  The sheer quantity of injuries is something that the Mets have suffered before and many other teams.  I’m not sure the quality however has been this good.

Adam Wainwright got injured before Spring Training started and was immediately proclaimed out for the season with Tommy John surgery.  The last two seasons, he has pitched 460 innings with a 2.53 ERA and a 3.5 K/BB ratio.  He finished in the Top 3 in Cy Young voting the last two years.  We are in first place after losing a pitcher of that caliber.  I have no idea why a bigger deal is not made of this.

Moving on, Matt Holliday has been DL-free since 2008, in which he made on stint on the DL.  Before that, he was DL-free since 2005.  Holliday is a four-time All-Star with a .319 career batting average.  He’s been on the DL once since 2005.  This year, he immediately got surgery on his appendectomy and missed six games, although stayed off the DL.  Then he suffered a groin injury that he tried to fight through and missed a period three games, while staying off the DL.  Clear that it wasn’t going away, he finally got put on the DL on June 1.  Counting the days where he wasn’t on the DL and only days were he missed consecutive games, Holliday has been hurt in 25 of the possible 73 games.

Kyle McCllelan has been a worthy 5th starter with a 3.96 ERA in 72.2 IP.  He has missed about three starts although to be fair Lance Lynn basically gave us what Kyle McCllelan would have so not much of a loss in those three starts.

Nick Punto and David Freese actually have a history of being injured.  Punto has averaged 104 games the past three years with the Twins.  Punto missed the first 17 games and also the last 29 games of the year only playing in 29 games.  He has been quite good with a .355 OBP and excellent defense.  Freese has been injured the last 45 games only playing in 25.  He has had an .865 OPS in his limited time although his 4 walks and 23 strikeouts is not pleasing.

Allen Craig has had two stints to the DL.  He has played in 40 games and missed 33 of them.  With a .928 OPS and the ability to stand at second, Craig’s presence is missed.  Gerald Laird is another backup who has been “dead.”  He has played in just 15 games and hasn’t played a game since May 15.

Schumaker has been injured for a lengthy piece of time although that may have helped our team (excluding yesterday).  He has a .622 OPS and plays awful defense at 2B.  He’s played in just 38 games.

Eduardo Sanchez just randomly went on the DL and I missed it.  I had no idea he was on the DL.  He should be back by the time his time is up although I’m skeptical.

And now Albert Pujols will miss 4-6 weeks and probably more if the Cardinals’ past injuries are any indication.  We now have a team without Adam Wainwright and Albert Pujols something that hasn’t happened since 2000.  We’ve always had one of them and now we have neither.

We get it.  We’re in a horror movie.  Please let’s have a happy ending though.