St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jaime Garcia out for the season, is his career over?

St. Louis Cardinals left-handed pitcher Jaime Garcia revealed on Saturday that he is suffering from a nerve issue called thoracic outlet syndrome. This is similar to what forced Chris Carpenter to retire at the end of the 2013 season.

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Garcia is signed to a 4-year deal with $27 million, expiring at the end of the 2015 season. With today’s revealing of what is bothering him, it’s a sure thing that the Cardinals will take a loss on his 2015 salary. There’s no reason to believe that the Cardinals would pick up the 2016 team option. The team also holds an option for the 2017 season but that appears to be moot since it now seems very unlikely that Garcia will be able to play another game in a Cardinals uniform.

What’s worse is that Garcia, according to MLB.com’s Alex Halsted, didn’t even tell Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak that it was nerve issues that had been bother his shoulder or that he was giving surgery a serious option.

"“I sound frustrated, look frustrated. I’m frustrated,” Mozeliak said. “You try to be patient with people, and I think this organization does an amazing job protecting players. Certainly we would have loved to have heard from him.”"

Mo’s comments are echoed by the fans. Fans share in Mo’s frustrations with the news. It’s unfortunate that Garcia’s season and probably his career will come to an end in this way.

"“I thought it was just from getting hit, which was the reason why I was going out there,” Garcia said. “Basically what was happening was I was just not in control. I could not feel my hand and I would just lose the feeling. I started having symptoms on the other nerve, which is the nerve that controls the other three fingers of the hand. Then I started getting tingling in my neck and shooting in my hand every single throw that I was making. That’s what got me a little more concerned about it.”"

With Garcia’s absence from the rotation, Marco Gonzales has filled in the role of left-handed starter. Michael Wacha is out until who knows when and Joe Kelly is expected back following the All-Star break. With Gonzales making the jump from AA to AAA, one has to wonder if the Cardinals will seek out a pitcher along the caliber of Tampa Bay Rays left-handed starter David Price.