St. Louis Cardinals Injury News: Jaime Garcia’s Future

One of the biggest troubles concerning the St. Louis Cardinals of late has been left-handed starting pitcher Jaime Garcia‘s health.

After a red-hot start to spring training, Garcia caught a setback with fatigue in his shoulder. As a result, the Cardinals pitcher was shut down for the time. He started this season by being placed on the disabled list.

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According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Garcia threw a bullpen session on Sunday. Another session is planned for today. Assuming there are no further setbacks, Garcia will be cleared to throw live batting practice this Friday in Jupiter.

“I think it’s twofold — one is the recovery,” general manager John Mozeliak said before the home opener according to Goold. “I would also say it’s volume, meaning as you saw in spring training when Jaime was throwing, he seemed to do very well when he in that 30-, 40-pitch range. As it started to expand is when things got a little more difficult for him.”

Garcia has been in extended spring training, where the team is able to keep an eye on his work. Ideally, the plan is for Garcia to be a starter but team has to seriously explore ways to get value out of him this season. The other idea would be to start exploring a trade with another team lest they lose any return value when Garcia’s contract expires following the 2015 baseball season.

“If he starts to have a regression we can take a step back and be patient,” Mozeliak said per Goold. “I still think his goal is to get back as a starter and that’s how he wants us to push him.”

Cardinal Nation is rooting for the pitcher’s full recovery. Whether he is ever the same pitcher that he was before being plagued by injuries remains to be seen.