St. Louis Cardinals: Five Spring Training Concerns

2. A step back in starting pitching?

Again. This is Spring Training. The numbers do not directly translate to future regular season performance.

But you have to be at least a bit concerned to look at a couple of stat lines for projected Cardinal starting pitchers.

For starters, Michael Wacha. In three appearances spanning 8.0 innings pitched, Wacha has surrendered 15 hits (2 long balls) en route to seven earned runs and a 7.88 ERA thus far in the spring.

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When you think about past shoulder problems and how he seemed to wear down at the end of 2015, there is some legitimate cause for concern with Wacha.

Carlos Martinez is the other young gun in the Cardinal rotation making a return from shoulder trouble early in his career. He’s had almost as much trouble as Wacha. In 4 2/3 innings, Martinez has allowed seven hits of his own, en route to a 5.79 ERA.

Jaime Garcia has thrown 9 2/3 innings, allowing seven earned, good for a 6.52 ERA. Opponents are hitting well above .300 combined against those three (.405 against Wacha alone).

I know that we are still close to two weeks away from Opening Day. Those guys are each going to get extended starts where they figure to compete like they would in regular season action, instead of in 2-4 inning chunks.

But, it’s going to take impressive outings to remove all worry from the mind of this writer.

When you consider how heavily the 2015 team relied on dominant starting pitching, then you consider where some of these guys are at this spring, concern can definitely be justified.

Next: Life from the offense?