St. Louis Cardinals: Adam Wainwright owes me an apology

I am owed an apology from St. Louis Cardinals pitcher, Adam Wainwright, since I was right about a part of my supposition posted during the 2017 campaign.

Plain and simple, Adam Wainwright should apologize to me. I wrote back in August that the St. Louis Cardinals should make contingency plans for a reality of Waino not returning. This article was posted after Waino was once again placed on the disabled list and once again looking like surgery was on the horizon.

At the time, based on the information that was being circulated, I said it seemed that his 2017 season was finished and that- should he need additional surgery- his career could be finished as well. Following his removal from action, the powerful right-handed pitcher chose to forego surgery and instead took an injection followed by rest and rehab.

Waino’s last start was August 17 after which I penned the piece. Redbird Rants, in addition to publishing the piece, included Wainwright’s Twitter handle in the tweet that announced the article’s release. Whether including Adam in the Tweet or whether he simply reads the stuff at Redbird Rants (we assume this last to be 100% true), Waino took umbrage to the article.

Waino wasn’t alone in his umbrage as his numerous Twitter followers came after me for the writing flaws, errors in dates, and for my suggestion that Wainwright may have tossed his final pitch.

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Additionally, Waino was interviewed by FSMidwest during one of the broadcasts and he referred to knuckleheads in the media. He did not specifically call me out nor did he specifically call out Redbird Rants but it felt like it was directed at me.

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Fast-forward if you will to September 23 when Wainwright pitched innings two and three when the St. Louis Cardinals faced Pittsburgh– the very team that had sentenced him to the disabled list. So, in essence I was wrong that Wainwright’s season was finished. Or was I?

In the September 23 game, Waino pitched just those two innings and surrendered one earned run on three hits. He faced nine batters in his two innings and managed to strike out none of them. This was the only time that he appeared after I suspected that his season was finished; he was shut down following this start.

Fast-forward once again if you will to the end of the season when Wainwright underwent surgery. That’s right: Adam went under the knife to scope his elbow. This is his second scoping and the scope was intended to clean cartilage (trim). According to his personal Twitter account, everything went as planned:

So, there it is. Yet another procedure that very likely should have occurred back when I wrote my first article assuming it was coming. For that, I’m owed an apology. Second, I feel that I’m owed an apology since- in essence- his 2017 season was finished as evidenced in his weakened appearance on 9/23 and I had predicted that outcome as well.

Let me be perfectly clear: I like Adam Wainwright very much and am glad that he is on the St. Louis Cardinals. That said, I would like the apology but don’t really expect it and certainly do not NEED it; my ego is not that fragile.

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I love the St. Louis Cardinals and I hope that the procedure that was completed for Wainwright will bring him back to his old form. Here’s to hoping that 2018 brings fewer apologies from me and fewer received by me (and a slew of St. Louis Cardinals wins).