St. Louis Cardinals: Yadier Molina sidelined for the weekend series

Lineups are always an exciting thing but the lineup discussion going into the Detroit series was all centered on the St. Louis Cardinals catcher.

The St. Louis Cardinals removed Yadier Molina from their final game in Washington with an apparent hamstring injury. The St. Louis Cardinals minimized the exit but then later seemed to illustrate worry.

Enter then the before-the-game comments from manager Mike Shildt wherein he stated that Yadier is likely to miss the weekend series in Detroit. But, wait, there’s more… As of the time of this writing, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is reporting that Yadier may miss an entire week (or more).

Shildt told the media before Friday night’s game that it is terribly optimistic to think that the All-Star catcher will miss only the Detroit series. Ouch.

The St. Louis Cardinals will cart out Francisco Pena for two of the games this weekend with Carson Kelly taking the other game. Is this Kelly’s chance to show what he is made of? Probably. Is this the weekend for Pena to show his worth? Definitely.

The really troubling quote from the pre-game presser came from Shildt when he stated that he doubts that, “…he’ll come back in four days time.” Check out the rest of the quote around this terrifying statement from the St. Louis Cardinals manager:

"“It’s going to keep him out of the lineup for some period of time. We’re not sure what that looks like. It could have been a lot worse. But I don’t think he’ll come back in four days from a hamstring.”"

Let’s look at the best-case scenario: Molina is out for the Tigers series but back in time for at least one game of the following Pittsburgh series.

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I don’t want to think of the St. Louis Cardinals facing the Pirates without Molina.

This, to me, is the worst-case scenario: Molina is out for the Tigers series, the Pirates series, AND the Dodgers series. This would be missing Yadier for ten full games. No disrespect to Pena or Kelly but ten games without the on-field manager behind the plate is just too much.

Regardless of the scenario, perhaps a rested Molina in the second half of September will benefit the St. Louis Cardinals toward October. That much I’m okay with.

Hurry back, Yadier Molina. The St. Louis Cardinals will need you behind the plate. Let us hope that the Cardinals’ offense and pitching makes it so that the catching defense isn’t placed in the spotlight.