St. Louis Cardinals: Conversations to bring Waino back have started

Since coming off the DL, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright has been extremely solid. That has prompted several conversations about what should happen in regards to 2019.

According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the St. Louis Cardinals have had preliminary conversations to bring back Adam Wainwright. General Manager Michael Girsch has described it as “general conversations” about a 2019 return. Essentially, they are at a first step of deciding if the former ace wants to return.

The bigger the game, it seemed the better Wainwright would pitch. The 37 year old posted a 4.84 ERA over 22 innings in September. During that time, he struck out 25 batters and walked four in a solid return to play.

Relief Or Bust

There is really not room for Wainwright to slide into the St. Louis Cardinals starting rotation. In Goold’s article, he addresses this to a degree. He claims there is no expectation of being a starter should a deal be reached.

With guys like Miles Mikolas, Carlos Martinez, Michael Wacha, and a ton of other names, there is not room for Wainwright. There is even the potential for Alex Reyes to fight for a rotation spot.

Wainwright Returning To The Rotation

While there are far more reasons to transition the veteran back into a bullpen role, there are a few reasons to consider him for the rotation as well. It is never a bad thing to have depth at any position. That is a lesson that the St. Louis Cardinals learned this year.

The other thing to consider is that maintaining Wainwright gives the team more flexibility to trade some of their starting depth to acquire other pieces that they need. It might all come down to what his demands are.

Talking Money

In March of 2013, Wainwright agreed to a five year extension where he would make 19.5 million dollars a season. Clearly, that is not the deal he will be searching for again. And if it is, I would hope John Mozliak and Girsch walk away from the table laughing.

Something tells me that Wainwright will take whatever salary he has to in order to end his great career as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals.

More than anything else, I think this contract is just to give Wainwright another shot to end his career on a high note. He wants things to come to a close with the St. Louis Cardinals on his terms. I think for that reason, this will be an easy contract to work out if both sides truly want it to happen.