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St. Louis Cardinals: Biggest questions for the 2020 season
By Matt Graves
Is the rotation a strength or weakness?
After 2019, this question may be a bit ridiculous, however, when you think about it, about everything went right for the group. Sure, Michael Wacha faltered at times and was removed from the rotation, but in all, there were no major injuries after spring training.
The group that left Jupiter (Jack Flaherty, Dakota Hudson, Miles Mikolas, Adam Wainwright, and Wacha) made almost all of the team’s starts all year. If you’ve been a fan of the Cardinals for more than one season, you know that is rarely the case.
Going into 2020, the rotation looks even stronger with the huge caveat that everyone stays healthy. Letting Wacha walk in free agency and retaining Wainwright, the Cardinals cleared the way for Carlos Martinez to return to the rotation. Many people forget just how good Martinez has been as a starter.
From 2015-2017, Martinez had a 3.24 ERA,1.241 WHIP, and was 26% above average from the ages of 23-25. Injury has been the only thing hurting him in the last two seasons.
If everyone is healthy, this rotation is top five in the National League. Even if someone does get hurt, the newly signed Kwang-Hyun Kim should be able to step into a rotation spot and perform at least to the level of a bottom of the rotation arm.
The problems will come if multiple starters are injured, or can’t perform.
There’s a reason why Martinez has been a reliever for the past two years. If his injuries come back, that’s a huge issue. Dakota Hudson’s peripheral numbers suggest that he will take a step back in 2020. If that happens, that’s a huge issue. Adam Wainwright is coming off a huge season where he rebounded tremendously, but now at age 38, will his body be able to hold up?
What if KK can’t find success in the MLB? What if Mikolas continues to slide in the wrong direction? What if Flaherty is out for an extended time? If things go right for this rotation, it’ll be fantastic. If a couple things go wrong, it could go very, very poorly.