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St. Louis Cardinals: Evaluating All the Starting Pitchers in This Year’s Camp

By Patrick Karraker

Mar 7, 2015; Melbourne, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Jaime Garcia (54) pitches to Washington Nationals second baseman Dan Uggla during the second inning of a spring training baseball game at Space Coast Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 7, 2015; Melbourne, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Jaime Garcia (54) pitches to Washington Nationals second baseman Dan Uggla during the second inning of a spring training baseball game at Space Coast Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jaime Garcia St. Louis Cardinals
Mar 7, 2015; Melbourne, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Jaime Garcia (54) pitches to Washington Nationals second baseman Dan Uggla during the second inning of a spring training baseball game at Space Coast Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports /

Safe and Sound

Jaime Garcia, Mike Leake, Carlos Martinez, Michael Wacha, Adam Wainwright

More so than in the past few years, the Cardinals’ rotation is set in stone as the spring gets underway. The starting five will be comprised of Garcia, Leake, Martinez, Wacha, and Wainwright–no bones about it–unless an injury strikes, which unfortunately seems to be a decent possibility considering recent events.

The Cardinals have had issues recently with spring training injuries breaking up their projected starting rotation; Wainwright missed the 2011 season after being forced to undergo Tommy John surgery in the spring, Chris Carpenter missed nearly the entire 2012 season after suffering shoulder and neck discomfort in the spring that resulted in thoracic outlet surgery, and Jaime Garcia suffered setbacks with his chronic shoulder injury during the springs of both 2014 and 2015, causing him to miss the beginning of the regular season in both years.

Assuming full health this year, the biggest question involving the rotation this spring will be how it’s ordered. Wainwright seems like the most logical candidate to start on Opening Day, but after that, it may just come down to matchups during the first couple series, which take place against the Pittsburgh Pirates and Atlanta Braves.

Next: On the Bubble

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