NEWSLETTER
There’s never a GOOD time for a pitcher to suffer an arm injury, but if you subscribe to the idea that most pitchers will, at one time or another, suffer serious arm injuries (some of which will require surgery), then this season might be the least painful year for it to happen.
To that end, the Cardinals have lost another pitcher for the year, though it appears to be the kind of nagging injury that Miles Mikolas might as well get taken care of:
Miles Mikolas will have surgery on flexor tendon. He'll miss the season. The plan is for him to be ready for 2021. #Stlcards #Cardinals @stltoday https://t.co/EYp2SHq4AN
— Derrick S. Goold (@dgoold) July 28, 2020
Mikolas, 32 next month, was slowed by issues with that flexor tendon back in the Spring, and with it popping back up again now, surgery makes a lot of sense. It’ll hurt the Cardinals that he’s out this year, but it costs him two months this way, rather than most of a full regular season.
After snagging Mikolas out of Japan a couple years ago on a sweetheart deal, he put up a great return-to-the-States season in 2018 before coming back down to something closer to average in 2019. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, they’d signed him to a four-year extension after the huge 2018 season, which didn’t actually kick in until this year. So, obviously they’ll be hoping he bounces back strong next year and for another couple years after that.
With Mikolas out, the Cardinals rotation is Jack Flaherty, Carlos Martinez, Adam Wainwright, Dakota Hudson, and … Daniel Ponce de Leon? Does Kwang Hyun Kim now go into the rotation (after moving to the closer spot to take over for Jordan Hicks, who opted out)? It’s a bit of a tough situation for them, though I reckon they’ve got some young arm ready to step up …
