The St. Louis Cardinals announced on Tuesday that Chris Carpenter “can’t continue to throw” and will likely miss the entire 2013 season, according to Danny Knobler of CBS Sports.
General manager John Mozeliak says that Carpenter will seek medical attention regarding the discomfort he feels when throwing.
There have been no statements regarding a possible retirement for Carpenter, though the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a story Tuesday morning regarding the possibility. If he were to retire, he would have to forfeit the $12.5 million salary he’s earned in 2013.
Carpenter made just three regular season starts (and three postseason starts) in 2012 after battling shoulder injuries all season long.
When healthy, Carpenter has been amongst the best pitchers in baseball. That’s been the problem over the entirety of his major league career, though, as staying healthy hasn’t been so easy for the 37-year-old.
Just yesterday, we saw Brandon Webb, another former Cy Young winner, hang up his cleats due to lingering arms issues.
There’s a good possibility that Carpenter could call it quits as well, though he could still spend the entire season on the disabled list and collect the money he’s still owed.
I’m sure there will be more on Carpenter’s situation within the upcoming days but, for now, we’ll just have to assume that the Cardinals will handle this as best as possible.
Their pitching plans certainly look different without Carpenter in the fold, but they have all of spring training to iron out those problems.
If this is the end for Carpenter, he’ll finish with a career record of 144-94, a 3.76 ERA and the 2005 NL Cy Young Award.
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