The official diagnosis of Adam Wainwright won’t be known until after he returns and is examined in St. Louis, but it appears that at the very least the St. Louis Cardinals will need to make a temporary roster move for another pitcher.
A few weeks ago, the answers would’ve been a choice of Jaime Garcia or Marco Gonzales. But Garcia is still building up his arm strength in extended Spring Training and Gonzales was placed on the minor league disabled list (7 days) earlier this week with shoulder tightness.
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Left-hander Tim Cooney has the most impressive numbers of the remaining pitchers on the Memphis (AAA) roster: 2-1 with 17.1 innings pitched, 15 hits, 7 earned runs, 5 BBs, and 14 strikeouts.
Tyler Lyons, who has big league experience, is currently 1-1 and has allowed 22 hits and 7 earned runs in 13.2 innings pitched while walking 5 batters and striking out 20.
Right-hander Zach Petrick, who is scheduled to start tomorrow for Memphis, has allowed 13 earned runs on 18 hits in 11.2 innings pitched this season.
The Cardinals also have the roster option of moving Carlos Villanueva from the bullpen to the rotation and then promoting a pitcher to fill a relief role.
Villanueva has started 76 big league games, including five last season for the Chicago Cubs.
