St. Louis will need him back as swiftly as possibly

The St. Louis Cardinals could be in trouble early due to a pitching staff that does not have the star power to compete following a last-place finish in the National League Central.

Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak made one marquee addition when he inked ace Sonny Gray to a three-year, $75 million contract. The other starting pitching additions, however, left much to be desired given the emphasis he placed on revamping the pitching staff.

Many complained that Mozeliak did not do enough and now we’re seeing why. One injury could derail the team’s entire outlook.

“Cardinals right-handed pitcher Sonny Gray has been diagnosed with a ‘mild’ hamstring strain, per president of baseball operations John Mozeliak,” MLB.com’s John Denton reported Tuesday. “Mo called it ‘encouraging news,’ but admitted that Gray making the Opening Day start would be ‘challenging.'”

Without Gray, the Cardinals rotation will consist of Miles Mikolas, Steven Matz, Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn and either Zack Thompson or Matthew Liberatore. That group is quite poor on paper.

Gray was not only expected to head the pitching staff but maintain an impressive run that led to his second-place finish in American League Cy Young voting last season.

The 34-year-old posted a 2.79 ERA with a 183-to-55 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .226 batting average against and a 1.15 WHIP in 184 innings across 32 starts in 2023.

He’ll have to postpone his dominance, which also means he will not be there to attempt to shut down the Los Angeles Dodgers superteam on Opening Day.

A realistic timeline has yet to come out but Gray appears to have avoided missing significant time. That means a lot given the lack of depth in St. Louis.