Carp Suffers Setback

by TheFranchise9 on Jul 14, 2007 1:58 AM EDT

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/cardinals/story/A6774BEA34932F2586257317007D66D3 ?OpenDocument

Top story on STLtoday.com for Saturday. Not good news for any potential second half surge for the Cards.

Report says Carp has some slight swelling after his second rehab start on Sunday and that the date for his next start is unknown.

This is bad bad bad.

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fantasy ball

this also looks extremely bad on my behalf as I just dealt Carp away Friday afternoon as my team was going nowhere. I traded him for a pretty good price to a contending team (who happens to be managed by a cubs fan...

like anyone's gonna beleive me when i say i didn't know about this until about 7 hours after the deal...

ack.

10-time World Champs!

by TheFranchise9 on Jul 14, 2007 1:55 AM EDT reply actions

Not really suprising

it's called karma. We must have really thrown the universe out of balance by winning the World Series last year.

With this latest setback (which sounds an awful lot like his post-Opening Day setback) I'd be shocked if we saw Chris Carpenter pitch in 2007.

He'll probably have to have another surgery.

Interested in pre-1990 Cardinals games on tape

by Hardcore Legend on Jul 14, 2007 3:00 AM EDT reply actions

I forgot this was an arthritic condition

in his elbow. Christ, if this swelling is because of that, his career may very well be over. He'll never be able to be a MLB starter again if he can't go a week without major swelling.

I also like that the club kept this a secret since Sunday.

Interested in pre-1990 Cardinals games on tape

by Hardcore Legend on Jul 14, 2007 3:26 AM EDT up reply actions

whoa son...

.....can you say "Koufax".....?

The more injuries we incur, the more bizarre the use of the DL becomes.....to the point that the Royals may soon lose their "kings of the most creative use of the DL" title to LaJock.

The days just got shorter and darker.

"I don't need a damn number to tell me the guy's no good right now!" Old Casey.... Pitching, base running and defense!

by cardschinmusic on Jul 14, 2007 5:12 AM EDT up reply actions

I posted this info. on the main site

before I saw this thread. In short, Arthritis isn't necessarily career ending. Kofax was diagnosed with painful arthritis (Carpenter's isn't painful) in 1963 and continued to pitch brilliantly until 1966. He retired at that time because of the pain, but he was still pitching at the top of his game, winning the Cy Young award that year.

I just hope they see the best Rheumatologist available and not keep relying on their own doctors. Because I don't trust the Cards medical staff, I'm also worried they somehow messed up the surgical procedure they performed or his rehab--maybe they've simply just pushed him too fast and too hard.

by nycardfan on Jul 15, 2007 12:42 PM EDT up reply actions

This is really bad news,,,,,,

and we have a whole bunch of this years payroll tied up in the DL...

by jillsinmo on Jul 14, 2007 9:10 AM EDT reply actions

Ugh

Carp is starting to look like Exhibit 327 in "Why giving long-term contracts to pitchers is a bad idea." It seemed at the time that his extension was a bit of a make-good for giving a hometown discount a couple of years ago, if that was the case perhaps Walt should have just given him a $5 million bonus instead of all those years.

by mikedallas23 @ Viva El Birdos on Jul 14, 2007 10:24 AM EDT reply actions

Did they give him the contract

without a physical? Really, I wonder.....bone spurs would have been known about, no? I don't remember where I read it, but somewhere out on the web is an article about how 25% of pitchers do not fulfill their longterm contracts due to injury. And a few days ago folks were salivating to get A.J. Burnett......the same A.J. that has been on the DL ten times. 10 TIMES! He's only 30......

by jillsinmo on Jul 14, 2007 11:02 AM EDT reply actions

I think they knew

and, if I'm not mistaken, it's bone chips, not bone spurs -- not sure what the difference is. As I understand it, and I don't understand much about this stuff, most pitchers have some bone chips in their elbows -- they just have to have them removed if it interferes w/ their ability to pitch, causes pain, etc. So the team wasn't necessarily concerned about the bone chips b/c he seemed to be doing OK and this happens w/ nearly every pitcher -- you can just have them removed, worst case scenario, and he returns and pitches. Even Will Carroll at baseball prospectus was never really concerned about Carp but I'm waiting to read what he says about this setback.

That's not to say that the long-term contract was a good idea. Generally speaking, I think you're right in that most, especially w/ pitchers, tend not to work.

by chuckb on Jul 14, 2007 11:56 AM EDT up reply actions

I remember them saying he didn't have bone chips

but rather bone spurs. But their accounts change so who knows? Bone chips, I are more dangerous because they float around and can injure any part of the elbow including ligaments. Bone spurs are stable and are easily removed with microsopic surgery. This is usually an easy procedure and is successfully recovered from.

As I said above, arthritis needs to be managed carefully but it doesn't mean it will end his career. I wouldn't be surprised to see him back in August after they back off the work outs and give him more time to recover. If he does come back, they'd be stupid to treat him like a workhorse. I just hope they haven't messed him up somehow in the surgery or in his recovery by not being aware of his larger arthritic condition. If they had just gone to a Rheumatologist in February, he'd probably be playing right now successfully. Why oh why do they wait so long to address medical problems!

by nycardfan on Jul 15, 2007 12:51 PM EDT up reply actions

Worst case thinking

This is a "What if" question that I hope we don't have to face...but

Would would happen if Carp really couldn't come back? Say this was a career ending injury, do the Cards have to pay his new contract in full or would there be a clause in there because of a career ending injury before the contract would even really start that he would only get a certain amount that is well below the total amount?

What's scary is that he has only pictched ONE game since signing the big contract. If he were to never be able to come back this would be one of the biggest contract disasters the Cards has ever done.
Anybody remember The Reds ordeal with Jose Rijo (signed a big contact and then was on the shelf for years!)

by KYCards on Jul 14, 2007 6:02 PM EDT reply actions

Unless he "retires"

which is unlikely (and possibly not allowed by the union) they have to pay it all. Minus whatever insurance they were able to take out on him, of course.

Panic!!!

by SleepyCA on Jul 15, 2007 2:36 AM EDT up reply actions

I can't believe the Cardinal medical staff

appears to have misdiagnosed Carp's injury and have repeatedly down played its significance! After opening day, it was just some minor swelling and 'he'll only miss a start'. After the latest setback, it's only a minor setback 'we'll just push him back a couple of days'. Now it's 'we don't know for sure what's wrong but it's not good'. There's a lot of talk of replacing Walt and Tony but it's time the ownership take a look at their medical team.

by lefty fan on Jul 15, 2007 12:32 AM EDT reply actions