Cardinals Ace Sonny Gray Expected To Miss Opening Day With Latest Injury

St. Louis will need him back as swiftly as possibly

Scott Neville | Mar 5, 2024

Cardinals Ace Sonny Gray Expected To Miss Opening Day With Latest Injury /

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St. Louis Cardinals

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.

More MLB: Cardinals Ace Suffers Concerning Injury During Spring Training Outing

Published Mar 5, 2024

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the St. Louis Cardinals for FanNation's "Inside The Cardinals" on Sports Illustrated. Before starting "Inside The Cardinals", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." After a few months as the top Major League Baseball site in the program, Neville sought expansion and pitched "Inside The Cardinals," one of the newest additions to FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group. The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Cardinals" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu