Cardinals Legend Appears To Be Reaching Final Straw Amid Horrendous Season

A fairytale ending appears unlikely for St. Louis great

As the St. Louis Cardinals gear to recover from this tumultuous season, all focus will be on improving the pitching staff.

Following the trades of starting pitchers Jordan Montgomery and Jack Flaherty, St. Louis is poised to lose another key member of the rotation after pitching the worst season of his legendary career.

Manager Oli Marmol spoke Monday about the future of Adam Wainwright after the all-time St. Louis pitcher has let up a total of 15 earned runs in his last two starts.

"Hopefully it goes well, and that we can keep going. If it doesn't, we'll sit down and we'll have another honest conversation as to what does this really look like moving forward and what's best? So he's been great about it," Marmol told the media, as transcribed by MLB.com's John Denton on Monday.

Wainwright is struggling with a 3-7 record, 8.78 ERA, 39-to-26 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .375 batting average against, and 2.09 WHIP in 66 1/3 innings pitched this season.

The 41-year-old homegrown legend just has not been able to find his groove this season and Marmol appears ready to move him out of the rotation. It would be unlikely that the Cardinals would cut ties with him entirely with a few weeks left in a lost season but he could be relegated to a scarcely used long relief role.

Fellow starter Steven Matz was just placed on the injured list for a lat strain, which could save his spot for now but Wainwright needs to get it going immediately or he'll be headed toward an embarrassing demotion. 

Sometimes, a legend needs to know when to call it quits, and Wainwright's time to hang up the cleats is a year past due.

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