There's no good way to feel about Jack Flaherty's injury prognosis

Small tears can still be big problems.

I think we underestimate the force and overall aggressive action that is required to throw a baseball at the Major League level.

Put yourself in that spot, take away the money aspect of the job, and think about the wear and tear on the body. The pitcher takes his spot on the mound, digging his own little house on the prairie into the rubber. As one leg steps backwards, the other arches high up into the air as the body pivots and twists towards the mound. The arm goes up with the knee, gathering force before being pulled down to release the ball.

Out of the hand, the ball could be going 78 miles-per-hour or 98 mph. The ball is released from the hand and picks up speed and movement. Via (hopefully effective) pitch tunneling, the ball will dive at the hitter’s legs or climb the ladder to overwhelm him. Either way, the pitcher’s job is done.

One of the most fascinating things about baseball is where the physical game ends and the mental game ends. That whole motion, from rubber-digging to the pitch release, takes less than 30 seconds to complete. As the pitch descends towards home plate, it’s now a mental battle of wills.

Imagine doing that 100 times every fifth day.

No matter how you slice the news up, Jack Flaherty missing time with inflammation in his shoulder and oblique muscles is the last thing the St. Louis Cardinals needed this month. It will once again ruffle the feathers of ownership, because they’ll most likely have to act and acquire an arm in free agency.

To make matters worse, poor John Mozeliak could have to part ways with one of his precious prospects in order to collect an extra bat (Corey Dickerson is nice and all but come on) or a couple more pitchers. The team also lost Alex Reyes for the first two months of the season, so cross him off the fringe rotation and bullpen assignment list.

Miles Mikolas made it out of his first week of spring training without an injury, but do we ever really assume he’s really healthy? Dakota Hudson is coming off Tommy John Surgery. He looked good late last year but shouldn’t be expected to save the day.

Adam Wainwright will turn 41 in August, but may need to ONCE AGAIN carry this rotation full of will-be and could-be talents.

Jake Woodford can step up and fans will hope it’s the September competitor and not the swell fella who got posed on by Nicholas Castellanos. (Don’t worry, Jake. Nicky went to Philly.)

Johan Oviedo and Drew VerHagen are also options, but are we really enthusiastic about that idea? Today, I would say not at all. However, you should expect one of those three 6th starters to fill Flaherty’s spot and one of the other two guys to log some of Reyes’ innings in the middle innings.

Expecting Jack to return promptly is like expecting one of those lottery tickets you pull out of the machine at grocery stores to pay your mortgage. The small tear in his right shoulder labrum, one that the pitcher wants the world to know he’s pitched with for years, isn’t just any kind of small strain.

The tear is located on the SLAP, aka the superior labrum anterior and posterior, a ring of cartilage-like tissue surrounding the shoulder blade. When I described the vicious activity a pitcher goes through with each delivery to the mound, how can anyone trust that shoulder to last a whole season, much less half? I’m talking about next season, which gets more complicated as Flaherty nears his first brush with free agency in 2024.

Will the Cardinals be able to extract a 32-start campaign out of their proposed ace before he hits the free road? I don’t know. But his injury raises a lot of concern. Flaherty received a platelet-rich plasma injection this week, so he can’t throw for two full weeks. By the time he begins to throw, the Cards will be opening the season in less than a week.

All the while, there’s concern about Flaherty’s shoulder injury aggravating his recently healed oblique strain. When the body is weaker in one area, it likes to compensate in unique ways. In his four full seasons as a starter, Flaherty has produced 28 or more starts two times. However, one of those other seasons was the truncated 2020 season, and the other was last year.

You can certainly add 2022 to that pile. There’s no way he’s making 28 starts. Flaherty will be back this year, but don’t expect it to be any time before June 1. At least, a reasonably strong JF and not one still catching up with the calendar flip. I’d chop off at least six weeks, even if the devil’s advocate department of my brain says longer. If it’s something he’s been dealing with for years, that’s only a cause component. It’s not making us feel better, Jack.

If he’s the ace, that’s a troublesome bet. Nothing against Flaherty. He’s a very good pitcher when healthy. But “when healthy” is a label that is stuck by him. Youth is on his side, with the Burbank, California native turning 27 this coming October. But as his first big payday approaches, time is ticking off the clock for him and the team.

The concern for the team is underreacting or overreacting. You can’t sit on your hands, but you also shouldn’t run Matthew Liberatore out there. The team’s top pitching prospect will be put through a wood chipper if he takes the hit during the spring session this year. A trade with Oakland will cost a prospect or two at least. An acquisition off the now sparse free agent market could land the team an undersized fish that should be thrown back into the water. Jake Arrieta, anybody?

It’ll be messy, again. The team waited too long to backup their starting depth. I don’t care what Zach Greinke said about pitching in St. Louis back when he pitched for a DIVISION RIVAL. Pay him the right money and he’s taking Flaherty’s starts as we speak. Instead, it’ll be someone different and less.

Pitching takes a lot from the body. Just ask Flaherty and Reyes.

Photo Credit: Jeff Curry/USA Today Sports