(The Spread) – The St. Louis Cardinals can’t seem to catch a break. One week after ace Adam Wainwright was lost for the season due to Tommy John surgery, Chris Carpenter left a spring training game on Tuesday after hurting his hamstring.
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The good news is that Carpenter doesn’t think the injury is bad. He felt a tweak in his hamstring when he was on the mound, but he had ice on his leg within minutes and he believes the injury is just a strain.
That’s a relief for a Cardinal team that will be without Wainwright this season and would have been even more devastated had Carpenter been out for a long period of time. But Carpenter is expected to still be the Opening Day starter and assuming he stays healthy, he and Jamie Garcia might be able to keep the Cards afloat for a while.
But regardless of the severity of the injury, Carpenter’s hammy raises an important question: Should the Cardinals add an arm before the season starts? The club wanted to go with in-house options to fill Wainwright’s spot in the rotation, but with Kevin Millwood out there waiting for a phone call, it would make sense for St. Louis to pick up the phone (epically in light of Carpenter’s scare on Tuesday).
According to oddsmakers from online sports book SBGGLOBAL.com, the Cardinals are +400 to win the National League Central this season. The Reds and Brewers are expected to fight it out for the division crown now that Wainwright is out for the year.
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