The hits just keep on coming. The same day we learned that Justin Verlander was likely to start the season on the IL and Lucas Giolito might be out for the year with an elbow injury, the Cardinals diagnosed righty Sonny Gray with a hamstring strain — and cast doubt on his availability for Opening Day.
Gray left his spring training start early on Monday after tweaking his hamstring, setting off alarm bells around Cardinals camp. The good news is that it doesn’t seem like the injury as bad as many feared: President of baseball operations John Mozeliak told reporters on Tuesday that Gray’s strain is “mild,” and added that he considered the diagnosis “encouraging”. The bad news, however, is that there’s a time crunch here, and Gray seems unlikely to make his scheduled start on Opening Day — Mozeliak wouldn’t rule it out, but did say that it would be “challenging”.
Remember, Opening Day this year is March 28, so it’s only a touch over three weeks away. Even a mild hamstring injury means Gray will be shut down for at least a few days, if not a week or two, before ramping his throwing program back up. Pushing the hamstring too early risks making things worse, and the Cardinals will certainly want to err on the side of caution with the man they just signed to a three-year, $75 million deal to anchor their rotation. Add all that up, and Gray being not just healthy enough but built up enough to take the ball in St. Louis’ opener feels like a stretch.
Still, this is net-positive news for the Cardinals, all things considered. A significant hamstring injury would’ve cost Gray at least six weeks, if not longer, and it sounds as if there’s optimism that he might be able to miss just a start or two. That’s huge for St. Louis, given how much they’re counting on the righty this season: The Cardinals’ rotation was dismal in 2023, and while they also brought in Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn, those veterans are far better suited as back-end types the team doesn’t have to rely too heavily upon.
Gray, on the other hand, comes in with ace expectations. The 34-year-old made the All-Star team for the third time with the Twins last year, finishing second in AL Cy Young voting while posting a a 2.79 ERA (154 ERA+), 1.15 WHIP and 183 strikeouts in 184 innings. The Cardinals still have an abundance of position player talent, and with Gray in the fold, they have reason to believe in a bounce-back year in a wide-open NL Central. But they’ll need him on the mound as often as possible, even if he has to miss Opening Day to do it.