Cardinals GM Mozeliak: Chris Carpenter’s nerve healing; ace should be OK for spring training
St. Louis Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter’s troublesome nerve in his right shoulder has shown enough growth and improvement that the club is comfortable with him starting his throwing program in mid- to late January, Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said. The GM added that the schedule would make Carpenter available for a normal spring training.
“It was a very positive report,” Mozeliak said. “The nerve is healing, healing at the normal rate. He has regained his shoulder strength almost to the level of what he had before he had this issue.”
Carpenter was in St. Louis on Thursday to have a nerve conduction test performed on his right shoulder, and Mozeliak was given a tour of those results Friday afternoon. He said the test shows whether or not the nerve is healing, firing like it needs to in order to trigger the muscles.
It has enough that Carpenter can be set for the January start to his throwing program. He will have another test done on the shoulder in late January.
The news does somewhat alter the Cardinals’ shopping list as they head to Las Vegas next week for the winter meetings, but not as much as the acquisition of shortstop Khalil Greene has. Mozeliak said the Cardinals will follow “the old axiom, you can never have enough pitching,” and pursue possibly another starter and some additional help for the restructured bullpen. That could include an arm for the ninth inning.
Said Mozeliak: They will “focus on pitching.”
Finding a second baseman is a lower priority, with Adam Kennedy possibly staying put despite his request for a trade.
Carpenter had surgery in early November to transpose a nerve in his right elbow. The procedure was required after Carpenter began having discomfort during workouts. The elbow had been rebuilt during a 2007 Tommy John surgery after Carpenter was limited to just that season’s opening night start before losing the season to two elbow surgeries.
The nerve relocation in his elbow is not related to the nerve issue that caused such problems in his right shoulder and forced him to shut down after just 15 1/3 innings this past season. The compression of a nerve in his shoulder has been identified as the reason he had muscle soreness and signs of a strain on the back side of his shoulder.
It is the shoulder situation that is viewed as the bigger issue when considering Carpenter’s availability for and during the 2009 season.
“I understand after what happened last season (there is) some doubt about the credibility of will Carpenter be ready or not,” Mozeliak said. “My belief is he will be.”
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
I see K Greene as a slight upgrade from Izturis, depending.
Depends on Greene hitting like he has away from Petco and learning more patience from Cardinal coaching. If he does that, then he will more than make up on offense what he trails Izturis on defense.
It also depends on Izturis showing that he is not really coming back to 2004 form and the offense he showed in the second half last season is not the real Izturis. Because if he continues in ‘09 his 2nd half ‘08 production, then with his defense, he is more than Greene.
I agree with those who fear F.Lopez’ lazy attitude. I agree with picking up Hairston, if possible.
I agree with those who want to sign Hudson…he is a top flight producer on offense and defense. How many of those are available?
Hey Derrick, if you’re going to write a piece that involves health issues, you might want to brush up on your biology 101. Nerve cells/tissue cannot regenerate or re-grow - hence the reason paralysis is permanent.
I have been reading fans responses to their teams situation for a ton of years and must say that many of the Cardinal fans who blog here are very astute baseball fans, unlike many other area’s where they blurt out anything visceral, without giving thought to the whole picture.
Peavy, Wainright, Lohse and Carpenter will take us to WS again.
Trade whatever it takes outside of our core: Albert, Molina, Ludwick, Wallace, Motte, Perez, and Rasmus.
All of you wanting Hudson need to think for a min. First, we have a 2B. Kennedy had a great second half. He was healthy and it showed. Second, things aren’t as easy as “sign a guy, trade a guy”. Kennedy makes 4 mil. To get Hudson, it is going to take around 6 mil or more, because EVERYONE else out there needing a 2B is looking at him. To trade Kennedy, we would have to pick up some of his salary, more than likely, half. So you people are saying to invest 8 million dollars into the 2B. DUMB! Kennedy hit .270, and was above avg defensively. One of his best years ever, actually. I say, with the way he played the end of last year, give him the shot. Use that extra money get the pitching help we NEED. Leave our outfield alone. It is easy to sit back and say, sign this guy and trade that guy, but the bottom line is it takes money to do both. Kennedy is not a bad player. You all are mad at him for wanting to play. The end of the year, he got more playing time and looked great. Let him be the full time 2B. Let Miles sub for SS and 2B, but there is absolutely NO reason to overspend here when there are so many other glaring needs. Same situation as Rolen last year, except, Kennedy is not near the problem he was, AND Kennedy actually hit the ball. BIG PICTURE, BIG PICTURE, BIG PICTURE. Stay the course MO.
I agree with MOs assistant. If we could get Peavy to go with Wainwright,Loshe,Carpenter,@ Wellemyere we could win 2 or 3 years in a row!! With a line up of Molina,Pujols,2nd baseman,K.Greene,Glaus,Ludwick,Ankiel/Rasmus,new IMPACT bat,, that would be one of the top 5 line ups in the majors!!!!!!!!!!!
We need to sign or trade for a IMPACT BAT a good lefthanded reliever a 2nd baseman @ YES PEAVY!!!!!! GO CARDINALS 2009 WORLD CHAMPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is exactly what I mean. SD is asking for the moon for Peavy. You say don’t give up Core Players. HE IS A CORE PLAYER!!!!!!!!! They want core guys to repl him. That’s why he is still a Padre, and probably will be. People think you can just get something for nothing. That is not how it works. You are saying don’t trade the core players, but everything else is fair game. What happens when those core players get hurt. What are we suppose to repl them with. Peavy has not exactly been a model of good health either. The payroll would be sky high, and you all are wnating to deplete the farm system we have worked so hard to create after YEARS of having the worst in MLB. Again, some sense of sanity has to prevail. We have money, but it is not those big market team type of money. The Yankees depleted their farm system a few years back; How long has it been since they have smelled the WS, and they have a 200 mil payroll?
Why is it that people rationalize that Kennedy was “awful” last year, yet should be easy to dump on someone and still save all his salary to give to a big name 2nd Baseman.
Then other people rationalize that Kennedy was so good other teams will be clamoring for him in a trade situation - yet don’t want to keep him.
Twisted logic was never was so apparent. LOL
You can’t tell me that a pick list of 4 of the following would not interest the Padres:
Ankiel
Shumacker
Mather
Duncan
Glaus
Ryan
McClellan
Anderson
Boggs
Frese
If I was Towers, I’d pick Ankiel, Mather, Ryan and Boggs.
All 4 would be starters for them in 09 and they’d save a ton in salary which, let’s face it, is their objective.
Come on Dewitt, if you are not going to invest in the village then let’s invest in our future! Peavy would be a steal!
Jake Peavy to the Cardinals for PADRES pick any 5
Schumaker of
Mather of
Ankiel of
Jon Jay of
Nick Stavinona of
Daryl Jones of
B.Ryan ss
Boggs pitch
McClellan pitch
Clayton Mortenson pitch
Fernando Salas pitch
ANY 5 they would pick off this list would not dry up our farm system or our back ups incase of injury.
If i was the Padres i would take 1.Schumaker of,2,Jon Jay of,3,Kyle McClellan pitch,4,Mitch Boggs pitch,5,eather Fernando Salas or Clayton Mortenson both pitchers.