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.”
-30-
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. 
By the way you guys maybe right about keeping Adam Kennedy to compete for a starting job with Miles. Keeping Kennedy should make MO job easier. Now we have cut the major needs list to a top of the line starting pitcher,IMPACT bat,another lefthander in the bullpen,and a closer/set up man BEST if lefthanded. I still thank Perez @ Motte can close.