Cardinals: Familiar prospect is most-likely replacement for Jack Flaherty

With Jack Flaherty out for awhile longer, the St. Louis Cardinals will look within the organization for a short-term replacement.

Sunday was one of the worst days of the Cards season thus far, bar none.

St. Louis not only blew a 5-0 lead to the rival Cubs on the same day the Brewers won, thus extended their NL Central lead, but Jack Flaherty is hurt yet again.

Flaherty has what can only be described as ‘dead arm’, which is never a good sign. He will be forced to miss some time.

“He came in after that second inning and said that nothing was hurting, but he had a dead arm,” Marmol said. “Nothing was coming out the way he wanted it to. A little stiff, but nothing in the same spot that we’ve been working on this whole time. We weren’t going to risk it and we took him out. … More dead [in the arm] more than anything and a little stiff, but nothing reoccurring from what he was experiencing before.”

Jack Flaherty injury update

Flaherty’s been dealing with shoulder and oblique issues since the the 2021 season. While this current ailment is not related to any of the previous ones, per Marmol, a new issue creeping up cannot be spun as good news either.

Steven Matz is out for a few more weeks. Jordan Hicks won’t be back just yet. Flaherty returning was meant to be a boon for the rotation. Instead, it’s another reminder that the Cards front office has to trade for some reliable starting pitching.

In terms of a short-term replacement, expect prospect Matthew Liberatore, who saw mixed success in his brief MLB stint this year, to take on a rotation role for the time being. Don’t consider him a permanent fixture just yet, though.

The Cardinals bats will only take them so far.