A tough season for the St. Louis Cardinals just got a little worse. The Cardinals are a team in transition, quite literally, as Chaim Bloom takes over the front office from John Mozeliak at the end of the season. Both Bloom and Mozeliak were involved in the team's trade deadline plans, all the while hoping to build around a blossoming young core. One of those young players, Masyn Winn, has dealt with challenges of his own in the second half of the season that could come back to haunt the Cards.
Winn will undergo an MRI for the second time in two months early this week. He sat out a recent stretch as the Cardinals fell deeper out of postseason contention. At this point in the season, there is little reason for the Cards to risk Winn's future health.
“It doesn’t feel great, obviously, and I would have played today if it felt good, but we’re going to get some testing done [on Monday] and see what it shows,” Winn said Sunday night. “I got an MRI earlier in the year [in July] and it showed a little something. I’m assuming this one’s going to show a little more, but I don’t think that changes my outlook. Whatever it shows, I’m going to be ready to play tomorrow and going forward. It sucks that I’ve had to miss two of the last four games, but going forward, I’m going to have to play through it and suck it up.”
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Cardinals should've seen Masyn Winn's injury coming
That last sentiment should scare not just Cardinals fans, but baseball as a whole. There is a hidden motive by professional athletes to play through pain. Yet, that rarely works in their favor, especially on the baseball diamond. St. Louis is 17 games back in the NL Central and 5.5 games back of the final NL Wild Card spot. What are we doing?
Bloom, whose sole focus is the future of the Cardinals organization, ought to step in and put an end to this. Winn is just 23 years old, and a key part of the St. Louis core. If the Cardinals are to make the playoffs anytime in the next half-decade (and they better, as the fanbase can attest), Winn will be on that team, likely in the middle of the lineup and playing a key defensive position.
MLB teams must learn to treat young stars with care
Winn didn't hide from his reality in comments to the press, admitting there's a decent chance he needs surgery.
“It very well might [require surgery] and that’s something we’ll look at at the end of the year, but right now I want to be out there on the field,” Winn said. “We’ve still got a chance to make the playoffs and play some good ball, so I want to be out there and playing shortstop as much as I can.”
If that's indeed the case...then why would Winn play another game this season? Shutting him down, at this point, won't do nearly as much harm as forcing him into action. The fact the Cardinals knew how Winn was feeling in July and allowed him to keep playing without much of a break is an even worse baseball sin every MLB team can learn something from.
Young stars are fragile. It can all come crashing down at any given moment. Winn, hopefully has avoided his worst-case scenario. The Cardinals should've seen it coming from a mile away.