Cardinals Rumors: Wainwright benching, ugly injury, Ohtani price drop?

St. Louis Cardinals Rumors: Has Adam Wainwright made his final start?

Oli Marmol may not necessarily bench Wainwright -- suggesting as much was a bit of a stretch. However, after notching his 200th win this week, there's a decent chance Waino has made his final start as a Cardinal.

Frankly, why would Wainwright starting another game benefit anyone in the organization? It would allow the Cardinals to turn to younger pitchers in their staff. It would also allow Wainwright, a pitcher who has given so much to St. Louis, to ride off into the sunset with his final memory as a player a beautiful one. J.T. Buchheit of Redbird Rants made this argument after Waino's 200th victory:

"Wainwright has solidified himself as the greatest St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher of all time after the inimitable Bob Gibson, and Marmol needs to let Wainwright walk into the sunset in a manner even the great Gibby couldn't do: with a victory and a flash of the pitcher from the days of old."

Buchheit also noted that if the Cards had been in the playoff race, Wainwright wouldn't have had a chance at reaching win No. 200, as he's been relatively dreadful most of this season.

"It's worth noting that if the Cardinals were in the playoff race, Wainwright probably would not have sniffed 200 wins given his poor performance for much of the season. The Cardinals likely would have moved him to the bullpen or put him on the injured list. So while the playoffs are not realistically attainable, the team's lack of performance this season has bizarrely allowed Wainwright to retire more gracefully than Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols."

In that sense, Wainwright was lucky.