Cards Ace Carpenter Out 3 Months

The woes continue for the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals ace, Chris Carpenter, will undergo arthroscopic surgery next week after suffering a setback in his recovering. Carpenter has been out since his first start, on opening day, with the injury. St. Louis is currently last in the NL Central. Additionally, highly touted prospect Anthony Reyes has been struggling.

If you were waiting for Carpenter to come back and rejuvinate your pitching staff, it is time to look elsewhere. Even after he comes back it will likely take him a couple of starts to get back to his old self. If you drafted Carpenter with your second or third round pick you are going to need to get a little lucky to compete this year. Braden Looper continues to pitch very well as the team's #2 pitcher and Kip Wells is pitching well as the #1 but Reyes has struggled.

This may open the door for a trade to bolster the Cardinals staff. Could struggling Mariners pitcher Jeff Weaver make a return to the Cardinals? If he does, he may be worth a chance. What about White Sox starter Mark Buehrle? If he is not traded to the Cardinals mid season he will likely sign with them in the offseason. The White Sox don't look good this year and they should probably cut their losses and trade him instead of losing him for nothing.