When the St. Louis Cardinals got the news that Chris Carpenter's neck injury would cause him to miss opening day, it was reasonable to expect that their mid-winter flirtation with Roy Oswalt—nearly consummated, as MLB rumor would have it—would return to the forefront of their rotation plans. Reasonable and apparently inaccurate—the Cardinals have suggested they'll be filling the position internally, with Lance Lynn, and Roy Oswalt's agent says he probably won't pitch before June.
Oswalt's some kind of upgrade on Lynn, but then Oswalt's inability to find a major league job in December was never about his ability—it was about his price, and his limited flexibility about teams. He's willing to wait things out, and apparently Carpenter's injury wasn't enough to upset the equilibrium on either side.
If Carpenter suffers another setback that could change, but for now the former Houston Astros ace appears content to follow the Roger Clemens career path. Which, to be honest, didn't work out really well the last time Roger Clemens tried it. (And he was Roger Clemens.)
More St. Louis Cardinals coverage from SB Nation St. Louis:
- Chris Carpenter's injury, as reported by our LEGO correspondent.
- The Cardinals made some more cuts to their Spring Training roster.