Season. Over.

ugh.

After a month's wait and two failed postponements, the Cardinals on Saturday confirmed former Cy Young Award winner Chris Carpenter will undergo surgery to alleviate what the club has described as an impingement of his right elbow.

Carpenter will miss at least the next three months, according to the release, which stated "no timetable has been set for his return."

to be perfectly honest, any right-thinking StL fan probably saw this coming. and it's probably for the best: after re-upping Carp for another 5 years, the Cards can't risk some major damage. a torn ligament might take 18 months to repair, and Carp's already had Tommy John surgery once.

the real problem with the team, of course, is the offense. the team is averaging under 3 runs/game. if you take out three bizarro Sunday games in which the team scored 10 or more runs, the average offensive output is ~ 2 runs per game. Carp or no Carp, you're not going to win that way.

i'd suggest re-building, but the team doesn't really have any way to do it. obviously Pujols is untouchable. Rolen probably should be, although his complete lack of production makes the point moot: if he's not producing, nobody will want him. if he is, then we need to keep him. beyond those two and Wainwright/Reyes, i don't know who is tradeable. surely nobody would bite for Eckstein, Kennedy, Molina, Edmonds, or Encarnacion. and those are the guys we need to replace. Izzy might have some value, but that's about all.

it's still early, but i'm afraid that this year is already lost. and barring an impact signing or two (or three), next year may be as well.

ugh.