Cardinals starter Sonny Gray left his spring start on Monday with a hamstring injury, but the news is not as bad as many feared. Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told reporters Tuesday that Gray's hamstring strain is "mild" and considered the news "encouraging" (via John Denton of MLB.com), but there's also a time crunch here.
Gray had already been named the Cardinals' Opening Day starter and instead Mozeliak said Gray being ready for that will be "challenging."
Gray himself was asked about the injury and said (via Bally Sports Midwest), "It's not overly concerning on my end, on the trainer's end, on the doctor's end, so those are all good things, but there is a small little strain in there."
Of course, when asked about Opening Day, he simply said, "I don't know."
That isn't encouraging, but it's also just one start.
Remember, Opening Day this year is March 28, so it's only a touch over three weeks away. Even a mild hamstring injury means Gray will need to rest it for a few days or even weeks before ramping back up his throwing program. Pushing the hamstring too early risks injuring it worse, so he'll certainly have to take it easy for a few days at minimum. This is why Mozeliak called it challenging when thinking about 23 days from now.
Still, this is net-positive news for the Cardinals after Gray had to leave his start on Monday. A significant hamstring injury would cost him at least six weeks and it sounds like it might just be a start or two in the regular season.
Gray, 34, signed a three-year, $75 million deal with the Cardinals this past offseason. For the Twins last year, he made the All-Star team for the third time and finished second in Cy Young voting after going 8-8 with a 2.79 ERA (154 ERA+), 1.15 WHIP and 183 strikeouts in 184 innings.
Behind Gray, the Cardinals' rotation is expected to include Miles Mikolas, Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn and Steven Matz.
