JUPITER, Fla. -- The Hindenburg checked in with the Cardinals on Thursday. Wanted to know if it could help.
Not that things are going south at warp speed for St. Louis this spring, but at this rate, the Cardinals will be training in Key West by the time the Grapefruit League schedule begins.
Ace Adam Wainwright is finished for the season before it even starts. Albert Pujols remains on the other side of the Mississippi River in contract talks with the Cardinals.
Spunky veteran Nick Punto, signed to add infield depth while injury-prone David Friese continues to develop at third, was felled by a sports hernia this week and will miss at least two months, maybe three. Extra outfielder Jim Edmonds suddenly retired and co-owner Andrew Baur passed away here on Sunday.
The only thing the reeling Cardinals know right now is that there are no reset buttons. Like it or not, ready or not, their regular-season schedule will begin on March 31, when the Padres visit.
"One key thing is how deep you are," manager Tony La Russa said Thursday. "If you're not deep, a hit like [Wainwright] can sink you."
Even if you are deep, a hit like that can sink you. More than any other club in the game, the Cardinals are incredibly reliant upon their Big Four: Pujols and Matt Holliday in the lineup, Wainwright and Chris Carpenter on the hill.
What this feels like is 2007, when Carpenter's elbow blew out on opening day. That was a Tommy John surgery, too. That was amid the optimistic christening of a brand new season, too.
It also is the only time La Russa's Cardinals have finished sub-.500 in the past 11 seasons. They went 78-84 in '07 and sank to a third-place finish. Yes, that memory still haunts the Cardinals.
"Most of the time, you do what you have to do, not what you want to do," La Russa said of life in the majors.
Don't the Cardinals know it. But the walls are still closing in.
They have several options in Wainwright's absence, from the outrageous (cash in 2011 and begin exploring avenues to trade Pujols) to the probable (bump Kyle McClellan from the bullpen to the rotation and let La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan work their magic with him and the relievers).
Overactive minds might be wondering about knee-jerk reactions for a couple of reasons. If Wainwright's injury neuters the Cardinals for 2011 and possibly even beyond, since he surely will miss most of 2012, wouldn't this be as good a time as any to dramatically alter the landscape in looking to the future? Especially if the club is going to be unable to sign Pujols?
Well, forget it. Because general manager John Mozeliak made it clear that the Cardinals are not going to give up before they start.
"As far as our expectations of the season, nothing changes," the GM said. "We still expect to be good. The talent level in the clubhouse is still very high."
The Cardinals last year exercised Wainwright's two-year, $21 million option that takes the pitcher through 2013, but language in the deal allows them to void it if the right-hander is on the disabled list with an arm injury at the end of the 2011 season.
That could clear financial room to increase future offers to Pujols. But robbing from Peter to pay Paul rarely makes sense in running a baseball club. Especially when Paul is one of the most feared sluggers in the game and Peter ranked second in NL Cy Young voting and regularly shoulders an incredible workload (230 1/3 innings pitched last year).
Pujols or not, you can't win if you can't pitch.
"News of this is so fresh, in terms of contractual obligations and 2012, we're just trying to get through the day," Mozeliak said, speaking in generalities regarding Wainwright's contract. "We'll have time to reflect on that."
More time than they would like as doctors now take aim at an elbow that always has seemed just a few pitches removed from surgery. Wainwright had trouble with it in the 1990s before he was drafted, and again in 2004.
"We didn't think it was going to go away," Mozeliak said. "We always knew that there was this risk.
"I don't think you change a thing. He pitched very well with it."
Now, they need someone else to pitch, and it might take the strength of four or five men to replace him.
"I still think we have a talented club," Mozeliak said.
Difficult to say if that was a statement or a plea. As the man said, right now the Cardinals are just trying to get through a day. The season can wait.