St. Louis Cardinals frustrated with Carlos Martinez offseason
By Bill Felber
The St. Louis Cardinals have sidelined Carlos Martinez amid concerns about his winter emphasis on strength training as opposed to conditioning
The St. Louis Cardinals believe they are as deep in rotation-capable arms as any major league team. That belief is about to be tested.
The Cardinals have indefinitely sidelined Carlos Martinez, last year’s opening day starter, due to complaints of shoulder weakness. They admit they’re not sure when he’ll be back, or whether he’ll be ready for opening day.
Cardinals officials went further than that; they took the unusual step of publicly questioning Martinez’s commitment to an off-season strength and conditioning program they had set up for him. Team President John Mozeliak wondered whether Martinez had committed too much effort to the weight room and not enough to conditioning.
“Clearly he trained this offseason,” Mozeliak told the St.. Louis Post-Dispatch. “But there are certain things that might not translate into just the weight room.” Mozeliak said the kinds of physical therapy activities the team wanted Martinez to emphasize are “hard to replicate” with a primary focus on weight training.
The Post-Dispatch reported that the St. Louis Cardinals had created an offseason program for Martinez that was supposed to include visits to St. Louis and a targeted mix of weight work and physical therapy to build needed strength in the right shoulder. Mozeliak’s comments appeared to raise questions regarding Martinez’s commitment to following that prescribed program.
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Martinez, who is 27, was removed from the team’s throwing program Tuesday after his right shoulder experienced weakness similar to what put him on the disabled list three times in 2018. A scan taken of his pitching shoulder Monday did not reveal any structural damage. He will spend his non-throwing time on a program designed to catch him up to the status team officials hoped he would be in when he reported to spring camp.
The team stated he would miss at least two weeks, and left open his availability beyond that.
“In terms of what that means for opening day, it is TBD,” said Mozeliak. He said Martinez would have to “bring some dedication and discipline to this.”
Martinez reported the soreness after a series of bullpen sessions that demonstrated a lack of strength and some inflammation.
“I wanted to be a little bit smart about it, and be 100 percent before throwing the ball again,” Martinez said. “I don’t want to make it that big deal. I just don’t want to make it worse.”
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He defended his off-season workout regimen, saying health and strengthening were both “the main focus” of his workouts.
The issue appeared to in part resolve down to who was overseeing Martinez’s workouts. The St. Louis Cardinals utilize a person with those responsibilities, but in a Tuesday tweet Mark Saxon, Cards reporter for The Athletic, said Martinez “has his own guy.”