Adam Wainwright will stay in St. Louis through 2018. The 31 year old right-handed ace was inked to a five year extension reportedly worth $97.5 million. By signing Wainwright through his age 36 season, the Cardinals do not assume too massive of an injury risk since Wainwright is now two years removed from Tommy John surgery.
For St. Louis, Wainwright may be evaluated differently from most players his age due to a lack of “mileage” on his arm. Wainwright only has thrown 1,073 major league innings (CC Sabathia, two years older, has thrown over 2,500) in the majors due to starting his career in relief and missing a year due to surgery.
Wainwright becomes the highest paid player annually for the Red Birds with his new deal, averaging out to just under $20 million per year. Matt Holliday is the second highest paid player ($17 million per year) and Yadier Molina is signed just as long through 2018.
Wainwright was a star rookie closer when St. Louis won the World Series in 2006, but was a non-factor during the 2011 run when he went down with an injury in Spring Training and ended up missing the whole season due to surgery.
In 2009 and 2010, Wainwright had his best years so far, winning 39 games, throwing over 460 innings and yielding ERAs under 2.65 each season. The Cardinals will be relying heavily on their ace this season, one year removed from a 14-13 season with 198.2 innings and 3.94 ERA. Jake Westbrook, Lance Lynn, Jaime Garcia and Shelby Miller will be expected to fill out the rest of the rotation.
