At this time last year there were many people, myself included, touting Adam Wainwright as a top five starting pitcher and maybe the best pitcher overall. But that all changed when Wainwright walked off the mound one fateful February day last spring and baseball fans, Jonny Gomes aside, heard the two words they hate the most…Tommy. John. The good news, though, is that Tommy John surgery has a high recovery rate these days, and when Opening Day, 2012 rolls around, we will see the (likely) triumphant return of one of baseball’s best pitchers. You needn’t look any further than Wainwright’s stats pictured below, particularly his 2010 end-of-season rank. Wainwright had the surgery early enough in the offseason that he was able to start throwing with max effort in September. He even felt good enough to plead with the team to add him to the postseason roster, though they wisely declined. Losing Albert Pujols will hurt the Cardinals’ repeat chances, but adding ...
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