Wainwright struggles in start against Kansas City. What’s next for Cardinals hurler?

Hours after being removed from a start before he recorded his fourth out but after he allowed his eighth run, Adam Wainwright sat huddled on a couch with Andre Pallante, consoling the latter through his own rough appearance.

It would’ve been simple and understood for Wainwright, at the end of his career, to lick his own wounds and turn in for the night. Instead, he invested time and effort in Pallante, at the beginning of his career, volunteering the burden of Friday’s 12-8 loss.

The scene was emblematic of so many over the last two decades which make what’s happening now and what comes next for Wainwright so difficult to digest. Father Time is undefeated, but does occasionally show mercy. Not so right now.

“You know, just didn’t — I didn’t make — I didn’t have anything tonight,” Wainwright half stammered in response to the first question that he’d known for hours was coming. “I didn’t have good stuff, I didn’t have good location. When I did, they still found holes. Just was a non-competitive day for me. Just really let our team down, let our fan base down today, and just got to be ready next time.”

Next time is the rub. In his last two starts, Wainwright has completed a total of four innings and allowed 15 runs, all earned. His lone quality start among his 15 in 2023 was in New York on June 17, prior to his stint on the injured list with shoulder inflammation, which was treated with injections and saw a rapid turnaround back to active duty.

Both Wainwright and manager Oliver Marmol insisted Friday that health is not an issue at the moment, with Wainwright expressing frustration that the quality of pitches he’s seen in his between-starts bullpen sessions hasn’t carried over to game action.

A physical encumbrance would be a convenient way out of the current quagmire. If that’s not the case, then the path forward gets ever more complicated.

“It’s delicate, to be quite honest,” Marmol said when asked about the right way to balance Wainwright’s legacy with his current competitive level. “He’s a pro, and we’ve had some really honest conversations. Is it ideal? No, it’s not.”

Marmol declined to share more about his current thinking, saying only more meetings will follow, looping in team officials higher than he on the organizational chart. With Wainwright still just two wins short of 200 in his career — and with celebrations of that career planned to pack Busch Stadium in the season’s final month — it’s difficult to imagine Wainwright being shut down or walking away.

It’s impossible to imagine him being allowed to continue to start games at his current rate of success.

In a lost season in which wins and losses matter less to the Cardinals than they have in decades, the temptation to allow Wainwright as many bites at the apple as are available is strong, but there are clear and present downsides.

‘I get it’

The scene with Pallante loses some of its weight if the younger pitchers on staff find themselves wondering why its most established member is given free reign to get knocked around in pursuit of individual goals. Other pitchers who have earned more opportunities — Zack Thompson has turned in consecutive stellar outings in long relief – will miss out on them if starts are being handed out as an honorarium.

And then there’s this, from Wainwright himself: “I don’t want to go out like that. I mean, that’s just embarrassing.”

He’s right, and that might be the most pressing concern of all. As he astutely pointed out, there are countless people pushing for him to finish strong and instead taking on waves of disappointment every fifth day.

“I know a lot of people are rooting really hard for me, and I know a lot of people are really sad right now with how things are going,” he said. “I get it. Man, I get it. Trust me, you’re not more sad than me. I’m really, really sad about it, but I’m also very confident that I’m going to end strong.”

Waino hopes for solid finish

Wainwright spoke reluctantly Friday about being surprised by the emotions that come with the end of a career and being unprepared for the loss of edge that has accompanied knowing the full stop is on the way.

“This is not a foreign thing from guys who have gone out of the game,” he said. “Most old players that get to the end of the rope feel something like this, but I was really kind of hoping to go out on top ... so that’s the way I still plan on going out.”

Perhaps that means sporadic appearances from the bullpen in favorable situations to be credited with wins. Perhaps that means splitting appearances with Thompson or others to act as a guide and a bridge to the future. Perhaps that means honest reflection on his current mentality and taking a brief step away to refocus on the season’s final months.

There’s no dispute that Wainwright has earned the right to write his own ending. The concern now is whether, at present, he has the ability. Answering that question has made for a painful season and seems unlikely to get easier in its last seven weeks.