St Louis Cardinals president John Mozeliak does not seem happy with pitcher Carlos Martinez.
Martinez is on a no-throwing program for the next two weeks and will be re-evaluated in March. According to The Athletic’s Mark Saxon, Mozeliak believes Martinez is not doing the right type of training during the offseason. He thinks the focus should be on physical therapy rather than strength training.
Cards exec John Mozeliak not totally thrilled with Carlos Martinez's winter training regimen: "Obviously, there’s a history with Carlos’ shoulder and it would be probably in everybody’s best interest if he maintained a constant or perpetual approach to that program."
— Mark Saxon (@markasaxon) February 19, 2019
John Mozeliak’s critique of Carlos’ program isn’t that he wasn’t working hard, but that he should have been erring more on the side of physical therapy rather than strength training. Issue is who is overseeing. Carlos has his guy.
— Mark Saxon (@markasaxon) February 19, 2019
Martinez dealt with arm injuries last season and only pitched 118.2 innings, working as both a starter and reliever. He had shoulder issues in 2012 and again in 2015, so that’s the type of history Mozeliak is talking about.
Martinez, 27, is a valuable pitcher when healthy. He’s 54-38 with a 3.37 ERA during his career and has been named to two All-Star teams. The Cardinals made some upgrades to their team, led by the addition of Paul Goldschmidt. The last thing they want is to enter the season at less than full strength.