Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia won’t take the mound on Sunday as scheduled due to a setback with his surgically-repaired left shoulder, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Marco Gonzales will instead start Sunday afternoon’s Grapefruit League game against the Mets.
Garcia made seven starts last season, in May and June, after undergoing surgery on his left shoulder to repair a partially torn labrum and rotator cuff in May 2013. He was shut down after his June 20 start against the Phillies with thoracic outlet syndrome. Cardinals GM John Mozeliak had said back in January that reports on Garcia’s rehab had been “extraordinarily positive,” so it’s obviously not good that he’s once again having issues.
Garcia was on track to win the No. 5 spot in the Cardinals’ starting rotation after allowing four runs with a 13/3 K/BB ratio in 9 1/3 innings this spring. If Garcia isn’t ready for the start of the regular season, Carlos Martinez is likely to take his spot in the rotation.
