Cards place Donovan on IL with nagging groin injury
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MIAMI -- Playing through discomfort finally reached an unwanted finish.
Cardinals star infielder Brendan Donovan tried to remain on the active roster while he dealt with a left groin strain. With the Cardinals in need of his valued production at the plate, Donovan balanced rest with the occasional appearance to remedy the problem.
On Monday, the patient approach ended when the Cardinals placed Donovan on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Friday.
“It’s pretty frustrating. I don’t like sitting [at] any time,” Donovan said Monday before the Cardinals opened a three-game series in Miami against the Marlins. “I feel we have an opportunity with a lot of season left to make a little run, so that’s definitely frustrating. But I understand that sometimes things happen that are a little bit out of your control. What I can control right now is being a good teammate and just trying to get healthy.”
The 28-year-old Donovan first experienced groin discomfort in the Cardinals’ 5-0 victory that opened a three-game home series against the Cubs on Aug. 8. Donovan sat out the final two games of the series and then delivered the game-winning two-run pinch-hit double that beat the Rockies in the opener of their three-game set on Aug. 11.
After starting the last two games of the Rockies series, Donovan sat out the entire three-game set against the Yankees over the weekend, when the Cardinals were swept at home to extend their losing skid to five.
“It’s hard to keep going [in] short day in and day out,” Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said. “In pregame today, he just didn’t feel right, so we decided to make this decision.”
Without Donovan, the Cardinals’ attempt to remain in the NL Wild Card race took a deep blow. Donovan, the club’s lone representative in this year’s All-Star Game, has a team-leading 118 hits.
St. Louis entered Monday at 61-64 and 5 1/2 games behind the Mets for the third NL Wild Card.
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“It’s really only lateral things, running was OK,” Donovan said. “But pushing off to get a ground ball, and with my rear leg and my swings, I think all of it affected that.
“Playing through pain is one thing. I think when you play a professional sport, that’s just part of it. But when pain starts affecting performance, that’s when I realized it might have been a little deeper than a little bump and a bruise here.”
In the corresponding move, the Cardinals recalled infielder José Fermín from Triple-A Memphis.
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Instead of remaining with the club during its two-city road trip to Miami and Tampa, Donovan will return to St. Louis on Tuesday to begin his rehab.
“There are just a lot more resources at home, but I don’t want to take time from guys in the training room that are playing,” Donovan said. “That was an important aspect of that as well.”
Cardinals injured star third baseman Nolan Arenado is expected to join the club Tuesday during its series in Miami, although he remains weeks from being activated.
Arenado has been rehabbing a right shoulder strain at the club’s Spring Training complex in Jupiter, Fla. The early phase of Arenado’s rehab consists only of fielding grounders. There is no timeline yet on when he will expand to throwing or hitting.
Before he arrives, Arenado’s locker in the visitors' clubhouse in Miami is already set with his uniform.
An eight-time All-Star, Arenado has been sidelined since Aug. 1 in a subpar offensive season. The 34-year-old third baseman is batting .235 and has a .660 OPS in 96 games.