As a typical, die-hard Cardinals fan, the news about Reyes struck me down when I heard about his season-ending Tommy-John surgery.
After a fantastic rookie year (1.57 ERA) at the young age of 21, Reyes is sure to be the future of the Cardinals, alongside other rising stars like Carlos Martinez, Stephen Piscotty, and even Randall Grichuk.
Thus, losing Reyes so soon is devastating news to hear. The NL Central is probably the most competitive division in the MLB, with the Cardinals, Cubs, Reds, and Pirates likely to contend for the title this season. With the hailing World Series champion Cubs returning all their stars this year, the Cardinals need all the help they can get. Losing Reyes cripples their pitching staff, so we will need some new faces to step up to the challenge, in traditional Cardinals fashion.
As far the ramifications of this, we will have to see, as no one (not even ESPN) can predict how the Cardinals will perform on a year-to-year basis. Personally, with the return of a healthy Matt Adams, alongside the addition of Dexter Fowler, I think the Cardinals will give the Cubs a great run this year, and I bet the Cards and Cubs will both make the playoffs, one taking the Central, with the other taking the Wild Card.
Although the loss of Reyes is tough to swallow, Cardinals baseball has a 'next man up' mentality, so I am excited to see who will pick up the responsibility that Reyes' void presents for this season.
Go birds.





















