Fantasy Baseball: Should You Bail on Adam Wainwright?

To say Adam Wainwright is off to a brutal start would be a serious understatement. After three starts he is 0-3 with a bloated 9.88 ERA and a robust 1.61 WHIP.

While I didn’t expect him to return to the 2.42 ERA and 1.05 WHIP of 2010 as he recovers from Tommy John surgery, I didn’t expect him to be this bad.

His velocity is down, and that could certainly play into his rough start. I’m not sure he gets back to his 2010 level anytime soon, but as he builds arm strength he should be hitting 90 regularly on the gun.

Along with the increased arm strength will come confidence. That is probably equally as important as the physical aspect.

Wainwright has been knocked around by the Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds in his three starts. Opening with three losses against divisional foes could be weighing on him. He gets a chance to turn it around with another start against the Cubs on Tuesday.

Adam should be able to get in the win column as the Cards are clearly the better team. The Cubs are struggling as usual and the Cards have been nearly flawless in non-Wainwright starts.

Despite the struggles, he is still making bats miss. In 13 2/3 innings he has recorded 14 strikeouts. If he weren’t striking batters out a high rate I might be more concerned, but my gut says he’ll turn things around.

It is definitely too early to completely hit the panic button. I can see shelving him until he gets his groove back. I wouldn’t drop him outright or sell low on him.

Also check out:

• Is Jake Peavy Back?
• Should You Be Concerned With Kevin Youkilis?
• Should You Snatch Up Alejandro De Aza?
• Is J.A. Happ Back?
• Should You Own Adam LaRoche?