St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter isn’t completely ruling out returning to the mound this season.
The 37-year-old right hander admitted Monday that he cannot pitch the way he feels right now. He’s been dealing with recurring numbness, pain and says he had none of the problems he had before spring training last year.
“And I was real excited about what was going to happen this year, and how much fun it was going to be coming back and being healthy again, until I threw off the mound and my hand went blue,” Carpenter said.
But he says if doctors ever clear him to start throwing again – he will.
“It’s an obligation to a ball club that I said last year has invested in me,” Carpenter said. “I don’t know, maybe I don’t ever want it to end.”
Carpenter missed almost all of last season with similar symptoms, and had surgery in July of 2012. He says he won’t go through another operation, which would be the ninth of his major league career.
He also says he has no plans to go down to Florida with the team, although he says he’s been asked several times.
