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Adam Wainwright, fighting off Father Time, is empowered by the Cardinals' young pitching

He's 37 and still wanting to prove something. Somehow, a chip still resides on his shoulder as old age creeps in.
Credit: Dan Buffa
Adam Wainwright at the Cardinals' Care Winter Warm Up

Since I could remember, people have said that kids keep you young. They empower you in a way that helps you fool old age and stay mobile. For Adam Wainwright and the St. Louis Cardinals, that's a gamble worth taking heading into the 2019 season.

But it almost wasn't a reality.

Up until September of last season, Wainwright was set on calling it quits. When asked by Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com, Wainwright admitted without hesitation that he was close to calling it a career. Then, he threw a baseball and didn't feel any pain. Wainwright recalled that it was the first time in a long time that he threw without pain.

Right then and there, he wanted to come back.

Now, I know what you are thinking. This is a familiar tale being spun a different way on another snowy January afternoon. Wainwright walked into the media room at the Winter Warm-up with similar statements and plans before hitting a wall.

Wainwright would agree with the skepticism surrounding his comments. 

"The last year or two, I may have stood up here and said I was going to go out there and win 25 games, but deep down, I didn't really feel it," he said. 

Wainwright called this offseason "different."

For some reason, he said these words with more conviction this time. Call it intuition or just a pure hunch, but Wainwright had a very healthy offseason, one that doesn't just involve surviving 162 games and the playoffs, but winning a Cy Young. Whether that's true or preposterous, remember who is saying it.

It is Wainwright's bulldog persona that has carried him through career-threatening injuries: stoppages like Tommy John surgery, a ruptured Achilles and countless other ailments. He's 37 and still wanting to prove something. Somehow, a chip still resides on his shoulder as old age creeps in, and he's batting it down as best as he can.

What helps? Youth crowding around you.

Back in 2014, Wainwright talked about Michael Wacha and Carlos Martinez as a couple of the young bucks firing him up and keeping him honest. Looking around this offseason at all the new faces coming into the media room, and the atmosphere is ripe for empowerment. Dakota Hudson, Jack Flaherty, Jordan Hicks and Alex Reyes are just a few of the young guns gunning for innings and a chance at greatness.

Wainwright looks at the youth coming from Memphis and loves it, noting how they won a championship there and that brand of winning coming to St. Louis will only help. There's a winning vibe around the room that the veteran pitcher likes.

After 13 seasons and 1,932 big-league innings, Wainwright is ready for anything. When asked about his role in 2019, he wouldn't allude to starting or relieving, but all signs point to him getting the nod in the rotation.

It's been so long since Wainwright went into a season aligned as a bullpen asset for me to think that is an option that would lead to success. If he is truly as healthy as his conviction suggests, Wainwright needs to pitch in the first and not relieve in the sixth inning. See what he's got, set him up to be his best, and watch the reality fall into place.

I'll say this. A healthy Wainwright makes for a good story. A healthy and effective Wainwright makes the Cardinals' pitching staff deeper and more dangerous. As John Brebbia noted earlier today, they could have enough for two rotations if the American League needed an extra Midwest team.

The odds may not be in Wainwright's favor anymore, but he's pitching on an incentive-laden contract for the first time in his career. If he builds the innings, the trust will come.

Adam Wainwright is cool with that. He wants the adversity, challenge and opportunity to swarm him all at once.

That's his preferred speed. The time when tough guys rise up or fall by the wayside.

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