Cardinals' Garcia shut down with arm fatigue

Jaime Garcia's troublesome run of health problems encountered another setback Saturday that will almost assuredly take him out of consideration for the final spot in the St. Louis Cardinals rotation.

Garcia, who had been competing this spring with Carlos Martinez and Marco Gonzales, was scratched from Sunday's start with left arm fatigue between his biceps and shoulder, derailing an encouraging spring and putting his status for Opening Day in jeopardy.

"He just hasn't bounced back after his last start in a positive way," Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak told reporters Saturday. "He felt it was difficult to keep at this pace, so we decided to slow things down. He was fast-tracking already, and I think everybody was surprised how fast it was going. So it makes sense at this point to slow things down."

After making just 16 starts since 2012 due to shoulder surgery and thoracic outlet syndrome, Garcia entered camp with a renewed sense of optimism and seemingly clean bill of health. The 28-year-old had 13 strikeouts in 9 1/3 innings this spring and had emerged as a front-runner to claim the final spot in the rotation. 

"This definitely puts us back to the drawing board," Matheny said. "We've still got some good options. I like how our guys are throwing. We are going to have to think it out, think it through."

Gonzales will start in Garcia's place Sunday.