Cardinals right-hander has been diagnosed with a mild strain of his right hamstring, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak announced Tuesday morning ( via Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). While Mozeliak called it encouraging news that Gray had dodged a more serious strain, he acknowledged that it could be challenging to get Gray ready for the beginning of the season and that Opening Day is now in question for the teams top offseason acquisition. Gray mi sed time with a pair of strains in this same hamstring as a member of the Twins back in 2022, though Mozeliak told reporters today that the team is confident this is le s severe. Its a mild enough i sue that Mozeliak has already spoken out against the po sibility of Grays injury spurring further additions on the starting staff ( via John Denton of MLB.com). I definitely feel its not something that is required at this point, Mozeliak said when asked about potentially bringing in some additional help for the rotation. Obviously if something changes, wed have to look at it differently, but were not thinking Brandon Beachy Jersey well have to do anything now. The Cardinals about either or recently, and a mild injury for Gray wouldve been an unlikely catalyst for such a major response anyhow. Mozeliaks comments make it unlikely that remaining second-tier arms like and will be considered, though its po sible the Cards could look to add some modest depth either via waivers or perhaps with a minor league deal for a veteran whos amenable to a non-guaranteed pact. With Gray presumably on the shelf to start the season, the Opening Day nod feels likelier to fall to veteran . Hed be followed by lefty and righties and , both of whom signed a one-year contract in free agency this past offseason. (Matz is entering the third season of a four-year, $44MM free agent deal himself.) The top in-house options to step into the fifth starter spot, if needed, are lefties and . Fellow southpaw made eight starts for the Cards last season but struggled to an ERA north of 8.00 in the proce s. The Cardinals signed Gray to a three-year, $75MM contract this offseason and forfeited their second-highest draft pick as well as $500K of space from next years international bonus pool in order to do so. Hed already been tabbed the teams Opening Day starter. Gray finished second to in American League Cy Young voting last season after giving the Twins 184 innings of 2.79 ERA ball through 32 starts. He fanned 24.3% of his opponents against a 7.3% walk rate. The Cardinals, meanwhile, posted the fifth-worst ERA in baseball at 5.08 a number that includes 21 starts from Montgomery (3.52 ERA) and 20 from (4.43 ERA) both of whom were traded at the deadline. The trio of Gray, Gibson and Lynn was signed in large part to provide some stable veteran innings, though Gray obviously comes with a front-of-the-rotation ceiling as well. For now, his ability to lead the staff will be placed on hold, but if its a short enough absence therell still be time for Gray to perhaps make 30 starts for the Cards when all is said and done. Austin Barnes Jersey