Adam Wainwright has dealt with injury concerns in 2023. He's also struggled when healthy. Still, the Cardinals have stuck with Wainwright as his retirement looms. That may change soon though if the veteran right-hander can't find his footing soon.

“We sat down, we talked through it, like: ‘Listen, we’re going to take your next start and I’m looking forward to seeing it. And then we’re going to sit down after and reevaluate how it went and go from there,'” manager Oliver Marmol said, via John Denton of MLB.com. “Hopefully, it goes well, and we can keep going. If it doesn’t, we’ll sit down and we’ll have another honest conversation as to what does this really look like moving forward and what’s best? He’s been great about it.”

Cardinals: Adam Wainwright's future

Wainwright is going to retire following the 2023 season. The question is whether or not he will remain in the starting rotation through the end of the season. If he labors in his next scheduled start, which is expected to be on Thursday, the Cardinals will consider going in a different direction.

Still, the situation is questionable. If the Cardinals were in playoff contention then moving on from Wainwright would be an obvious decision. Since St. Louis is currently last in the NL Central and won't be competing for a playoff spot barring a miraculous turnaround, the Cardinals could just continue to roll with Wainwright given his legacy.

Regardless of opinions on the matter, it appears Thursday's outing will be crucial in determining how Adam Wainwright will finish his MLB career.