St. Louis Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol might have to make an uncomfortable decision regarding Adam Wainwright. Needing just two more victories to achieve the 200th win of his MLB career, Adam Wainwright is as bad as any starting pitcher in the National League. For the season, the Cardinals' starter has an 8.78 ERA and a 2.09 WHIP.

Wainwright gave up eight runs and nine hits to the Kansas City Royals in just one inning of work Friday night. Since picking up his 198th career win, Wainwright has an astronomical 15.55 ERA in seven starts. How much longer can Marmol and the Cardinals keep sending Wainwright out to the mound?

“It’s delicate, to be quite honest,” Marmol said, via The Athletic. “He’s a pro, and we’ve had some really honest conversations. Is it ideal? No, it’s not.

“I’ll sit back down with Waino and we’ll talk through a couple of things before I completely answer (what comes next). … Is it tough when you put up that many runs and you can’t gain momentum because of how many you gave up in the first two (innings)? Absolutely. I understand all of it. It’s unfortunate the way this has played out, but I’ll sit down with him and we’ll talk through some things and see what’s next.”

Wins and losses don't necessarily matter to the Cardinals. They are well out of the playoff race and admitted as much by becoming sellers at the trade deadline.

So what if Wainwright doesn't give St. Louis a chance to win most of the time he pitches? If he can get to 200 wins by the end of the 2023 season, all of those disastrous outings will have been worth it.

That's one line of thinking. The other line says that the Cardinals can't justify keeping Wainwright in the rotation, even if they aren't going to the playoffs. St. Louis' players are still trying to win when they take the field. The fans in the stands have paid good money to see a competitive product.

“I keep getting surprised by these outings,” Wainwright said. “I keep thinking I’m going to turn the corner and be great for this team down the stretch, and I just let us down again. I deserve all the negativity that I’m getting right now. I deserve it. I can stand up to that. I deserve it, and I just have to wear it and keep going.”

It sounds like Wainwright would understand if Marmol took him out of the rotation. It remains to be seen if the Cardinals will pull the trigger on such a decision with Wainwright so close to a career milestone.