The week started out on a grim note for the St. Louis Cardinals, who learned that they’ll be without Adam Wainwright for the season after the ace hurler ruptured his Achille’s tendon while digging out of the batter’s box last Saturday night.

It’s terrible news for Wainwright’s fantasy owners and also for the Cards, who are off to an excellent start in the NL Central. St. Louis has a history of overcoming setbacks like this, but the drop-off will obviously be massive. Prospect Tim Cooney got the first shot at replacing Wainwright on Thursday and didn’t make it through three innings. Carlos Villanueva or Tyler Lyons could be next in line. Eventually, it is expected that Marco Gonzales — currently recovering from a pectoral injury and aiming to return later this month — will settle into that spot.

The Cardinals believe Wainwright will be ready to go for the start of the 2016 season.

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* Wainwright wasn’t the only big rotation blow suffered by a National League contender this week. The Dodgers got their own dose of bad news when Brandon McCarthy was diagnosed with a torn UCL. He underwent Tommy John surgery on Thursday and will miss the remainder of the 2015 season.

Signed to a four-year deal as a free agent in December, McCarthy’s first four starts in Los Angeles were a mixed bag; he fanned 29 batters in 25 innings, but also coughed up a whopping nine homers. He will most likely be out until next June or July.

* Homer Bailey and the Reds considered a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection to address his sprained right ligament, but ultimately opted for surgery, so he too will go under the knife for Tommy John. It’s been a tough string of events for the talented righty, who had shown substantially reduced velocity in his first few starts following right flexor tendon surgery last September. Hopefully this operation gets Bailey’s arm all squared away and he can return to the impressive form he showed from 2012 through 2014. The Reds, who are invested in him for $91 million through 2019, are crossing their fingers.

* Alcides Escobar took a fastball to the helmet from Cleveland’s Danny Salazar on Wednesday night, becoming the 20th Royal to be hit by a pitch this season. The good news is that, despite Yordano Ventura‘s presence on the mound opposite Salazar, there was no retaliation and the situation didn’t escalate. The better news is that Escobar appears to have avoided serious injury and was diagnosed with only a cheek contusion.

Kansas City did place the shortstop on the 7-day concussion list, so he’ll be out for at least a week, with Christian Colon stepping in. He offers moderate value as a deep-league plug-in.

* Speaking of Ventura, he dropped his suspension appeal and began serving his seven-game ban on Thursday. He’ll return next Friday to face the Tigers.

* The ageless Bartolo Colon finally lost his first game, falling to the Marlins in Miami, but he still wasn’t terrible by any means, allowing four runs over 6 2/3 innings. It ended a season-opening streak of four quality starts, all victories. Colon hasn’t walked a batter since issuing a free pass to Ryan Zimmerman in the season’s first game — a string of 107 straight batters. Awfully impressive for a guy who will turn 42 later this month.

* Nelson Cruz launched a couple more homers this week to push his league-leading total to 11. He was the only player in the majors to reach 40 homers last year and he appears poised to do so again this year. Following Cruz on the MLB home run leaderboard, entering Saturday: Hanley Ramirez (10), Adrian Gonzalez/Mark Teixeira (8), Todd Frazier/Joey Votto (7).

* Jed Lowrie tore a ligament in his thumb while sliding into home plate on Monday, and surgery will put him on the shelf until around the All-Star break. It’s very unfortunate for the shortstop, who was well on his way to rebounding from a down year in Oakland, with a stellar .300/.432/.567 line through 18 games. During his absence, Marwin Gonzalez and Jonathan Villar will take over at short.

* Ricky Nolasco, who’s been sidelined since his first start due to elbow inflammation, returns to the Twins rotation Saturday, with Tommy Milone heading to the minors. Nolasco can’t be trusted for fantasy purposes, but the good news here is that Trevor May — who offers real sleeper value — sticks as a starter.

* After some early struggles forced him out of the closer role in Toronto, Brett Cecil has reclaimed the job from Miguel Castro, according to Jays manager John Gibbons. Cecil picked up his first save with a scoreless frame in Boston on Tuesday. For now he needs to be owned, but Gibbons has proven volatile with his handling of closer duties.

* Masahiro Tanaka landed on the disabled list with wrist tendinitis and a right forearm strain. The latter is particularly worrisome given that he’s been pitching with a partially torn ligament in his elbow. We’re nervous to say the least.

* The Dodgers placed veteran outfielder Carl Crawford on the DL with an oblique strain that Crawford himself referred to as “a bad tear.” Oblique strains generally require at least a month in recovery time, so from the sound of it Crawford could be out for a while. This could be a chance for Cuban import Alex Guerrero, who’s batting .423 in early action, to show his stuff with an extended chance.