Has Izzy Thrown His Last Pitch?

The Cardinals will put Jason Isringhausen on the disabled list today after an MRI revealed last night that he's suffered a torn muscle in his right elbow. Relatively speaking, the injury isn't all that serious -- he has a partially torn flexor muscle, but his ligaments are intact -- but the timing couldn't be worse.

The injury will obviously sideline him for the rest of the year, but considering he's set to become a free agent at the end of the season, there's a good chance that he'll choose retirement over undergoing surgery and rehabilitating all winter long in hopes that some team out there has a soft spot for an aging, oft-injured reliever:

La Russa said Isringhausen told him he wouldn't pull a "Brett Favre - retire and rethink it later."

"What he's got to do is not make any kind of decision, where emotions are involved with an arm problem," La Russa said. "He showed this spring that his body is still strong.

Izzy has definitely suffered through a frustrating season, posting a 5.70 ERA and twice being removed from the closer role, but if he has thrown his final pitch, he should be proud: his 293 saves rank 22nd in big league history, and since signing with the Cardinals before the 2002 season, he's become his hometown team's all-time leader in saves.