Albert Pujols Expected To Start Wednesday, Is Actually A Machine

Albert Pujols's four-to-six week stint on the disabled list following an injury sustained in a collision at first base has faced down Pujols in mortal combat and lost, possibly because the St. Louis Cardinals' famously mechanical first baseman is not a mortal. A day after being activated from the DL Pujols is expected to start in Wednesday night's game against the Cincinnati Reds, with Bronson Arroyo the lucky recipient of Pujols's return up to a month ahead of schedule.

Pujols was on his hottest streak of the year when the injury occurred; he had homered earlier that day and finished his abbreviated month of June with eight home runs in 63 at-bats. Wrist injuries are always terrifying for hitters, but Pujols has been subjected to and passed a series of diagnostics and burn-ins—sorry, I mean human physical examinations—and passed all of them, even the Turing Test.

With Pujols back in the lineup the Cardinals will shift All-Star starter Lance Berkman back to the outfield, leaving less playing time for third-and-a-half outfielder Jon Jay.

Albert Pujols Injury Update: Cardinals Activate Slugger From Disabled List

Albert Pujols’ injury was expected to keep him out of the St. Louis Cardinals lineup for quite awhile. 15 days later, however, and the latest update it quite promising.

Pujols was activated from 15-day disabled list on Tuesday, according to an announcement from the team, after originally suffering a small fracture on his wrist on June 19. The original injury happened when Wilson Betemit of the Kansas City Royals collided with the slugger at first base.

Pujols wasn’t immediately reinserted to the starting lineup for the Cardinals game Tuesday night against the Cincinnati Reds, but there seems to be a chance he would be available to pinch hit since the team made the move to activate him.

Considering the initial diagnosis was that Pujuls would be out of the Cardinals lineup for around six weeks, it’s pretty surprising that he’s been activated so early — not that anyone should be complaining, though.

To make room for Pujols in St. Louis, the Cardinals moved relief pitcher Brian Tallett to the disabled list retroactive to Monday.

Albert Pujols's Wrist Injury Healing Sooner Than Expected, Per Report

An unusually direct report from Joe Strauss Saturday suggests our national Albert Pujols injury nightmare could soon be over, if his sources are correct; the Post-Dispatch writer suggests that the St. Louis Cardinals' recently unslumped first baseman will be back right after the All-Star Break if current conditions hold after his next examination by team doctors. 

I'm not sure what the doctors' apparently "aggressive treatment to promote healing" is, but if it's working I can't complain. 

In the meantime, the Cardinals have started erstwhile right fielder Lance Berkman at the position while sticking Jon Jay in right, allowing for a defensive upgrade in the outfield to partially offset the loss of Pujols, who was in the middle of a thunderous June when he took a poorly placed ball from Pete Kozma directly into the path of Kansas City Royals infielder Wilson Betemit. 

Pujols was hitting .317/.419/.778 in June after hitting just two home runs in May and struggling to get on base in April. His successful return from a wrist injury would do a lot to assuage concerns about his apparent decline heading into one of the most eagerly anticipated offseasons in recent memory for teams that aren't the Cardinals. 

Albert Pujols Should Take His Time On Wrist Injury

Albert Pujols's absence from the St. Louis Cardinals' lineup just as he'd become Albert Pujols again isn't the only reason his team has sunk from first place, but it's as good a reason as any, and the wrist injury he suffered—for which he's expected to miss four to six weeks—has predictably become a cause for speculation by fans desperate for a shot in the arm. Bernie Miklasz accurately assessed the major question about Pujols's availability when he asked off-handedly whether anyone "really [thought] a team doctor [would] make Pujols wait" if the slugger declared himself ready to play ahead of schedule. 

I don't think a team doctor would, but I think he should. Wrist injuries—even the relatively straightforward one Pujols suffered—are scary. Every team has its own anecdote about a hitter who returned too early from one and was never quite the same afterward, and the Cardinals can't afford for Pujols to be that guy—especially if they want to sign him in the offseason. 

Albert Pujols Wrist Injury: Free Agency Implications Are Still Unknowable

With Albert Pujols set to miss 4-6 weeks with a broken wrist, fans and would-be experts of the St. Louis Cardinals are reopening the book on his future in free agency—one that's been closed since the tense end to negotiations in Spring Training and his slow start to the season seemed to render it completely impossible to figure. The one SB Nation St. Louis position on the wrist's ramifications on that free agency situation is this: it is still completely impossible to figure.

For one thing, Pujols's production after the wrist injury is going to have more bearing on what goes on in his contract negotiations than his production before it. His impossibly hot June has turned him back into an above-average first baseman, if not a competitor for the title of best ever, so if he comes out of the wrist injury batting like Albert Pujols general managers might be willing to forget the GIDPs ever happened.

The wrist injury heightens the risk, though. Wrist injuries are scary; every team has a story about a promising hitter ruined by wrist injuries (our most recent one is Joe Mather), and slumps can quickly turn into fuel for a paranoid mind when it comes to wrists, to backs, to knees. If he has the same slump he had in May in August he could be in for a chillier-than-usual reception.

Five Albert Pujols Grieving Lessons From The Movie-Old-Testament

Albert Pujols's injury is catastrophic enough to warrant, for St. Louis Cardinals fans, the biggest gun in the Hollywood arsenal: Faux-Biblical grieving.

Albert Pujols Injury: The St. Louis Cardinals' Alternate Options Apparently Not Limited To Lance Berkman

Albert Pujols is going to miss 4-6 weeks with a broken wrist he suffered in a collision during the St. Louis Cardinals' victory over the Kansas City Royals, but with the off-day on Monday the Cardinals avoided making a move to put him on the 15-day disabled list. With a few options for replacing the slugger—none of them, obviously, satisfactory—they could go a few ways when it comes time to utilize his spot on the 25-man roster. The most obvious option is to move Lance Berkman, their comeback player of the year candidate, back to his natural first base, but the Cardinals insist that's not the only thing they're considering.

If they do go another direction, it's likely to involve Mark Hamilton, the left-handed first baseman who's spent much of his minor league career stagnating behind the assumption that Albert Pujols would always be ahead of him in St. Louis. Hamilton's spent a few stints on the Cardinals roster as a mostly invisible pinch hitter, and was sent down just a few days ago to fortify the Cardinals' bullpen. Allen Craig is the Cardinals' primary platoon partner from the right side, but while he's on the disabled list for his own broken bone Hamilton would be spotted by fellow Memphis refugee Andrew Brown.

With Berkman's lack of range in the outfield and Jon Jay's hot hitting it makes little sense to maintain the status quo like that, but the Cardinals continue to insist it's a possibility.

Albert Pujols Will Reportedly Miss 4-6 Weeks With Fractured Wrist

When Albert Pujols was sent into a heap on Sunday, it didn't look very good. He was in an incredible amount of pain, and it was fairly obvious to see that the prognosis wasn't good. Well the MRI results are in, and Pujols reportedly has a fracture in his wrist, and will miss between four and six weeks of action.

This obviously leaves a big hole in the Cardinals offense and at first base for a little while. Their offense had been dynamic this year, with Pujols, Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman. The remaining two might be able to carry the offense while Pujols is out of comission, but they won't be able to get it done completely by themselves. The Cardinals will need some other players to step up, while their biggest bat let's his wrist heal.

Albert Pujols Injury: His Shoulder's Bugging Him Too, While He's At it

The St. Louis Cardinals team doctors have a reputation (and I think they share it with just about every other team doctor in the Major Leagues in his home city) for obfuscating the injuries that are coming across their desk—everybody seems to be progressing nicely, at all times, for the most part—but I don’t think we can blame them for the sidestory regarding Albert Pujols’s wrist injury, which is that his shoulder is also hurting.

Pujols himself performed the progressing nicely bit this time, mentioning the shoulder in the middle of a longer quote about his wrist, which will be checked further Monday.

At this point Pujols has so many nagging injuries from so many different seasons—the just-hanging-on elbow, the plantar fasciitis, the constant, undifferentiated limping—that it’s probably natural for him to be this vague. But I’m not sure I, as a fan, will ever be able to get used to it, no matter how nicely the shoulder turns out to be progressing.

Albert Pujols Injury: St. Louis Cardinals Schedule MRI, X-Ray For Slugger's Wrist

Albert Pujols's wrist injury situation will become a bit clearer for the St. Louis Cardinals Monday, for better or worse, when they he's given an MRI and an x-ray that should confirm or rule out ligament damage and fractures that were an open question on Sunday, after Pujols injured the wrist in a collision at first base with Wilson Betemit. The Cardinals were "cautiously optimistic" following the first battery of tests, run immediately after the Cardinals' win against the Kansas City Royals. 

Pujols, who struggled throughout April and May, including a month in which he hit just two home runs, finds himself off the field in the middle of the best stretch of hitting he's had this season. Earlier in the game he hit his 17th home run earlier in the game, a hard line drive down the left field line for his eighth homer of June. If Pujols hits the disabled list, the Cardinals are likely to play Lance Berkman at first base and start Jon Jay much of the time in right field. 

Albert Pujols Injures Wrist In St. Louis Cardinals Win

After a season-long slump Albert Pujols has spent most of June reminding opposing pitchers why he's the most feared hitter in baseball, but after his wrist injury Sunday he might spend the rest of it on the bench. The St. Louis Cardinals' slugger was injured on a play at first base when an errant throw led his glove on a collision course with Royals third baseman Wilson Betemit. Pujols left the game immediately, and while early tests were negative for broken bones the Cardinals have been cautious in making any suggestions about the severity of the injury until tests are performed on Monday. 

Pujols hit a long home run and scored another run early in the game before leaving, pushing his seasonal numbers to .279/.355/.500 with 17 home runs and 45 RBI. The injury comes in a month in which he's slugging over .700 and looking more like the Albert Pujols the Cardinals expected to have to sign in the offseason than he has all season. 

The Cardinals are expected to give a timeframe for Pujols's injury some time after they perform Monday's MRI. While Pujols is gone Lance Berkman is expected to stand in at first base, with Jon Jay getting the bulk of the time in right field.