The St. Louis Cardinals finally get some good injury news Friday: Allen Craig is set to come off the 15-day disabled list, 15 days after being scratched from an already thin Cardinals lineup with a sore hamstring. He's hitting .373/.424/.765 in his 13 games with the club so far—that's .301/.352/.540 in his career—and he's clearly deserving of a starting role in this depleted lineup. But his return leaves the Cardinals with an interesting conundrum: What do they do with Matt Adams?
Adams is probably ready to hit in the major leagues, but he can only play first base. Do they send him back down to Memphis for at-bats, or do they keep him on the 25-man roster as the small side of a platoon with Craig until Lance Berkman gets back? If Craig's hamstring problem has lingered at all it makes sense to keep a backup around, but it could be tough to find at-bats for Adams if Craig is ready to play every day.
For once, at least, the Cardinals find themselves with a good problem to have.
Matt Carpenter, a third baseman by trade and a first baseman as the result of Lance Berkman's injury-shortened April, could see additional time in right field if Craig and Beltran both miss time, with Skip Schumaker's continued absence from the infield benefiting second basemen Tyler Greene and Daniel Descalso.
We should know more about the status of Craig and Beltran in time for Friday afternoon's series finale against the Giants, but if one of them needs to go on the disabled list to make room for a Mark Hamilton or Adron Chambers the Cardinals could regret pinch-hitting Carlos Beltran on each of his first two go-arounds with this current knee issue.
