Jon Jay Injury: Rehab Assignment Imminent For St. Louis Cardinals CF

The St. Louis Cardinals have been without an every-day center fielder since Jon Jay's shoulder sprain proved too much for him to play through a month ago—AAA regulars Adron Chambers and Shane Robinson and Carlos Beltran, whose knees preclude a permanent assignment there, aren't a permanent solution—and while Skip Schumaker's Tuesday return means they won't be quite so thin on the ground there, the imminent beginning of Jay's rehab assignment could finally mean an end to their outfield depth problem.

Derrick Goold reported Monday on Jay's rehab schedule, and if he can make it through his trip to AAA Memphis without suffering a relapse of the shoulder pain that sent him to the DL in the first place he'll be the Cardinals' most important returnee since they finally got Allen Craig back after his second DL go-around.

That leaves Jaime Garcia, Chris Carpenter, and Lance Berkman still on the disabled list, but at this point Cardinals fans will have to be happy with what little good injury luck they've had; counting the wins above replacement currently sitting on the 15-day disabled list is too depressing for anybody's good.

Jon Jay Injury: Cardinals OF Nears Minor League Rehab Assignment

St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Jon Jay is traveling to the team's spring training complex on Sunday with a scheduled batting practice for Monday, as Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. If the live batting practice goes well, Jay will likely be assigned to one of the team's minor league affiliates for rehab soon.

Jon Jay is headed to Florida this evening to join the campus there for BP tomorrow and could begin a rehab assignment soon after #STLcards

— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) May 27, 2012

Jay, 27, was hitting .343/.395/.438 with two homers over 117 plate appearances with the team before going down with the shoulder injury. He's eligible to come off the disabled list on Wednesday.

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