MLB Rumors: Adam Lind Waived; Could He Help St. Louis Cardinals?

The Toronto Blue Jays have outrighted struggling OF/1B Adam Lind, giving the rest of Major League Baseball the chance to sign their recently optioned would-be slugger. Lind, 28, was a top prospect circa 2007 and had an outstanding 2009 season, hitting .305/.370/.562 with 35 home runs and 114 RBI. But he's struggled to make contact since; in 2010 and 2011 he hit .241/.291/.432, and he opened 2012 with a .186 average, poor enough for the Blue Jays to finally pull the trigger and (potentially) release him. He has little defensive value, and he looks like a possible washout, but—in the wake of Lance Berkman's injury, could the St. Louis Cardinals use him?

The reason the Blue Jays outrighted him in the first place, of course, is that they think he'll slip through waivers. He's due $5 million this year and the next, and $3.5 million in buyouts on what were once team-friendly option seasons in the three years after that. But he seems like a classic change-of-scenery gamble that some team's going to make, and if the Cardinals aren't ready to push Matt Adams to the big leagues and Lance Berkman's MRI comes back with bad news it might make sense.