Allen Craig injury: St. Louis Cardinals get a not-the-worst-case scenario

Things could be worse than a sprained foot. Derrick Goold has the not-the-worst-case scenario: Allen Craig still in  a walking boot, but his foot still in one piece. The St. Louis Cardinals don't have an estimated date for his return yet, but at this point optimism that he'll be back in 2013 is itself a pretty tight timetable.

Granted: The Cardinals' last win demonstrated their ability to replace Craig without suffering a second Kozmaclysm. But as good as Matt Adams has been this year—.265/.325/.470, an OPS+ of 118—he's giving up 50 points of OBP to Craig, who's in the middle of his third consecutive year as a great hitter who doesn't play the full season for some reason.

Without Craig—and with Oscar Taveras hurt—the Cardinals are dependent on Adams continuing his run, and maybe a couple of starts from Brock Peterson and Kolten-Wong-by-way-of-David-Freese. That's certainly manageable, but I'd just as soon the Cardinals didn't have to manage it. Great depth is like life insurance; it feels a little like a rip-off if you don't use it, but that's the goal anyway.

(Full-on VEB Daily post forthcoming—I was on a tight deadline to, uh, review the Backstreet Boys.)