St. Louis Cardinals injury updates: When will Matt Adams, Matt Holliday, Randal Grichuk, and Jon Jay return from the DL?

As Joe broke down on Thursday, the St. Louis Cardinals have dealt with a number of injuries this 2015 season. The club currently has seven players on the disabled list. General manager John Mozeliak appeared on KMOX Sunday morning with Mike Kelly. Mozeliak discussed the health of the Cardinals outfielders currently on the DL, so I thought today would be a good day to take stock of the status of some of our injured Redbirds.

Matt Adams

Mozeliak stated that he would revisit Adams as early as Tuesday of this week. Mozeliak said that if things were going well, he was "hopeful" that Adams would "hop the fence" and play in some games for Palm Beach. They "will push him" if they can push him.

Matt Holliday

Holliday is in Florida working out at present. Mozeliak hopes that Holliday will be on a treadmill, "pushing himself" by the end of the week. Once Holliday starts working out on the treadmill, according to Mozeliak, the left fielder should be able to return to game action in two or three weeks.

Randal Grichuk

Mozeliak stressed patience with respect to Grichuk. He gave the time of "a couple weeks from now" as the point when the risk would be gone for further (or worsening) of his elbow injury. This timeframe echoed the one Mozeliak initially articulated last Monday, when the Cardinals placed Grichuk on the DL.

Jon Jay

When asked about Jay, Mozeliak said, "I'm optimistic but I'm also realistic." The GM conceded that Jay's recuperation of wrist surgery last October took longer than anyone had anticipated. He said that Jay would have to get his timing back at the plate. Mozeliak also stated that being cleared to take batting practice is one thing and that Jay would also have to establish that he is physically prepared for the everyday grind of the season. He did not offer a timeline for Jay's return, stating that they needed to get eyes on Jay in game action before determining such. Listen to the audio for yourself, but the vibe with respect to Jay felt more negative than when Mozeliak discussed Adams, Holliday, or Grichuk.

Jordan Walden

On Sunday morning's KMOX appearance, Mozeliak did not discuss Walden's timetable for a return. You'll recall that the club placed the righty on the DL back in April with a biceps strain in the shoulder area of his throwing arm. St. Louis eventually transferred Walden to the 60-day DL. Walden appeared for Springfield and then Memphis on a rehab stint in July, but a setback caused the Cardinals to move him to Florida.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch beat writer Derrick Goold reported an update on the setup man last week:

While the team tours the west coast, setup man Jordan Walden will see a doctor next week to determine what additional steps can be taken to help return from an extended recovery.

Walden went on the disabled list on April 30 with a biceps injury, and he has been unable to get his arm to respond to rest and recover from appearances since. Walden said the biceps irritation was related to damage to his rotator cuff and labrum, but he insisted that he can avoid surgery.

The Cardinals have echoed that sentiment.

Goold also shared some interesting tidbits about Walden's delivery in the article. It's worth a read.

All in all, it doesn't look like we should hold our breaths for Walden's return to St. Louis game action this fall. Not that this is terribly surprising in the wake of the club's non-waiver trade deadline deals for setup men Steve Cishek and Jonathan Broxton.

Matt Belisle

Reuters provided the following paragraph regarding the righty in their team report on the Cardinals that ran on Saturday:

RHP Matt Belisle (right elbow) went on the 15-day disabled list June 26, and he was transferred to the 60-day DL on July 24. He experienced a setback in his rehab in July, and the club shut him down. He was throwing again in early August, but there remains no timetable for his return.

It may sound like a broken record, but the Cards' acquisitions of Cishek and Broxton make this unsurprising.

Sunday's Roster Move

The St. Louis Cardinals made a roster move on Sunday, optioning Tyler Lyons to Triple-A and recalling infielder Greg Garcia. Lyons appeared in three games out of the bullpen since the Cardinals recalled him on August 7 to St. Louis and optioned Garcia to Memphis—most recently mopping up a 1 1/3 innings in the club's ghastly loss to the Padres on Saturday. The swap gives St. Louis a full allotment of position players on the club's bench, which provides manager Mike Matheny with another pinch-hitting option as well as an alternative to Pete Kozma (currently on pace to tally just 121 PAs in 2015; or, 63 fewer than Daniel Descalso notched last season) should he want to give second baseman Kolten Wong or shortstop Jhonny Peralta a day off.

Here is the current state of the St. Louis 40-man roster matrix:

Roster Logjam

When asked by Kelly whether Stephen Piscotty might see some time at first base once the Cards get some more outfielders healthy, Mozeliak said that he expected there to be "roster logjams" in September. He further indicated that anything was possible as the club attempted to keep players that were hitting well in the lineup while conceding the small-sample-size issues with attempting to play the hot hand.

FanDuel

SBN and FanDuel have entered into an exclusive partnership with respect to daily fantasy baseball. Jacob deGrom, who will probably finish in the top five or six of the National League Cy Young voting this year, faces the Phillies, who have a horrendous offense, in Philadelphia today. You can play FanDuel here.