The St. Louis Cardinals made a series of roster moves that were more procedural than anything on Friday afternoon, as outfielderTommy Phamwas activated from the 60-day disabled list and optioned to Triple-A Memphis, while first basemanMatt Adamswas transferred from the 15-day DL to the 60-day DL.
Interestingly, Pham and Adams were dealing with very similar injuries. Pham went down during spring training with an injury that was termed a “strained quad”, but as it turned out, it was more of a tear, and it caused him to miss nearly three months, stretching from March 13 until now. In similar fashion, Adams suffered an injury that was diagnosed as a quad strain, but he ended up having surgery on it shortly after and is now expected to spend the next 3-4 months recovering.
Pham will head back to Memphis and provide a huge boost to the Redbirds’ outfield, where prospectStephen Piscottyhas been joined by players such as natural infielderTy Kellyand organizational playersMike O’NeillandRafael Ortegain recent weeks. Pham, who went 7-for-17 (.412) in the early part of spring training this year before going down with the injury, will look to jump back in and continue that success that he showed in advance of the regular season.
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Despite the Cardinals’ current glut of outfielders, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Pham earn himself a call-up in short order if he hits well at Memphis. The Cardinals have little use for their last bench player, catcherEd Easley, as he’s logged just one at-bat since his May 27 recall and has done little more than catch the ceremonial first pitch and warm up pitchers between innings. While having Easley on the roster is somewhat advantageous because it allows the Cardinals to more freely use the primary backup catcher,Tony Cruz, as a pinch-hitter and as an emergency backup infielder if necessary, Pham would likely be a more formidable pinch-hitting presence than either of the reserve backstops. It’d be hard to get him any time in the field withPeter Bourjos,Randal Grichuk, andMatt Hollidayall playing well andJason HeywardandJon Jaypreviously having shown that they can be very effective big-leaguers, but Pham might be an upgrade at the end of the bench nonetheless.
Adams will likely miss the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery to repair the quad injury. He last saw action on May 26.
Next: 12 Prospects for Cardinals to Target in MLB Draft
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