Cardinals utility man Matt Carpenter has been placed on the disabled list with a right oblique strain, the club announced Wednesday afternoon.
Carpenter, 26, has been a Godsend for the Cardinals this season. He's hitting .288/.356/.519 with three homers, 20 RBI and 16 runs. Mostly, though, he's been so important because of versatility as the Cards battle injuries. The Cardinals have Jon Jay, Allen Craig and Lance Berkman all on the disabled list, while Carlos Beltran battles a sore knee at times and David Freese occasionally needs a break, too. So Carpenter's value was significant.
Oblique injuries generally take anywhere from four to eight weeks to heal, with six weeks being the norm.
So, for the time being, the Cardinals will have to go with Matt Adams at first, some combination of Shane Robinson, Adron Chambers and Skip Schumaker in center field (and right, should Beltran need to sit), with Daniel Descalso providing the depth at third.
As a corresponding move, the Cardinals have purchased the contract of catcher Steven Hill from Triple-A Memphis. Hill, 27, is hitting .257/.303/.471 with four homers, 11 RBI and nine runs in 19 games for Memphis. He has appeared in one major-league game in his career, when he hit a home run in one of his three at-bats. Suffice it to say, his small-sample career 1.667 OPS is bound to get messed up if he sees any time at the plate to spell Yadier Molina.
