May 19th, 12:06pm: DeJong’s surgery was successful, MLB.com’s Joe Trezza reports, though a timetable for his return has yet to be shared.
May 18th, 4:24pm: Unfortunately, it does not seem that DeJong has suffered a run-of-the-mill fracture. The injury is to his pinky, per MLB.com’s Joe Trezza (via Twitter). DeJong will undergo surgery this evening to insert a plate, per president of baseball operations John Mozeliak and via Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (on Twitter), with the expectations being that there’ll be a “significant” layoff.
3:05pm: The Cardinals have announced that shortstop Paul DeJong is heading to the 10-day DL after he was diagnosed with a fractured left hand suffered on a hit-by-pitch. Also headed to the DL is righty Matt Bowman, who’s dealing with blisters.
To fill the two openings on the roster, the Cards have called up infielder Yairo Munoz and outfielder Tyler O’Neill. Both players are already on the 40-man roster.
It’s not yet known whether DeJong is a candidate for surgery, let alone what kind of rehabilitation timeline will be required. But his absence will tell, even if it’s for a relatively short period of time.
The major difficulty for the Cardinals is that, while they feature quite a few infield options, none really profile as regular options at short. Greg Garcia has the most experience at the position in the majors; Jedd Gyorko has lined up at short, but not very often and not for some time. It seems Munoz might also be viewed as an option, as he has spent much of his minor-league career at shortstop.
Clearly, those players aren’t likely to account for the missing productivity of DeJong, who’s not only a quality fielder but carries a .260/.351/.473 slash through 171 plate appearances on the year. With much of the Cards offense still working to round into form, the loss of DeJong will leave the team without one of its best bats to this point of the season.
c1234
this really sucks
tbone0816
Geeze how many Cardinals are on the DL? Yadier Molina, Paul Dejong, Adam Wainwright, Carlos Martinez, Luke Gregerson, Dominic Leone, Tyler Lyons, and Carson Kelly.
CompanyAssassin
Matt bowman
bearcat6
And Fowler, Wong and Carpenter, who have been disabled all year. And Ozuna, who is headed that direction!
willyg60
Naked Reyes
Christopher Martin
Cry me a river. The best teams deal with injuries, weak teams do not.
dtstlou66
You tell me how many “good” teams would win with all of these players out. Take a look at the Yankees, Red Sox, Nationals and the Cubs. Delete the same starting pitchers and position players and then make your comment
bigkempin
The Dodgers made it the WS last year despite having every opening day starting position player other than I believe Puig/Taylor hitting the DL…..and every starting pitcher. The only “good” players that STL has lost to the DL have been Martinez, Yadi, and Dejong.
dtstlou66
How’s that going this year.
CardsNation5
10
We’re_Pham-ily
Ahhhhh I knew it when I saw it. He didn’t even flinch when he was hit…hopefully he’s a quick healer..or we go get Manny.
woodguy
I’m down for Manny. Cards are having a tough go right now
robertj53086
Horrible luck
daved
No other teams have injuries. Just STL.
jekporkins
Us Giants fans would like to step outside and have a word with you, David.
brucewayne
I think you might’ve missed the sarcasm font !
tim815
Only six remaining options on the 40 that aren’t on the 25 or the DL. At some point, they’re benefited by players simply not getting dinged.
mfh530
such a shame. hey, injuries happen. that’s why you should have depth. let’s go bucs!
c1234
Cardinals do have depth. Also don’t be counting on the marlins oh I mean the pirates lucky start for the whole season
leftykoufax
Tough break
jfive
All of the injuries stink but if they’re going to happen would rather it be now…Hopefully team can play .500 ball through All-Star break and have everyone back and healthy for last half of season
bleacherbum
Freddy Galvis can be had for peanuts.
bwick17
They need to start O’Neill this time rather than wasting him on the bench
jfive
agree….hopefully thick skull gets it too
astick
I’m sure you have been doing it right away from when the other one was in a meeting that place has to do lunch
STLCards33
Why? What has he shown? Absolutely nothing
jfive
exactly the point on why he should get some playing time…hes started 1 game and had 5 sporadic PHs during his call up….team is struggling offensively that includes fowler and ozuna…giving either some days off to play this kid cant hurt
bwick17
See what happens when you start him.
jfive
yup…glad matheny got the memo
daved
This team is 4 games under. 500 against teams NOT named Cincy or White Sox. Don’t give me this injury excuse. Most of these guys on DL haven’t done anything, expectations on Waino were nil, Kelly, Lyons, Leone, Gregerson, Bowman? Wow!,huge losses there, NOT!
c1234
You forgot NL era leader Carlos Martinez and Yadira Molina. Before you type stuff know what your saying as well.
c1234
Yadier*
getright11
Touche.
We’re_Pham-ily
4-1 against the “best team in baseball”…
c1234
Oh! Cardinals are 4-1 against a team named the cubs. So don’t give me the bad team excuse.
3rdStrikeLooking
Go hang out with Themed. You suffer from similar lack of cognitive skills.
Dotnet22
3rdstrike, go hang out with the other cubs fans where your witty banter might be appreciated.
3rdStrikeLooking
Dot Net, lets say a swing and miss. But, you are used to that, now, arent you?
c1234
I bet Ian Happ is used to it as well
c1234
And the cubs signing of Yu darvish and jason heyward was a swing and miss too
3rdStrikeLooking
I am not a cubs fan jerky. Swing and miss. You are out.
c1234
Lol not a wing and miss just a good guess
leftcoaster
Us fans out here in Dodger Land have absolutely no sympathy. Suck it up buttercups.
Cardinals17
Unfortunately, as true Cardinal Fans already know, John Mozeliak Will Not go after any superstar like Machado. He’d rather tank than acquire a star that would cost the Cardinals multiple players, especially a player that would require close to $28 million a year to resign for 2019.
brucewayne
The Cards don’t “tank!” Never have and never will! They just reload