It’s not known at present how serious an injury it is for Fowler, who as Goold notes has dealt with a few maladies of late. The veteran is obviously a key cog for St. Louis; his loss comes as the club weighs its trade deadline options with a four-game deficit in the NL Central.

Prior indications were that Bader would only be recalled if he would be presented with a relatively extended opportunity for playing time. Just how long of a run he’ll receive will surely depend upon Fowler’s progress and Bader’s play. The new addition could conceivably claim playing time even once Fowler returns, though the Cards will surely continue to allow Tommy Pham to receive regular time and also have other options including Randal Grichuk, Jose Martinez, and Stephen Piscotty (who’s working back from the DL at present).

Entering the year, Bader was seen as a consensus top-ten organizational prospect. He stands at sixth among Cards’ youngsters in MLB.com’s most recent ranking. A former third-round draft pick, Bader has turned in a quality effort at Triple-A thus far, slashing.297/.354/.517 with 19 home runs.

To open a 40-man spot, the Cards have released outfielder Chad Huffman. The 32-year-old had received a brief MLB call-up earlier this year but spent most of the season at Triple-A, where he posted a .247/.386/.437 batting line in 215 trips to the plate.

• The Orioles have outrighted infielder Paul Janish to Triple-A Norfolk after Janish cleared waivers, according to an announcement from the team.  Janish was designated for assignment yesterday to clear room for Ruben Tejada joining the O’s.  Janish has spent much of his three years in Baltimore’s organization at the Triple-A level, appearing in 205 games for Norfolk and just 31 with the Orioles.
• The Cardinals have purchased the contract of first baseman/outfielder Chad Huffman, MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch reports (via Twitter).  Righty John Gant was optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move.  Huffman’s MLB career consists of nine games with the Yankees in 2010 and he hasn’t been back to the Show since, bouncing between the Cardinals, Tigers and Indians farm systems, as well as spending parts of two seasons in Japan.  Originally a second-round pick of the Padres in the 2006 draft, Huffman has an impressive .281/.376/.463 over 4094 career plate appearances in the minors.
• The Marlins have signed right-hander William Cuevas to a minor league deal, as announced by the A1 Performance Group (Twitter link), Cuevas’ agency.  The righty elected free agency earlier this week after rejecting an outright assignment from the Tigers.  Cuevas, 26, has a limited Major League resume that consists of one-third of an inning for Detroit this season and five innings for Boston in 2016.  The 26-year-old has a 3.67 ERA, 7.2 K/9 and 2.67 K/BB rate over 772 2/3 career innings in the minors, with 103 of his 171 appearances coming as a starting pitcher.
• The Tigers and right-handed reliever A.J. Achter “mutually agreed” upon his release yesterday, tweets SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo. The former Twins/Angels reliever will now hit free agency in search of a new club. Achter, 28, has appeared in 45 games between Minnesota and Anaheim in the past three seasons, pitching to a combined 3.92 ERA with 4.8 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and a 38.4 percent ground-ball rate in 62 innings of Major League action. He’s had a rough year with Detroit’s Double-A affiliate, however, limping to a 5.34 earned run average with a 24-to-14 K/BB ratio through 28 2/3 innings.
• Infielder Jose Pirela had his contract selected by the Padres prior to last night’s game, the team announced. The former Yankees farmhand was off to a .331/.387/.635 start with 13 homers and eight stolen bases through 201 plate appearances in the admittedly hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. The 27-year-old Pirela has yet to perform offensively in a brief sample of MLB work (148 plate appearances dating back to his debut in 2014), but he does have a nice track record in Triple-A. To clear a spot on the roster, San Diego put Jarred Cosart (foot contusion) on the 10-day disabled list and moved Travis Jankowski from the 10-day DL to the 60-day DL.

• The Tigers have added righty Michael Crotta and outfielder Chad Huffman on minor league deals, per a club announcement. (Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press first tweeted the former’s signing.) Both players have briefly reached the majors in the past and spent the last two seasons playing in Japan. Crotta, 31, posted a 6.59 ERA in 28 2/3 frames last year for the Nippon Ham Fighters while struggling badly with his control (6.0 BB/9). But he allowed just 2.62 earned per nine in his 58 1/3 frames in the prior season. And the 30-year-old Huffman received only eleven turns at bat for the Chiba Lotte Marines this year, though he slashed .270/.354/.443 over 210 plate appearances for the club in 2014.

Huffman, a 25-year-old outfielder, struggled through 21 plate appearances for the Yankees back in June and July, but hit 274/.353/.410 at Triple A this year. It was the first time in his five-year minor league career that he posted an OPS under .800. The 2006 second-rounder made the Pacific Coast League All-Star team a year ago and won the league's Home Run Derby.

• If you're viewing MLBTR on your cell phone, try mlbtraderumors.mobi!
• Alan Embree expects to exercise the opt out clause in his contract if he's not added to the Red Sox's big league roster by April 15th, reports WEEI.com's Ethan Landy.
• MASNSports.com about how a Major League trade comes together. Check it out, very interesting stuff. 
• C. Trent Rosecrans of CNATI.com learned from Reds GM Walt Jocketty last night that the team has yet to have contract extension discussions with first baseman Joey Votto.  Yesterday we speculated on what it might take to lock Votto up long-term.
• An interesting Rays-centric back-and-forth continues, with Jeff Passan filing a reubttal on Jonah Keri's site.
• MLB.com's Adam McCalvy looks at the recent instances of teams signing home-grown pitchers to extensions.
• Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins was on the Dan Patrick Show talking about the surprise he and Jayson Werth felt when Cliff Lee was dealt.  Rollins said the Yankees would've kept Lee and Roy Halladay and made a run with the pair of aces.
• Padres exec Paul DePodesta explains that while it was painful to lose Chad Huffman to a waiver claim, there's a silver lining in the organization's improved depth.
• Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe has the details on Josh Beckett's new contract with the Red Sox, which totals $68,520,403.
• Many lesser-known players have been released in recent days; Baseball America's Matt Eddy has the details.

SUNDAY, 3:09pm: The Padres designated outfielder Chad Huffman for assignment in order to clear a space on the 40-man roster for veteran slugger Matt Stairs, according to a team press release.

Huffman, 25 later this month, was a second-round pick for the Friars back in 2006. He hit .269/.361/.469 for the Padres Triple-A affiliate in Portland last season, but managed just one hit in 23 spring at-bats. For his career in the minors, Huffman owns a respectable .289/.385/.474 line over four seasons and 1885 plate appearances.