Uncertainty swells for Cardinals outfield as Tommy Edman begins year on injured list

After months of uncertainty surrounding Tommy Edman's offseason wrist surgery and his recovery stalling the last few weeks, the St. Louis Cardinals will place Edman on the injured list to begin 2024, per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Derrick Goold.

While this news does not come as a surprise given how recent weeks have gone for Edman, it does bring to fruition a really odd situation that arose in early January. John Denton of MLB.com was told by John Mozeliak that Edman had arthroscopic surgery on his right wrist in October, something that Mozeliak had not disclosed to media whenever he had been asked about injuries earlier in the offseason.

When asked about Edman at Winter Warm-Up, Mozeliak seemed pretty annoyed about the media frustration, even going so far as to pull out a paper roster and thumb through it to "make sure he did not miss any more injuries". The Cardinals seemed very confident in January that Edman would be ready by Opening Day, but it became clear early on that his status would be in jeapory.

The Cardinals will now have to decide between Dylan Carlson and Victor Scott II to start in center field on Opening Day. Scott has been on fire during camp, and it's becoming increasingly more difficult to justify having Carlson start above him when they open up the season in Los Angeles. The last few weeks of camp will play a major role in that decision.

It's unclear how long Edman will remain on the injured list, but at this point, I would not hold my breath that he'll be back anytime soon. This process has continued to drag out for Edman, and I imagine the Cardinals will be careful not to rush him back with all of the set backs thus far.