Tommy Edman is finally on his way back, so let’s sort out a roster spot and a role for him

A roster crowded with useful position players is a good problem to have, but it does require some maneuvering

The Cardinals are about to be faced with a not unfortunate dilemma – how to wedge Tommy Edman back onto the active roster soon after doing the same for Lars Nootbaar. Then comes the related quandary of how best to deploy guys in what’s about to become, once again, a complicated roster of position players for manager Oli Marmol. 

The first and most essential step is coming up with a corresponding move for Edman once his minor-league rehab assignment, which began Tuesday at Double-A Springfield, concludes. That Tuesday appearance marked Edman’s first taste of game action since last season’s finale. Thereupon he underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right wrist to address lingering bone and cartilage problems. His recovery from that procedure was slow, and his timeline gradually grew from “maybe Opening Day” to where we are now, which is comfortably past the midpoint of the season. 

It’s not certain when Edman will be ready for activation, but barring a setback it’s reasonable to assume it won’t be long after the All-Star break. Not so long ago, infielder José Fermín was the obvious candidate to go when an active roster spot was needed, but he was dispatched to Memphis to make room for Nootbaar. Now there’s a pickle of sorts. In an ideal baseball world, teams would be more willing to go with seven-man bullpens, but given the (mostly understandable) hand-wringing over reliever workloads in St. Louis right about now it’s hard to imagine that a pitcher will be optioned to make room for a position player. In the absence of a conveniently timed injury to some other position player, that leaves, to my thinking, four paths to getting Edman back on the active roster. In no particular order …