St. Louis placed Ray Lankford on the disabled list on July 25th. Lankford sprained his right wrist while trying to check his swing during the Cardinals' July 21st game against Milwaukee. Since he's already noticed improvement, the club believes he will be ready to rejoin the team when he's first eligible to leave the DL on August 6th. Given St. Louis possesses several players capable of covering for Lankford, the Cardinals preferred to add an extra arm to the bullpen rather than pressure the 37-year-old's recovery by keeping him active.

OF-L John Mabry and OF-S Roger Cedeno already had claimed a great deal of the playing time in left field with OF-R So Taguchi serving as the team's defensive replacement and UT-L Marlon Anderson grabbing an occasional game at the position. As Mabry and Cedeno offer more at the plate than the others, they should absorb the at-bats freed by Lankford's injury, and if both continue to excel, Lankford may find his playing time further diminished when he returns.

Mabry joined the major league team on May 25th when the Cardinals demoted Colin Porter. The 33-year-old has improved his plate discipline over the last couple of seasons while showing a little better power, and after a slow June, he's been productive for St. Louis in July. Although Porter performed fairly well during his short span in the majors, Mabry's strong AAA numbers and his ability to play first base when Albert Pujols was day-to-day persuaded the Cardinals to make the switch.