Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder, Matt Clement, Joel Pineiro, Tyler Johnson, Josh Kinney and outfielder Juan Encarnacion were all placed on the disable list, retroactive to March 21. That means that if any of them were ready in such short order, they could be activated on April 5.
However, that is highly unlikely. Carpenter won’t be back until mid-August, Mulder in May, and Joel Pineiro late April who is recovering well from a sore shoulder. Kinney is also recovering from Tommy John surgery just like Carpenter, and Johnson’s shoulder tendonitis leaves his return date up in the air. Of course, Encarnacion is out indefinitely after getting hit in the eye by a foul ball last year.
Matt Clement pitched in an intra-squad game between AA Springfield and AAA Memphis and struggled with his control walking four of the seven batters he faced. Clement says he felt good throwing the ball.
Pitching coach Dave Duncan says he expects Mark Mulder to be back before Clement is ready to pitch at the big league level.
