Cardinals get a small dose of good news doused with pessimistic qualifiers

The St. Louis Cardinals entered spring training with more outfielders than spots available. They had to dip into their tremendous depth much earlier than they had hoped after suffering a bevy of injuries.

The Sonny Gray injury generated the most headlines, and rightfully so, but injuries to Lars Nootbaar, Dylan Carlson, and Tommy Edman left their offense severely shorthanded.

Fortunately for St. Louis, Edman, the team's center fielder, is progressing in his return from arthroscopic wrist surgery. The problem, however, is his much-anticipated return might be a little bit further out than expected.

Tommy Edman injury update: Swinging but will be slow to return

The Athletic's Katie Woo reported that he's beginning a swinging program. While it's great to see him begin baseball activities, Woo notes that progression will be very slow since he's starting from scratch and there is no timetable for his return to the majors.

Good news to see Edman swinging a bat, but he doesn't appear to be particularly close to starting a rehab assignment let alone playing in a game that counts for the Cardinals.

Without Edman, the Cardinals have had a rough go of it in center field. While Victor Scott II has a ton of potential, he has just three hits in his first 36 MLB at-bats as the Cardinals' primary center fielder. He has game-changing speed, but Scott isn't getting on base close to enough to allow his legs to make an impact.

The Cardinals need Edman, a key cog in their lineup for the last five seasons, back in the worst way. With how subpar their pitching staff is, their offense will need to carry them if they want to make the playoffs. Edman plays a big role in that and provides Gold Glove-caliber defense as well.

It'll be interesting to see how quickly Edman can ramp up, especially if Scott continues to struggle in his place. The balance of Edman needing to stay healthy and the Cardinals needing to remain afloat without him is a tricky one.