ST. LOUIS -- The Cardinals received encouraging news on infielder/outfielder Mark DeRosa on Wednesday, a day after getting a major scare regarding their new acquisition. DeRosa was diagnosed with a strained tendon in his left wrist and has been told he will miss a few days.

"It's a huge relief," DeRosa said Wednesday afternoon. "Last night back at the hotel I was a little scared. When you hear a pop and when it's in one of those small tendons and joints and stuff like that, you never know. I ruptured my ankle the same way playing in a game against Colorado a few years back and I thought it was nothing and it turned out to be surgery and I missed six to eight weeks."

DeRosa injured the wrist while swinging the bat during Tuesday night's game against the Giants. He was downcast after the game, but encouraged after X-rays taken Wednesday morning came back negative. The same could be said for club officials, who were very worried that their new pickup might be out for an extended period of time.

"The fact that he felt better today, that he was asymptomatic, was very encouraging," general manager John Mozeliak said Wednesday. "The studies that they did revealed very little. The best case would have been that he could have played today. But as far as the range goes, yeah, it's encouraging. He needs a couple days of non-swinging. We'll re-evaluate it, and from there, hopefully he can get ready to go."

The newly acquired Cardinal is 0-for-9 in three games since joining the team Sunday from the Cleveland Indians. He said he was available to play defense and could pinch-run if needed, but cracked that it would probably be the first time in his career he had ever pinch-ran for someone.

It's likely, though, that the Cardinals will give him full rest at least for a little while. After fearing that DeRosa might go on the disabled list, however, relief is an appropriate way to describe the feeling in the Cardinals clubhouse Wednesday.