"Cards GM John Mozeliak said the team will put left fielder Matt Holliday on the disabled list on Thursday, along with pitcher Kyle McClellan.

Though Mozeliak used the word "probably" in connection with Holliday and the DL, there didn't seem to be much doubt. Mozeliak said that the key thing as Holliday battled with his persistent left quad strain was 72 hours of doing nothing.

"The sooner we get the clock started on that the better," he said.

Who will replace Holliday on the roster hasn't been determined, and Mozeliak said it could come from off the 40-man roster. Lance Lynn will take McClellan's place and will start on Thursday night.

"There are a couple options (for replacing Holliday)," Mozeliak said. "We can bring up a more offensive-minded player or can look at adding someone who's a little more versatile."

Mozeliak said the reason Holliday wasn't going on the disabled list today is that the team wouldn't be able to get a player here in time from Memphis to replace him on the roster. The decision on Holliday wasn't made until around 4 p.m.

"We were aggressive, we tried, he still wasn't getting ot the point where we were comfortable letting him continue to go through the same pattern," Mozeliak said. "So we'll give him a few days, calm him down. We're very optimistic."

"It wasn't that he felt something," manager Tony La Russa said. "It's that he didn't feel better."

The preliminary results of the testing Holliday had on his sore quad pointed to the move, Mozeliak said.

"It looks like it's getting better, but rather than push it on June 1, it doesn't make a lot of sense," Mozeliak said. "So we'll go with a conservative treatment after trying an aggressive treatment."

While Holliday is technically available, Mozeliak said he hoped that he would not be used tonight."