Hudson (elbow) was pulled from his scheduled rehab start at Triple-A Memphis on Wednesday due to the possibility of a looming activation from the injured list, the team's official site reports.
The Cardinals are playing a total of five games from Thursday through Sunday, and manager Mike Shildt wanted to evaluate his pitching needs for the condensed period before having Hudson put more minor-league innings on his arm. The possibility exists the right-hander is activated at some point over the weekend and put right into action for the big-league club, although whether that would be as a starter or reliever remains to be seen.