Projecting the St. Louis Cardinals’ 2014 Postseason Roster

Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Bench (5): A.J. Pierzynski, Randal Grichuk, Daniel Descalso, Xavier Scruggs, Pete Kozma

This is a group that has been pretty interchangeable the entire season, and it should be interesting to see how it ends up coming together for October. The most notable guy left off this list is Peter Bourjos, who’s been on the major-league team for the entire year and has been solid during the second half, hitting .271 since the All-Star break. But with Grichuk having forced his way onto the roster, it will be more difficult to accomodate Bourjos.

The Cards could certainly remove Scruggs from the roster, seeing as he’s only hit .231 since his callup on September 4. But if they leave him off, then they’re left with Daniel Descalso and Yadier Molina as their backup options at first base, which would be pretty risky during a playoff series. If Matt Adams were to get seriously injured, they could always remove him from the roster mid-series, but seeing as Bourjos probably isn’t going to get many opportunities anyway as the fifth outfielder, it’s probably better just to play it safe and have Scruggs active, keeping Bourjos with the club in case an injury replacement is needed.