Projecting the St. Louis Cardinals’ 25-Man Opening Day Roster
Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
Bullpen (8): Trevor Rosenthal, Kevin Siegrist, Randy Choate, Seth Maness, Matt Belisle, Jordan Walden, Carlos Martinez, Marco Gonzales
With the majority of the position player corps solidified, the bullpen is definitely the spot with the most intrigue remaining as the Cardinals trim down their roster. Five spots seem to be completely solidified (Trevor Rosenthal, Seth Maness, Matt Belisle, Jordan Walden, and Randy Choate), and Kevin Siegrist looks to be close to locking down a spot, as he’s unscored upon so far this spring.
That could leave just one spot available, though it’s possible that the Cardinals could go against the grain and carry 13 pitchers to start the season. In terms of maximizing depth, it might make the most sense to save lefty Sam Freeman, who is out of options, from the waiver wire by keeping him on the Opening Day roster. The Cards could also elect to keep grizzled veteran Carlos Villanueva, who is in camp on a non-roster deal, to prevent him from exercising the opt-out that he’ll have if he doesn’t make the team out of spring training.
Both pitchers have had less-than-stellar springs, though, and it wouldn’t really make sense to keep them on the roster in the name of avoiding risk when there are several other big-league tested pitchers competing for spots who have actually impressed so far this spring.
Marco Gonzales will likely miss out on a rotation spot for the sole purpose of the Cardinals trying to justify the $7.75 million they’re paying injury-plagued starter Jaime Garcia this season. However, he showed that he can be an impactful reliever during the 2014 postseason, and he’s pitched well enough during spring training to deserve a spot on the Opening Day roster. One could argue that it would be beneficial for Gonzales to be stretched out as a starter in Triple-A, but Carlos Martinez did just fine shifting from the bullpen to the rotation midway through last season, and Gonzales would still have an opportunity to throw extended innings in the majors, as he’s the most obvious long relief candidate of the group listed above.
Speaking of Martinez, he’s struggled this spring and seems to have lost the strong grip that he seemed to have on the fifth starter spot that he had coming into March. With that said, he’s proven all that he can in the minors, and he’s shown that he can make a difference as a flame-throwing late inning reliever at the major-league level. With the addition of Walden and the apparent return to health of Siegrist, the Cardinals probably won’t rely on Martinez too much to throw in the seventh or eighth inning, but he can still be an effective middle reliever.
Though the Cardinals have four off days during the first 16 days of the regular season schedule, that doesn’t mean there won’t be opportunities to get everyone on the pitching staff involved. In addition to the elbow injury he had surgery to repair last October, Adam Wainwright has been making his way back from an abdominal injury this spring, and he may not be fully stretched out when the regular season comes around. Lance Lynn has thrown one inning this spring while dealing with a hip injury, and it would be unrealistic to expect him to throw extended innings during the first month of the season. And there’s still concern surrounding the shoulder injury that kept Michael Wacha out for a large chunk of the 2014 season. If Jaime Garcia, he of the chronically-injured left shoulder, ends up in the rotation, it’s just another guy to worry about and try to coddle.
Even if all of those guys are in good health come Opening Day, the Cardinals probably won’t want to push them too hard during the season’s first month, instead preferring to let them air it out once the summer comes around. With a surplus of big-league-caliber pitchers and a deficiency of major-league bench talent, it makes sense to open up with 13 pitchers and make adjustments only when a need for extra position players becomes apparent.
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