Projecting the St. Louis Cardinals’ 25-Man Opening Day Roster
Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Outfielders (4): Matt Holliday, Jon Jay, Jason Heyward, Randal Grichuk
With the Cardinals having acquired Jason Heyward to fill their right field vacancy this offseason, it was clear from the get-go that there wasn’t going to be any drama regarding the starting outfield this spring unless an injury occurred. There haven’t been any of those thus far, so the outfield of Holliday, Jay, and Heyward remains set in stone.
If one thing has become apparent this spring among the outfielders, it’s been the revelation that Randal Grichuk, not Peter Bourjos, is clearly the next-best option among the group. The 23-year-old Grichuk, who broke out down the stretch last season, has hit .281 with four homers and nine RBI this spring, and he’s positioned himself as the top backup at all three of the outfield positions. Grichuk’s emergence begs the question of if Bourjos’s presence is even necessary on the Opening Day roster.
Bourjos can be optioned to Triple-A Memphis, as he does not yet have the right to refuse a minor league assignment—this right is achieved at five years of big-league service time, which Bourjos only has 4.062 years of—and the Los Angeles Angels used only one of his three options during his time there. The Cardinals can vocally express confidence in Bourjos all they want, but the fact that they’re giving guys like Pete Kozma, Mark Reynolds, and Ty Kelly time at the corner outfield positions this spring shows that they’re exploring all their options if Bourjos doesn’t end up being a part of the Opening Day roster. With players such as Kelly, Tommy Pham, who made a great impression this spring before going down with an injury, and Stephen Piscotty, who is the organization’s best position-playing prospect, expected to be ready at Triple-A, the Cardinals may be wise to trade Bourjos if there’s a market for him this spring.
The Cards have four off days during the first month of the season, so it’s not like there will be a whole lot of extra playing time to go around anyway, but if an emergency fifth outfielder is necessary, the team could always look to Reynolds or Kozma, as well as starting infielders Matt Carpenter and Jhonny Peralta, both of whom have big-league outfield experience. With an overload of major-league quality pitching, it’s better for the Cardinals to cut their losses and either option or trade Bourjos prior to Opening Day.