St. Louis Cardinals Make Four More Cuts from Major-League Camp
As spring training reaches its final days and the St. Louis Cardinals play their last few games in Florida before heading north to face their Triple-A affiliate, the Memphis Redbirds, on Friday in Memphis, the team is getting close to having its Opening Day roster ready. The club made four more cuts on Sunday afternoon, as catcher Ed Easley, infielder Dean Anna, and first baseman Xavier Scruggs were optioned to Triple-A, while infielder Jacob Wilson was re-assigned to minor-league camp.
Easley and Anna were two curious additions to the 40-man roster this offseason. Easley, a 29-year-old career minor leaguer, and Anna, a 28-year-old with just 12 games of MLB experience, both ended last season in the minor leagues and had previously passed through the Rule 5 Draft unselected. However, the Cardinals obviously valued Easley, who played last year in the Cardinals’ organization, and Anna, who ended 2014 in the Pirates’ system, enough to award them two of the highly-coveted spots on the 40-man.
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Easley will likely be the Cardinals’ third catching option behind Yadier Molina and Tony Cruz this season, though he’ll have to hold off competition from prospect Cody Stanley, who will be spending his first season in Triple-A. Easley hit .200 in 15 spring at-bats, while Stanley went 5-for-12 (.417) before being optioned to Memphis.
Anna was expected to compete for a backup infielder spot on the big-league roster, though he underwhelmed during the spring, hitting .200 (5-for-20), though he was impressive in the sabermetric sense, taking four walks. Anna was beaten out by Pete Kozma, who has been the Cardinals’ hottest hitter this spring, and he’ll likely also have to hold off Ty Kelly and Wilson in a bid for a big-league call-up.
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Scruggs, a 27-year-old who made his MLB debut last September, struggled this spring, though he also showed some solid plate discipline, hitting .192/.344/.231. With Mark Reynolds having been signed this offseason to fill the Cards’ righthanded-hitting backup first baseman role, Scruggs will likely struggle to make it back to the big leagues before September unless something happens to Reynolds or Matt Adams. It is worth noting, though, that the Cardinals have tested Scruggs’ versatility this spring, giving him 10 innings in right field, a position that he had previously played for a grand total of six innings as a professional.
Wilson, a former 10th-rounder who is graded as the organization’s 14th-best prospect by MLB.com, made an impression this spring by hitting .313/.353/.531 with a homer and four RBI. He also displayed the versatility needed to be an asset in a big-league bench role, seeing time at first base, second base, third base, and left field. Wilson, who split last season between High-A Palm Beach and Double-A Springfield, figures to start the season at Triple-A Memphis and could be plugged in all over the diamond as he attempts to make his bid for a call-up down the road.
The Cardinals now have 33 players left in major-league camp, as there are just a few competitions left to be settled before Opening Day. Pitchers Marcus Hatley and Mitch Harris, infielder Scott Moore, and outfielders Tommy Pham and Stephen Piscotty are the only guys who remain with the major-league club despite seemingly not having a chance to make the Opening Day squad. With projected fifth starter Jaime Garcia now slated to begin the season on the disabled list following recurring shoulder soreness, there’s a competition for two pitching staff openings between Marco Gonzales, Carlos Martinez, and non-roster invitee Carlos Villanueva, with Gonzales and Martinez also still in contention for the fifth starter slot. Utilityman Ty Kelly and outfielder Peter Bourjos are perceived to be competing for the fifth and final spot on the bench, though the club could theoretically eliminate that competition by optioning both to Triple-A and keeping 13 pitchers to start the year.