St. Louis Cardinals: Which Players Will Join the Roster in September?

Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

After exercising their best creativity for the past five months in order to get through the season with a 25-man roster, the St. Louis Cardinals (and every other MLB team) will get the opportunity to boost their depth when rosters expand to a 40-player maximum on September 1. For many teams, this provides an opportunity to evaluate players for the next season, but with the Cardinals preparing for a World Series run, yet still competing for divisional position with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs, their primary focus in expanding the roster is going to be adding experienced depth for the playoff push. This will (hopefully) include getting back key lineup pieces like Matt Adams, Matt Holliday, and Randal Grichuk who have been sidelined with injuries, as well as adding some talented bullpen arms who will give the key cogs some rest as their arms begin to fade a bit during the season’s final month. On the flip side, the seriousness of September for the Cardinals prevents them from having a real opportunity to give a young prospect such as Alex Reyes, who would be considered by many to be big-league ready right now, a trial run over the last month of the season.

Unfortunately, various factors will prevent the Cardinals from having their absolute best group of players for the last month of the season; for example, lefty Tim Cooney is unlikely to pitch again this season following appendicitis, righty reliever Jordan Walden probably is done for the year after suffering a setback with his shoulder injury, and starter Adam Wainwright is trying to make his way from a torn Achilles but still probably won’t pitch again in 2015.

Here are 12 players who seem primed to join the Cardinals, either at the September 1 roster expansion date, when the minor-league season ends on September 7, or when they recover from injury, and boost the Cards’ depth for the stretch run.

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