St. Louis Cardinals Set Tentative Opening Day Roster
Even after missing the playoffs for the first time since 2010 last season, the St. Louis Cardinals’ roster was basically locked in heading into spring training. If anything, the battles were over playing time rather than roster spots, but even those battles haven’t been too intriguing. While the Cardinals were set to have intense battles over the fifth starter spot and starting third base job this spring, those battles haven’t really materialized as planned.
Michael Wacha was more or less handed the fifth starter job after Alex Reyes had to undergo Tommy John surgery in February, and the only pitcher who might have provided him some competition, Trevor Rosenthal, was held back by minor injuries as he tried to get stretched out. Jhonny Peralta, meanwhile, has had a firm grasp over the third base spot this spring, and Jedd Gyorko hasn’t really forced the issue.
With a week still remaining until the Cardinals kick off the 2017 regular season against the defending World Series champion Chicago Cubs, they’ve decided on a tentative 25-man major-league roster. Players were notified about roster decisions on Saturday, with the most notable move coming early Saturday morning, when outfielder Tommy Pham was optioned to Triple-A Memphis.
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With it becoming increasingly obvious in recent days that outfielder/first baseman José Martínez would break camp with the big-league club, there wasn’t a whole lot of drama remaining about the Cardinals’ roster construction. The only spot where there seemed to be some room for variability was in the bullpen, where Matt Bowman and Miguel Socolovich looked to be the favorites for spots but faced competition from John Gant and an ahead-of-schedule Tyler Lyons.
Mike Matheny confirmed on Saturday, though, that Lyons will begin the season on the DL, and it’s yet to be determined as to where he’ll continue his rehab. He also announced that Socolovich and Bowman will begin the season in the majors–a major accomplishment for both pitchers. This will be the first time that the 30-year-old Socolovich has been on an Opening Day roster; Bowman, meanwhile, managed to stick in the big leagues after coming to the Cardinals as a seemingly raw Rule 5 pick who was thought to need serious development.
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Here’s the tentative Opening Day roster, which could be altered at any point over the next week by injuries. That possibility is worth noting since the Cardinals lost both Ruben Tejada and Brayan Peña to injuries during the final week of spring training last season.
Starting Pitchers (5): Carlos Martinez, Adam Wainwright, Lance Lynn, Mike Leake, Michael Wacha
Relief Pitchers (7): Seung-hwan Oh, Brett Cecil, Kevin Siegrist, Trevor Rosenthal, Jonathan Broxton, Matt Bowman, Miguel Socolovich
Catchers (2): Yadier Molina, Eric Fryer
(It’s worth noting that Fryer must be added to the 40-man roster before next Sunday, but the Cardinals can easily accomplish that by placing Reyes and/or Zach Duke on the 60-day disabled list.)
Infielders (7): Matt Carpenter, Kolten Wong, Aledmys Díaz, Jhonny Peralta, Jedd Gyorko, Greg Garcia, Matt Adams
Outfielders (4): Randal Grichuk, Dexter Fowler, Stephen Piscotty, José Martínez
Next: Matt Adams Getting Work in Left Field
Notable players who began Saturday in big-league camp but will begin the season in the minors include Pham, Gant, Carson Kelly, Harrison Bader, and Jose Adolis Garcia.