St. Louis Cardinals: Five Questions the Team Will Answer Between Now and Opening Day

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The St. Louis Cardinals begin Grapefruit League exhibition games Saturday against the Marlins. In the next five weeks, the team will sort out answers to some of the questions regarding positions and roles that, as of now, are undetermined.

The wait is almost over for St. Louis Cardinals fans. The Redbirds will soon be taking the field in sunny Florida for their annual slate of Spring Training games leading up to Opening Day. The week and a half period between report days for players and exhibitions against other clubs is almost over.

The Cardinals have had a fairly smooth beginning to Spring Training, with the exception of losing Alex Reyes for the season. No additional significant injuries have cropped up, and it is imperative that the club stay healthy throughout the Grapefruit League schedule.

Last Spring, the Redbirds lost Jhonny Peralta towards the end of the exhibition schedule to a ligament tear in his left thumb, which sidelined him until July.

Kevin Siegrist was slowed last week due to soreness in his throwing shoulder, but recently threw his first bullpen of the Spring without restrictions.

Nearly every team enters the Spring with position battles and question marks regarding the makeup of their Opening Day roster. Camp surprises emerge, and players earn their chances based on merit displayed on the diamond.

While the Cardinals may not have any surprises wind up on the roster, like Jeremy Hazelbaker and Aledmys Diaz did a year ago, they do have some position battles and key roles to fill.

Spring Training games offer an opportunity for management to take a long, hard look at these questions and hopefully come up with some answers given what they see on the field.

Question: Who will be the team’s fifth starter?

Since Alex Reyes went under the knife last week, many assume that the fifth spot in the starting rotation is now Michael Wacha‘s to lose. He’s been a member of the St. Louis Cardinals’ Opening Day rotation the past three years, earning an All-Star appearance in 2015. In 2014 and 2016, he struggled to stay healthy with chronic shoulder problems.

Wacha will need to exhibit health and the ability to shoulder (no pun intended) the workload of a major-league starting pitcher as he builds up stamina this Spring. He’ll get ample opportunity to pitch, and Mike Matheny and his staff will be watching intently to see how he performs and responds. His first Spring start will be Monday against the Boston Red Sox.

Also in the mix is former closer Trevor Rosenthal. The team announced soon after last season ended that Rosenthal would be stretched out this Spring, for either a multi-inning role in the bullpen, or an opportunity like this.

Rosenthal is an intriguing possibility. He was a starter in college and the minor leagues, but has always been a bullpen pitcher with the Cardinals. A former All-Star closer, his stuff went awry last year, prompting the reworking of his role.

Spring games will provide Rosenthal with an opportunity to solidify his place on the team, either as a darkhorse for a rotation spot or a new-look weapon out of the pen.

Luke Weaver, now the team’s top healthy pitching prospect, will also get a look. He’ll be starting the Cardinals’ first Spring game on Saturday against the Marlins. Weaver made eight starts last season with the big-league club. He struggled, but has been dominant in the minor leagues since being drafted in 2014.

Whether or not Weaver begins the season in the St. Louis rotation or bullpen, or in the AAA Memphis rotation, he’ll get his shot at some point in 2017.

The fifth starting spot is clearly Wacha’s to lose, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any competition, however superficial it might be. As long as he stays healthy, he’ll likely break camp in the St. Louis rotation for a fourth consecutive year.

Answer: Michael Wacha

Question: Who will be the team’s starting third baseman?

The Cardinals essentially have two options here: Jhonny Peralta or Jedd Gyorko. Neither was the team’s primary third baseman a season ago. Peralta missed more than half of 2016 with an injured thumb, while Gyorko played a super-utility role and ultimately paced the club with 30 home runs.

Peralta is in the final year of his four-year contract with the St. Louis Cardinals. The emergence of Aledmys Diaz has pushed him to compete for time at the hot corner, something the team envisioned when they signed Peralta as a free-agent prior to the 2014 season.

When healthy, Peralta has been a steady producer for St. Louis. He led the team with 21 home runs in 2014 and earned an All-Star nod the next season. He’s now fully recovered from his thumb injury a year ago, something that compromised him last season even when he was active.

Gyorko, on the other hand, was arguably the most pleasant surprise in 2016 for the Cardinals. He entered the season without a defined role, and ended up getting time when Peralta went down in the Spring, and also when Diaz landed on the disabled list with a fractured thumb in August.

30 of his 97 hits cleared the boards last year. Whether he can replicate that power this season will play a factor in his amount of time on the field in 2017. Following an offseason in which the Cardinals emphasized athleticism over raw power, Gyorko’s potential for home runs is enticing on a team that boasts less home-run potential.

The debate over who should start at third might not be resolved by Opening Day. Peralta and Gyorko could end up splitting time fairly evenly into the summer. But for what it’s worth, Gyorko’s greater ability to hit the ball out of the park might give him the early-season edge.

Answer: Jedd Gyorko

Question: Who will be the team’s fourth outfielder?

Tommy Pham is the favorite to land the reserve outfielder role to begin the season, but the St. Louis Cardinals have an abundance of potential surprises in camp. Pham’s troubled health history merits a look at who is behind him on the outfield depth chart.

Jose Martinez received a call-up last September and got a handful of at-bats. Non-roster invitees Todd Cunningham and Chad Huffman have seen limited major-league time with other clubs.

The organization’s top outfield prospects are both in camp, Harrison Bader and Magneuris Sierra. The 22-year old Bader was drafted in 2015 and quickly ascended to AAA Memphis last season. This figures to be the year he makes his major-league debut.

Sierra earned the organization’s Minor League Player of the Year honor in 2014 when he was only 18, but has never played above class A. He projects to begin the year either in high-A or double-A.

Bader and Sierra among the next wave of prospects to keep an eye on. They’ll get their chances in the near future.

Cunningham and Huffman will be looking to make Jeremy Hazelbaker-type impacts this Spring that merit a look at the big-league roster.

Martinez and Anthony Garcia both spent most of their time in Memphis last season, and that looks to be the case again this year. Either could get a call-up during the regular season, but it’s unlikely they’d be given an extended look, especially if the major-league outfield remains healthy and the minor-league prospects progress as expected.

If Pham can stay off the disabled list, he could make a real impact as a reserve outfielder in St. Louis. He’s displayed flashes of brilliance before at the big-league level. This year will be all about staying healthy and performing with consistency.

This is Pham’s job to lose, but the organization isn’t bare at the outfield position beyond the big-league level. Much like Wacha, as long as Pham is healthy, he’ll be on the Opening Day roster.

Answer: Tommy Pham

Question: Who will be the team’s seventh relief pitcher?

The fallout from Alex Reyes’ season-ending surgery includes an opening in the bullpen. The loser of the Reyes/Wacha battle for the fifth rotation spot was expected to land in the pen, but now that’s a role that needs to be filled.

The St. Louis Cardinals have an abundance of relief options for this one spot. Lefties Tyler Lyons and Marco Gonzales are finishing up recovery from surgery, so they’re probably out of the mix for an Opening Day roster spot.

Hard-throwing righthander Sam Tuivailala has had major league stints the past three seasons, but has yet to display sustained success at the big-league level. He’ll likely begin the year in the role he had for most of 2016: closing out games for AAA Memphis.

Another righthander, Miguel Socolovich, is in the mix. In his last two years in St. Louis, he’s posted ERAs of 2.00 and 1.82.

John Gant, a product of the Jaime Garcia trade, had major-league bullpen experience last year and could make a push to begin the year in the pen with a strong Spring.

Luke Weaver might also get a look, although the team probably prefers him to begin the year in the Memphis rotation. This would make him available to be called up to make a spot start in St. Louis or become a member of the regular rotation if necessary.

Lefties Ryan Sherriff and Jordan Schafer are two pitchers to watch during Grapefruit League action. 2016 was a career year for Sherriff in triple-A. In 49 games, he compiled a 2.84 ERA and earned a Minor League All-Star nod.

Schaefer has been an outfielder for all of his major-league career, but is looking to redefine himself as a lefty specialist out of the bullpen. If the transition is successful, he’d still be available to play outfield, hit, and run the bases. This kind of versatility would be enticing for any National League manager.

Perhaps the number one pitching prospect to watch this Spring is Sandy Alcantara. The 21-year old has a fastball that touches 102 mph along with a power curve and developing changeup. He’s never pitched above class A, but his stuff could make him a candidate for quick upward mobility through the minors.

Of all the options the Cardinals have, Lyons, Gonzales, Tuivailala, Socolovich, Gant, and Weaver are probably the closest right now to making the Opening Day roster.

Lyons projects as a spot starter or long reliever once he’s healthy. Gonzales and Weaver project as AAA rotation members. Tuivailala projects as the Memphis closer. Gant projects as either a starter in the minors or long reliever in St. Louis. Socolovich projects as a middle reliever, whether in Memphis or St. Louis.

This battle could be a toss up, especially if more than one of these pitchers perform well in Spring games. Socolovich is out of minor league options, so that might give him the edge for landing on the Opening Day roster.

Answer: Miguel Socolovich

Question: Who will be the team’s Opening Day starting pitcher?

This is one of the more unimportant questions that will be addressed between now and April 2. Whether it’s Adam Wainwright or Carlos Martinez on the mound on Opening Day, both will be in the rotation. The one who doesn’t take the bump for the opener will probably be starting the second game of the season.

Wainwright has taken the hill every Opening Day the last four seasons. In total, he’s started five Opening Day games. Martinez has never started an Opening Day or begun any year higher than fifth in the rotation, for that matter. Nevertheless, he’s been the team’s most consistent starting pitcher the last two years.

Last season, Wainwright struggled and Martinez ascended to the top of the staff. Carlos is the ace of the future, but does that future begin now? Wainwright is 35, but it’s important to remember that he’s missed about two and a half full years due to various injuries in his career. He’s got innings left in the tank. The question is, how effective of a pitcher can he be in his age-35 season and beyond?

Answer: Adam Wainwright

Next: Four Possible Free Agent Replacements For Reyes

If Wainwright gets shelled on Opening Night and fans want to lay blame on Matheny, they can take solace in the fact that Martinez will be starting on the 4th. But methinks Wainwright will be up for the challenge. He’s a man on a mission in 2017.

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St. Louis Cardinals: Answering Five Questions the Team Will Address Between Now and Opening Day