St. Louis Cardinals: Ideal roster additions out of spring

The St. Louis Cardinals have had a less-than-hectic Spring Training over years past. That said, the future could carry the excitements of former springs.

The St. Louis Cardinals have many decisions to make as the final two weeks of Spring Training roll around. Should the Cardinals carry extra bench players or should they carry extra arms? The regulars will have a great deal to do with these decisions.

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Looking at the bench roles, the health of Matt Carpenter, the “sophomore” performance of Paul DeJong, and/or whether Tommy Pham proves to repeat his performance from 2017 or if he breaks like glass, these things will weigh heavy in the decisions of who rides the pine or not.

Looking at the arms, the health and performance abilities of Adam Wainwright (the comeback player of the year?), if Miles Mikolas deserves to hold a starting spot or not, and/or if Luke Gregerson is or is not the right choice as closer, these things will weigh heavy in the decisions of who works with Brian Eversgerd in the pen.

Bottom line to me is that Yairo Munoz, Francisco Pena, John Brebbia, and Jack Flaherty need to be on the 2018 St. Louis Cardinals. At the same time, Luke Voit, Carson Kelly, and Bud Norris should probably call another club home. Maybe not right after Spring Training but- my gut tells me- that all three could be elsewhere by August 1.

All of that aside, the St. Louis Cardinals could be a force with which to reckon in the NL-Central through unconventional ways. At the start of spring I would have told you this team was destined for third place at best but it seems that some of these banked-on names might just upset the pot of the Cubs and Brewers enough to make waves.

Next: The new LF experiment

There is still plenty of time for any of this change but as of today, Sunday, March 17, I feel these make the most sense. Ask me next week and I might feel completely different. Outside of that, let’s ride this thing out and see what we’ve got in the coming weeks.